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Roger Glover | |
|---|---|
 Glover performing withDeep Purple in 2017 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Roger David Glover (1945-11-30)30 November 1945 (age 80) Brecon, Wales |
| Genres | Hard rock,heavy metal,pop rock,blues rock,progressive rock |
| Occupations |
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| Instruments |
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| Years active | 1962–present |
| Member of | Deep Purple |
| Formerly of | |
| Website | Official site |
Roger David Glover (born 30 November 1945) is a Welsh bassist, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as a member of the hard rock bandsDeep Purple andRainbow.[1][2] As a member of Deep Purple, Glover was inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2016.[3]
Born nearBrecon,Wales, Glover moved with his family to theSouth Kensington area of London at the age of nine.[4] Around that time his interests started to shift towards rock music, and by the time he was thirteen Glover began playing guitar.[5]
He later moved to the North London district ofPinner, and while atHarrow County School for Boys he formed his first band, Madisons, with a group of friends; in time this merged with a rival band to becomeEpisode Six, a band which later featured Glover's future Deep Purple bandmate, vocalistIan Gillan.[5][6] The two left Episode Six in 1969 to joinDeep Purple.[7]
Glover spent four years (1969–1973) with Deep Purple, during which the band saw their most successful releases in the albumsDeep Purple in Rock,Fireball,Machine Head,Who Do We Think We Are and the live albumMade in Japan. He is credited with developing the title for the band's iconic song "Smoke on the Water", thus inspiring the song's lyrics which were written by Ian Gillan. Glover says the title came to him when he awoke from a dream two days after the famous fire overLake Geneva. While he liked the title, he was reluctant to have the band use it because he initially thought it sounded like a drug song.[8] Glover also developed the guitar riff to "Maybe I'm a Leo", stating, "I wrote the riff to 'Maybe I'm a Leo' after hearingJohn Lennon's 'How Do You Sleep?'."[9]
Glover contributed bass onJon Lord's first solo album,Gemini Suite (1971), and was the featured soloist in the bass movement.[10]
Glover departed Deep Purple, along with Gillan, after the band's second tour ofJapan in the summer of 1973.[4]
Throughout the 1970s Glover produced albums and/or singles by such acts asJudas Priest,Nazareth,Elf,Status Quo, theIan Gillan Band andDavid Coverdale.
In 1974 Glover released his first solo album,The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast, which generated the single "Love Is All", featuring lead vocals byRonnie James Dio. The single did little in the UK, but became an unexpected number one hit song in theNetherlands,Belgium, andAustralia. The song came with an animated music video starring a guitar-playing frog.[11] In 1978 Glover's second album followed:Elements.
From 1979 to 1984 he was the bassist, lyricist and producer forRitchie Blackmore's band,Rainbow, working on four of the group's studio albums.
In 1983 he recorded his third solo album,Mask, released the next year.
WhenDeep Purple reformed in April 1984, Glover returned to his old band where he has remained for the last four decades.[12]
In 1988 Glover, along with fellow Deep Purple member Ian Gillan, recorded the side-project albumAccidentally on Purpose. Almost two decades later Glover played with Gillan during Gillan's brief solo tour in 2006.
In 2002 Glover released his fourth post-DP album, entitledSnapshot, under the name Roger Glover and the Guilty Party. The album featured performances fromRandall Bramblett (who shared co-writing credits on several tracks) as well as Glover's daughter, Gillian.
In 2011 he released his second Guilty Party album,If Life Was Easy, which featured guest appearances byNazareth'sDan McCafferty andPete Agnew as well as Walther Gallay andDaniel "Sahaj" Ticotin.
In an interview for theCome Hell or High Water concert-documentary, he described how he was once forced to perform lead vocals for an entire Deep Purple concert in the 1970s due to Ian Gillan's illness. In 2021, he performed co-lead vocals on one track (The Battle of New Orleans) on theTurning to Crime album, the first time he has performed vocals of any kind on a Deep Purple record.
In 2001 Glover was among a host of bass players who contributed toGov't Mule's double albumThe Deep End, recorded as a tribute to the lateAllen Woody, Mule's original bassist. Glover played on Deep Purple's "Maybe I'm a Leo", which was one of Woody's favourite songs. On 3 May 2003, in New Orleans, Glover also took part in a special concert performed by Gov't Mule featuring appearances from all bass players who had contributed toThe Deep End album.
On 7 October 2007 Glover joined his former bandmateJon Lord to performConcerto for Group and Orchestra at theRoyal & Derngate in Northampton. The concert also featured theRoyal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Paul Mann.
In 2008 Glover played bass on a charity single called "Lucy's Song", written and produced by David Domminney of Rogue Studios in London and available at iTunes. Income from the sale went to The Linda McCartney Cancer Centre (specifically to promote their Field of Women event which took place at Liverpool Cricket Club on 6 July 2008).
On 21 March 2012Ian Paice was playing a gig with the Deep Purple tribute band Purpendicular in Pratteln, Switzerland. The band received a surprise reinforcement as Roger Glover "happened to be in the neighbourhood" and joined them on stage.
Glover has been married twice and has three daughters. The eldest, musician Gillian Glover (born 1976), is from his first marriage. He currently lives in Switzerland with his partner and their two daughters.[13]
In 2004ITV Wales aired a TV special about Glover, entitledRoger Glover – Made in Wales (produced by Craig Hooper) which featured interviews from fellow musicians Ian Gillan and Ian Paice, as well as Glover's mother, Brenda, and his then-wife.[citation needed]
Roger Glover playedFender Precision,Fender Mustang andRickenbacker 4001 basses during his early years with Deep Purple. In late 1970s, he used aGibson Thunderbird. In the mid-1980s Roger usedPeavey Foundation with a neck fromPeavey Fury Bass. Since the mid-1990s, he has usedVigier Bass Guitars,SWR heads and cabinets, andPicato andErnie Ball Inc. strings.[14]
On 22 October 2010 Roger Glover's artwork exhibition calledHappy Silence opened at the K-8 e.V. Galerie in Cologne. Previously Glover has let many of his pictures be auctioned in other galleries for charitable purposes, but this was the first large-scale presentation of his work.
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