Ian Gillan Quotes

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Ian Gillan

Profession : Musician

Birth : August 19, 1945

I'm not a writer; I'm not a novelist.

Ian Gillan

'Classic rock' is never a label that we've given ourselves - it's one of the many labels that's been imposed on us.

Ian Gillan

Deep Purple was sinking with Ritchie. We were playing to quarter houses in Europe, which is one of our strongest territories - in Germany. Smaller venues, and they weren't even full. So had we continued that way, and had Ritchie not walked out, we would have finished; that would have been the end of it.

Ian Gillan

I remember my uncle, who was a jazz pianist, when we did Deep Purple 'In Rock,' he ran from the room screaming, holding his ears: 'I can't hear anything. I can't hear any instruments.' And I was rubbing my hands going, 'Great.'

Ian Gillan

My father was a storekeeper at a factory in west London.

Ian Gillan

I've played football with George Best, the greatest footballer that ever lived. That doesn't make me a footballer. And I've sung a duet with Pavarotti. That doesn't make me an opera singer. I can write and I have a story to tell, but I'm not going to make a career out of it.

Ian Gillan

When you're young, you're immortal, or so you think, and you never think there will be problems ahead.

Ian Gillan

The only advice I can give is to absorb as much as you can from as wide a spectrum as you can. If you're in a rock band and only soak up Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and Deep Purple kind of beginnings, then you're not going to have much leeway.

Ian Gillan

I've never listened to any of Purple Mk III's records.

Ian Gillan

I'm completely irresponsible, I'm afraid. I'm ignorant about money as a commodity - I have never really understood it.

Ian Gillan

I don't think happiness comes with money, but if you are hungry, you can't be as happy as if you aren't hungry.

Ian Gillan

I think there's something about having a purpose in life and a sense of belonging that is more important than money for any human being.

Ian Gillan

I assume I must have a pension, but I don't know for sure. I have heard of ISAs, but I can't tell you if I have any.

Ian Gillan

I grew up moving from one council flat to another and finished up in a three-bedroom semi-detached on a council estate in Cranford, a suburb of Hounslow. This was in the days when there was still rationing, and we had to be thrifty.

Ian Gillan

In the early Seventies, I bought a dilapidated hotel in north Stoke for about £100,000 and spent the same amount again renovating it, putting in a guitar-shaped swimming pool, painting the bathrooms purple, and installing gold dolphin taps.

Ian Gillan

I hate it in America where the protocol seems to be you are expected to tip regardless of the quality of service. I like to tip when it's not being demanded of me, and if the service has been good, I tip quite generously.

Ian Gillan

We've never gone into the studio with prepared material... we never have.

Ian Gillan

When we arrive at the studio, we put the kettle on, have a cup of tea, say, 'How's the family? You still got that old car? Is that dog still alive?' and then we start jamming. That's how the songs get written.

Ian Gillan

When I picked up my guitar, I spent the first day learning the chord E, the second day A, then B7, and all of a sudden, I could play the blues.

Ian Gillan

I sang 'Nessun Dorma' twice with Pavarotti, and he told me he'd heard 'Smoke' about five or six times, and every time was different. He was so jealous because if he deviated one jot from the traditional interpretation of the famous arias, he'd be crucified. We have the freedom.

Ian Gillan