Nick Simper
Encyclopedia
Nicholas John Simper is a bass guitarist
, best known as a founding member of Deep Purple
.
, including The Renegades
(1960–61), The Delta Five (1961–63), Some Other Guys (1963–64), Buddy Britten & The Regents renamed Simon Raven Cult (1964–66) and Johnny Kidd & The Pirates. Unfortunately within a few months of joining Kidd and Simper were involved in a car crash that took Kidd's life. After recovering Simper briefly reactivated The Pirates (1966–67) before joining the Garden, the backing band for The Flower Pot Men (1967–68), where he played alongside Jon Lord
. He also had a brief spell with Lord Sutch's Savages, a band that previously had included Ritchie Blackmore
.
Simper was fired from Deep Purple in mid 1969, when new singer Ian Gillan requested that bassist Roger Glover join as well. When Deep Purple
were starting, Simper had proposed that Gillan join as a singer. Gillan is said to have told him that Deep Purple wouldn't go anywhere, while Episode Six (Gillan's band at the time) would make it big.
After his departure, he briefly worked with Marsha Hunt
before forming his own band Warhorse
, that recorded two albums for Vertigo. Warhorse was managed by Ron Hire, originally part of HEC Enterprises, the original investors in Deep Purple. During this time Simper also played on a Lord Sutch live album
, along with Ritchie Blackmore, Keith Moon and several other luminaries.
For Warhorse
, as with so many bands, the important breakthrough of a big selling album hadn’t occurred. There was very strong interest from Warner Bros, with their senior A&R rep (Dave Dee) doing his utmost to sign the band to the label. At Warner Bros expense, they went into the studio and recorded two tracks but in the end it came down to a straight choice between Warhorse
and The Heavy Metal Kids.
By 1974 crippling finances signalled the end for the band. Warhorse’s last gig in late ’74 was at Polhill College, Bedford. Unfortunately their 2000-Watt Midas P.A. broke down and despite the best efforts of their roadie and managers it couldn’t be made to perform properly. They tried, and performed a B.B.King song (Three O’clock In The Morning) to see if they could manage some kind of performance, but it was impossible and they made their apologies to the audience and left.
Simper and guitarist Pete Parks spent the next three years writing, recording and initially formed a new band, called Nick Simper's Dynamite (1975) that released one, now very rare single.
On 9 October 1976 Simper took part in the Johnny Kidd 10th Anniversary Memorial Show at the Edwardian Club at the Loughborough Hotel in Brixton
.
With no financial backing, along with Parks, Simper managed to get Nick Simper's Fandango (1977–83) off the ground and released two albums. Around the same time Frankie Reid formed the band Flying Fox (1977–84) with Carlo Little, Simper and Parks to play rock 'n' roll whenever they were free from commitments from their other bands.
After Little's departure the band renamed itself The Good Old Boys (1985–present). In the mid nineties, Mick Underwood (ex-The Herd, Episode Six, Gillan) invited Simper to become part of the reactivated Quatermass, which had released one album on Harvest in 1970. Under the guise of Quatermass II (1994–97) they recorded one album.
In 2007 Simper also joined the line-up of Adelle & Co with Parks, Adelle Kirk, Jim Byers and Richard Hudson.
Since launching his own website
in 2000s, Simper has renewed his contact with a wider audience. The renaissance of his work has led to a one-off reunion of Warhorse in 2003 (and also 2005); and an appearance at the Deep Purple Convention in Bedford in May 2008 to mark the 40th anniversary of Deep Purple's inception. This performance was released in July 2009.
During a gig in Austria in 2007 Simper performed the Deep Purple song "Emmaretta" with the support band Nasty Habits. In March 2009 Simper again performed with Nasty Habits in Austria
. The band played a setlist composed of songs from the first three Deep Purple studio
album
s under the guise of "The Deep Purple Mark One Songbook". The album was released on August 16, 2010. Later that year Nick Simper & Nasty Habits played another DP Mk1 Songbook show in Plock, Poland.
In 2010 Simper and Nasty Habits played more shows presenting "The Deep Purple Mark One Songbook" in Austria, Switzerland, Hungary and Poland and an album is in the making. The Budapest show was recorded for future release.
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
, best known as a founding member of Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...
.
Biography
Prior to co-founding Deep Purple in 1968, Simper played for a number of bandsMusical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
, including The Renegades
The Sunrays
The Sunrays were an American band from Pacific Palisades, California.-Career:Their first job as the Renegades was at the Seaside Session at Palisades Park in Pacific Palisade...
(1960–61), The Delta Five (1961–63), Some Other Guys (1963–64), Buddy Britten & The Regents renamed Simon Raven Cult (1964–66) and Johnny Kidd & The Pirates. Unfortunately within a few months of joining Kidd and Simper were involved in a car crash that took Kidd's life. After recovering Simper briefly reactivated The Pirates (1966–67) before joining the Garden, the backing band for The Flower Pot Men (1967–68), where he played alongside Jon Lord
Jon Lord
Jonathan Douglas "Jon" Lord is an English composer, pianist and Hammond organ player.Jon Lord, also known as 'Hammond Lord', is a classically trained piano player. He is recognised for his Hammond organ blues-rock sound and for his pioneering work in fusing rock and classical or baroque forms...
. He also had a brief spell with Lord Sutch's Savages, a band that previously had included Ritchie Blackmore
Ritchie Blackmore
Richard Hugh "Ritchie" Blackmore is an English guitarist and songwriter, who was known as one of the first guitarists to fuse Classical music elements with rock. He fronted his own band Rainbow after leaving Deep Purple where he was unhappy because his favourite musical style wasn't adequately...
.
Simper was fired from Deep Purple in mid 1969, when new singer Ian Gillan requested that bassist Roger Glover join as well. When Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...
were starting, Simper had proposed that Gillan join as a singer. Gillan is said to have told him that Deep Purple wouldn't go anywhere, while Episode Six (Gillan's band at the time) would make it big.
After his departure, he briefly worked with Marsha Hunt
Marsha Hunt (singer and novelist)
Marsha Hunt is an American singer, novelist, actress and model.-Early life:Hunt was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1946 and lived in North Philadelphia near 23rd and Columbia then in Germantown and Mount Airy for the first 13 years of her life...
before forming his own band Warhorse
Warhorse (70s band)
Warhorse were a British band formed by the former Deep Purple bassist, Nick Simper.-Career:Simper left Deep Purple in 1969, and joined Marsha Hunt's backing band. Not long after, Simper replaced her backing band with Ged Peck on guitar and Mac Poole on drums. When Hunt became pregnant, the band...
, that recorded two albums for Vertigo. Warhorse was managed by Ron Hire, originally part of HEC Enterprises, the original investors in Deep Purple. During this time Simper also played on a Lord Sutch live album
Live album
A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...
, along with Ritchie Blackmore, Keith Moon and several other luminaries.
For Warhorse
Warhorse (70s band)
Warhorse were a British band formed by the former Deep Purple bassist, Nick Simper.-Career:Simper left Deep Purple in 1969, and joined Marsha Hunt's backing band. Not long after, Simper replaced her backing band with Ged Peck on guitar and Mac Poole on drums. When Hunt became pregnant, the band...
, as with so many bands, the important breakthrough of a big selling album hadn’t occurred. There was very strong interest from Warner Bros, with their senior A&R rep (Dave Dee) doing his utmost to sign the band to the label. At Warner Bros expense, they went into the studio and recorded two tracks but in the end it came down to a straight choice between Warhorse
Warhorse (70s band)
Warhorse were a British band formed by the former Deep Purple bassist, Nick Simper.-Career:Simper left Deep Purple in 1969, and joined Marsha Hunt's backing band. Not long after, Simper replaced her backing band with Ged Peck on guitar and Mac Poole on drums. When Hunt became pregnant, the band...
and The Heavy Metal Kids.
By 1974 crippling finances signalled the end for the band. Warhorse’s last gig in late ’74 was at Polhill College, Bedford. Unfortunately their 2000-Watt Midas P.A. broke down and despite the best efforts of their roadie and managers it couldn’t be made to perform properly. They tried, and performed a B.B.King song (Three O’clock In The Morning) to see if they could manage some kind of performance, but it was impossible and they made their apologies to the audience and left.
Simper and guitarist Pete Parks spent the next three years writing, recording and initially formed a new band, called Nick Simper's Dynamite (1975) that released one, now very rare single.
On 9 October 1976 Simper took part in the Johnny Kidd 10th Anniversary Memorial Show at the Edwardian Club at the Loughborough Hotel in Brixton
Brixton
Brixton is a district in the London Borough of Lambeth in south London, England. It is south south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....
.
With no financial backing, along with Parks, Simper managed to get Nick Simper's Fandango (1977–83) off the ground and released two albums. Around the same time Frankie Reid formed the band Flying Fox (1977–84) with Carlo Little, Simper and Parks to play rock 'n' roll whenever they were free from commitments from their other bands.
After Little's departure the band renamed itself The Good Old Boys (1985–present). In the mid nineties, Mick Underwood (ex-The Herd, Episode Six, Gillan) invited Simper to become part of the reactivated Quatermass, which had released one album on Harvest in 1970. Under the guise of Quatermass II (1994–97) they recorded one album.
In 2007 Simper also joined the line-up of Adelle & Co with Parks, Adelle Kirk, Jim Byers and Richard Hudson.
Since launching his own website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
in 2000s, Simper has renewed his contact with a wider audience. The renaissance of his work has led to a one-off reunion of Warhorse in 2003 (and also 2005); and an appearance at the Deep Purple Convention in Bedford in May 2008 to mark the 40th anniversary of Deep Purple's inception. This performance was released in July 2009.
During a gig in Austria in 2007 Simper performed the Deep Purple song "Emmaretta" with the support band Nasty Habits. In March 2009 Simper again performed with Nasty Habits in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. The band played a setlist composed of songs from the first three Deep Purple studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
s under the guise of "The Deep Purple Mark One Songbook". The album was released on August 16, 2010. Later that year Nick Simper & Nasty Habits played another DP Mk1 Songbook show in Plock, Poland.
In 2010 Simper and Nasty Habits played more shows presenting "The Deep Purple Mark One Songbook" in Austria, Switzerland, Hungary and Poland and an album is in the making. The Budapest show was recorded for future release.
with Deep Purple
- 1968 Shades of Deep PurpleShades of Deep PurpleShades of Deep Purple is the debut album by English hard rock band Deep Purple, released in 1968 on Parlophone in the United Kingdom and Tetragrammaton in the United States....
(Re-mastered ed.: 2000) - 1968 The Book of TaliesynThe Book of Taliesyn- Side two :- Bonus tracks on the CD re-issue :- Personnel :* Rod Evans - lead vocals* Ritchie Blackmore - guitar* Nick Simper - bass, backing vocals* Jon Lord - Hammond organ, keyboards, backing vocals, string arrangements on "Anthem"* Ian Paice - drums...
(Re-mastered ed.: 2000) - 1969 Deep PurpleDeep Purple (album)Deep Purple, also referred to as Deep Purple III, is the third studio album by English rock band Deep Purple, released in 1969 on Harvest Records in the UK and on Tetragrammaton in the US...
(Re-mastered ed.: 2000) - 2002 Inglewood - Live in CaliforniaInglewood - Live in CaliforniaInglewood: Live in California is a live album by Deep Purple. It was recorded in Los Angeles on October 18, 1968, as the supporting band for Cream, at their Farewell Tour...
(Re-release: 2009) - 2004 The Early YearsThe Early Years (Deep Purple album)The Early Years is a 2004 compilation album by Deep Purple. This is a compilation of material released in 1968 and 1969, and unreleased mixes and new mixes of tracks released in the same period.-Track listing:...
with Johnny Kidd & The Pirates
- 1970 The Johnny Kid Memorial Album (France)
- 1978 The Best Of Johnny Kid & The Pirates
- 1983 Rarities
- 1990 The Classic & Rare
with Warhorse
- 1970 Warhorse (UK: Vertigo 6360 015)
- UK re-releases: 1983, Thunderbolt THBL-004 (as "Vulture Blood") / 1997, RPM Records RPM-174, incl. bonus tracks / 1998, Angel Air SJPCD 034, incl. bonus tracks
- 1972 Red Sea (UK: Vertigo)
- UK re-releases: 1984, Thunderbolt THBL-010 / 1997, RPM Records RPM-175, incl. bonus tracks / 1998, Angel Air SJPCD 035, incl. bonus tracks
- 1997 The Warhorse Story - Vols I & II (UK)
with Nick Simper's Fandango
- 1979 Slipstreaming (Germany: Shark Records INT 148.503 / UK: Gull Records GULP 1033)
- 1980 Future Times (Germany: Shark Records INT 148.506)
- 1982 Just Another Day/Wish I'd Never Woke Up (UK SP: Paro Records Paro-S4)
- 1993 The Deep Purple Family Album (UK CD 1993: Connoisseur RP VSOP CD 187) ("The Stallion")
- 1994 Slipstreaming / Future Times (UK 2CD: RPM Records RPM-125)
- 1999 Slipstreaming / Future Times (UK 2CD: Angel Air SJPCD 041) (incl. bonus tracks)
with The Good Old Boys
- 2005 Live At The Horns (CD+DVD) (unofficial release)
- 2007 We Can't Do This When We're Dead - Rock n' Roll!!! (DVD) (unofficial release)
- 2009 Live At The Deep Purple Convention (UK: Wymer Records TSA1001)
with Nasty Habits (Deep Purple Mk1 Songbook)
- 2009 The Austrian Tapes - Live At The Orpheum Graz (DVD) (unofficial release)
- 2009 The Austrian Tapes - Live At The Reigen (DVD) (unofficial release)
- 2010 Dolina Charlotty - See You in August (DVD) (unofficial release)
- 2010 The Deep Purple MKI Songbook (CD) (UK: Wymer Records TSA1002)
Guest appearances
- 1972 Hands Of Jack The Ripper (Screaming Lord SutchScreaming Lord SutchDavid Edward Sutch , also known as "Screaming Lord Sutch, 3rd Earl of Harrow", or simply "Screaming Lord Sutch", was a musician from the United Kingdom...
& Heavy Friends) - 1983 Roscoe Rocks Again (Roscoe Gordon)
- 2003 Rag Moppin (Wee Willie HarrisWee Willie HarrisWee Willie Harris is a British rock and roll singer. He is best known for his energetic stage shows and TV performances since the 1950s, when he was known as "Britain's wild man of rock 'n' roll".-Life and career:Working a job as a pudding mixer at Peek Freans' London bakery, Harris turned...
& the Alabama Slammers) - 2007 Carlo Little Night Of Honour (DVD)
- 2008 White Horses of Lyme Bay (CD EP)
- 2009 Never Stop Rockin (Carlo LittleCarlo LittleCarlo Little was a rock and roll drummer, based in the London nightclub scene in the 1960s. He played in an early version of The Rolling Stones...
All Stars) - 2010 Skulduggery (Blaggards & Cowboys)
Film and TV appearances
- 1991 Deep Purple - Heavy Metal Pioneers (Warner Music)
- 1995 Rock Family Trees - Deep Purple (BBC)
- 1999 Swinging London (WDR)
- 2008 Guitar Gods - Ritchie Blackmore (DVD)
- 2008 Deep Purple - In Their Own Words (DVD)