Roderic Evans (born 19 January 1947) is a retired British singer known as the original vocalist of the rock bands Deep Purple and Captain Beyond.
Evans began his professional career in The Maze before becoming a founding member of Deep Purple in 1968, with whom he recorded their first three studio albums. After recording a solo single, he co-founded Captain Beyond in 1971, with whom he recorded their first two studio albums. Following a brief legal battle with Deep Purple in 1980, Evans retired from music.
Early career
Rod Evans was born on 19 January 1947 in Edinburgh, Scotland but grew up in Slough, Buckinghamshire, England.[1]
He "had been fronting groups since he was 17"[2] and played together with drummer Ian Paice in The Maze, formerly MI5. He was also in a band called The Horizons in the mid-1960s.
Deep Purple
Evans and Paice were original members of Deep Purple when they formed in Hertfordshire in 1968.[3]
According to Deep Purple's founding bassist, Nick Simper, Evans was hired after "dozens" of other singers were auditioned. Evans clinched his place in the band after sharing an idea to rearrange the Beatles' song "Help!" as a ballad. This version of "Help!" was subsequently recorded for Deep Purple's debut album Shades of Deep Purple, but the most recognised song recorded with Evans is a cover of a Joe South composition called "Hush", which reached No. 4 on the US Billboard charts in October 1968.
After recording three studio albums and one non-album single ("Emmaretta"), Evans was dismissed in the summer of 1969 while on tour, with the last Deep Purple performance to feature Evans and Nick Simper taking place at the Top Rank in Cardiff, Wales on 4 July 1969.[1] Evans was replaced by Ian Gillan.[3] It had been decided by Ritchie Blackmore, Jon Lord and Ian Paice that Evans' pop vocal style would not be suitable for the heavier hard rock sound the band wanted to achieve moving forward.[5] Another factor in Evans' dismissal from Deep Purple was his desire to move to the United States.[6]
Captain Beyond
In 1971, Evans recorded a solo single for Capitol,[7] titled "Hard To Be Without You" (b/w "You Can't Love A Child Like A Woman"). That same year, he went on to form Captain Beyond, along with former Johnny Winter drummer Bobby Caldwell, former Iron Butterfly bassist Lee Dorman and guitarist Larry "Rhino" Reinhardt, who also was part of the last incarnation of Iron Butterfly.
Evans left Captain Beyond and the music business after two albums. He acquired a medical degree and became a director of respiratory therapy at a California hospital until 1980.[8][1]
Deep Purple controversy and lawsuit
In 1980, Evans was approached by a management company that specialized in the unscrupulous and frequently legally actionable practice of reforming groups with a minimum of original members, often in violation of trademark and contractual law. They offered him a chance to sing again under the Deep Purple name and he accepted. According to Nick Simper, the original Deep Purple bassist, Evans asked him to join the "new" Deep Purple, but Simper refused. Evans himself claimed in September 1980 that his former Deep Purple bandmates Jon Lord and Ian Paice had also been contacted to participate, but both were uninterested. This "bogus Deep Purple", comprising no former Deep Purple members apart from Evans, played a number of shows in Canada, Mexico and the US. The band performed renditions both of songs from Evans' own tenure in the band, which Deep Purple biographer Dave Thompson described as "reasonable", as well as songs from the Gillan and Coverdale eras, which were described as "horrendous" and to confirm the "bogus Deep Purple's" "complete lack of legitimate credentials". Several shows ended in what was described as "rioting", with chairs being thrown onto the stage at a gig in Toronto on August 12, 1980. The band had also talked of releasing an album of new material under the "Deep Purple" name, with 6 tracks being recorded in Los Angeles; this angered Jon Lord, who described such a possibility as "the worst lie".[9][1][10]
A registered company, Deep Purple Overseas Ltd., had been registered with Companies House in the UK 9 years prior in 1971 to safeguard the "Deep Purple" name from unwarranted exploitation. Members of the management team of then-disbanded genuine Deep Purple John Coletta and Tony Edwards successfully sued and were awarded $672,000 in damages. As a result, Evans stopped receiving royalties from the Mark I Deep Purple albums.[9][1]
Later life
Evans has not appeared publicly since the 1980 court case and his current whereabouts have been of considerable interest to fans of early Deep Purple online since at least the late 1990s.[9]
In 2015, Ian Paice said, "If anyone knows where Rod is or even if he is still on the planet, that would be good news. We haven't had contact with him since the late 1970s. Nobody seems to know where the hell he is, or even if he is still alive. Not a clue."[11]
In a 2015 interview, Captain Beyond drummer Bobby Caldwell mentioned that he was in touch with Evans, saying that Evans is "just doing fine these days" and had gone back to working in respiratory therapy for a long time.[12] Caldwell similarly confirmed in September 2017 that Evans was "doing great", adding that Evans, who is married to another respiratory therapist, was residing in Northern California and had no plans to perform again.[13]
Evans was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Deep Purple in 2016 but, despite being invited, he did not attend the ceremony.
Discography
Solo
"It's Hard To Be Without You" / "You Can't Love A Child Like A Woman" (1971), Single, Promo only
^ abcdeThompson, Dave (2004). Smoke on the Water - The Deep Purple Story. ECW Press. pp. 17, 225–231. ISBN9781550226188.
^"Pre Deep Purple -- Ian Paice and Rod Evans". The Deep Purple Appreciation Society. DPAS/Darker Than Blue. Retrieved 31 January 2023. Evans had been fronting groups since he was 17...
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