Bogus Deep Purple

In 1980, ex-Deep Purple vocalist Rod Evans was contacted by a management team who offered him a chance to play under the Deep Purple name again, which he took. He fronted this band of unknown session musicians, which became known to Deep Purple fans as the Bogus Deep Purple. The band played across the US, Canada and Mexico, with many shows ending in riots, before the real Deep Purple were contacted and their management sued Evans, since he was the only member of the band who had any rights to the name "Deep Purple". As a result of this, Evans no longer receives royalties from the band's first three albums.

The management company behind the Bogus Deep Purple registered "Deep Purple" as an LLC in February 1980 and mentioned that an album was to be recorded.

On 18 August 1980, the real Deep Purple put an ad in a newspaper underneath an ad for a Bogus Deep Purple concert that was to take place at Long Beach Arena in California, stating:

The following STARS WILL NOT PERFORM at the
Deep Purple Concert at
Long Beach Arena Tomorrow, Aug. 19, 1980.

RITCHIE BLACKMORE
DAVID COVERDALE
IAN GILLAN
ROGER GLOVER
GLENN HUGHES
JON LORD
IAN PAICE

Personnel

• Rod Evans - vocals
• Tony Flynn - guitar
• Tom de Rivera - bass
• Dick Jurgens III - drums
• Geoff Emery - keyboards

The instrumentalists had previously played in a fake Steppenwolf band organised by the same management company a few years before - in fact, there is one gig report stating that the Bogus Steppenwolf opened for the Bogus Deep Purple, using the exact same backing band.

External links

• Excerpt from a Mexican TV show on the Bogus Deep Purple incident, featuring footage of them playing "Smoke on the Water"