Deep Purple’s Don Airey Takes The Solo Spotlight
The widely-travelled keyboard player delivers a new album of his own.
Deep Purple keyboard player Don Airey’s solo album One Of A Kind will be released on 25 May via earMUSIC, and he’s released a lyric video for the track ‘Lost Boys.’
The album shines a deserved spotlight on a much-travelled and hugely respected British musician who, in addition to his work with Deep Purple, has worked with Ozzy Osbourne, Rainbow, Whitesnake, Judas Priest, Gary Moore, Brian May, Jethro Tull and Black Sabbath among others. He joined Purple in 2001, initially as a temporary replacement for an ailing Jon Lord, who subsequently retired.
His nimble keyboard fills have been part of Purple on record since 2003’s Bananas, before which he had already played on an incredible collection of landmark British rock albums in a career that began in the late 1960s. He appeared on various albums with Cozy Powell, including the drummer’s 1974 UK hit single ‘Na Na Na,’ three albums with Colosseum II, then on Rainbow’s Down To Earth and Difficult To Cure studio albums.
Airey also played with Michael Schenker, on two Osbourne albums and had a long working relationship with Moore. He has recorded four previous solo albums, the most recent being 2014’s Keyed Up, and his who’s-who of credits also includes records by Thin Lizzy, Brian May, Bruce Dickinson, Graham Bonnet, Colin Blunstone, Judas Priest and a host of others.
One Of A Kind features vocalist Carl Sentance, from the current line-up of Nazareth, plus bassist Laurence Cottle, drummer Jon Finnigan and guitarist Simon McBride. The album will be released in a 2-CD format featuring a live album recorded in 2017 in Hamburg featuring four songs with which Airey is closely associated: Deep Purple’s ‘Pictures Of Home,’ the Rainbow hits ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ and ‘I Surrender’ and Gary Moore’s ‘Still Got The Blues.’
Airey and his band recently complted the One Of A Kind European tour, and he’s back in live action with Purple from 30 May in Moscow.
Explore our Deep Purple Artist Page.
UK English
