Initially influenced by Elvis Presley, Gillan started and fronted several local bands in the mid-1960s, and eventually joined Episode Six when their original singer left.

In addition to his main work—performing with Deep Purple and other bands during the 1970s and 1980s—he sang the role of Jesus in the original recording of Andrew Lloyd Webber's rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar (1970),[1] performed in the charity supergroup Rock Aid Armenia, and engaged in a number of business investments and ventures, including a hotel, a motorcycle manufacturer, and music recording facilities at Kingsway Studios.

[11] Gillan's first attempt at a band was called Garth Rockett and the Moonshiners, and consisted of himself on vocals and drums, alongside guitarist Chris Aylmer, who later went on to work with Bruce Dickinson.

[8] He discovered he couldn't sing and play drums at the same time, so settled on the role of lead vocalist, performing regularly at St Dunstan's Hall, the local youth club.

[12] The band played covers of Sonny Boy Williamson, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard, and were early customers of then-local music shop owner Jim Marshall.

[13] After the Javelins, Gillan joined a soul band, Wainwright's Gentlemen, which included another future Sweet member, drummer Mick Tucker.

[15] Although the band played several local popular music venues, they did not find success,[16] so in April 1965, he decided to join Hatch End-based Episode Six.

[24][22] In June 1969, Blackmore, Lord and Paice went to see Episode Six perform at a pub gig and subsequently offered Gillan the job as new lead singer, asking him if he also knew any good bassists.

Evans and Simper were both fired by managers Tony Edwards and John Coletta after the last show of that tour, which was at the Top Rank Club in Cardiff on 4 July.

[35] By December 1972, having recorded Machine Head, Made in Japan and the yet-to-be-released Who Do We Think We Are with Deep Purple, Gillan finally decided the workload had driven him to exhaustion.

A second was the Mantis Motor Cycles project, which suffered from the collapse of the British motorcycle industry in the mid-1970s, culminating in Gillan being forced to file for liquidation.

[43] The sound of the band had a distinct jazz-rock aspect which, although interesting to Gillan, proved commercially unsuccessful, particularly since punk rock was popular at the time.

[45] Byrd and Barnacle were quickly replaced by Bernie Tormé and by former Episode Six bandmate Mick Underwood, after Gillan saw Torme playing with his punk trio.

[50] Following subsequent album Future Shock, Tormé left following disagreements over the band’s finances and after missing an appearance on Top of the Pops.

[53] In 1983, manager Don Arden invited Gillan to join Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward – founding members of Black Sabbath – in a supergroup.

[56] Along with material from Born Again and older Sabbath numbers, the band regularly played Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" as an encore.

"[59] After the disappointment of Black Sabbath, Gillan joined a reunited Deep Purple in April 1984, announcing their comeback on Tommy Vance's radio show.

[60] The reformed band rehearsed in Stowe, Vermont and recorded the album Perfect Strangers which was followed by a highly successful world tour.

To fulfill his contract with Virgin,[64] he formed a side project with Glover, writing and recording songs which didn't fit Purple's established hard rock style,[65] which resulted in the album Accidentally on Purpose.

[68] Gillan, meanwhile, formed a new version of Garth Rockett and the Moonshiners with keyboardist Mark Buckle, bassist Keith Mulholland, drummer Louis Rosenthal and guitarists Harry Shaw and Steve Morris.

[71] At the urging of Glover, Lord and Paice, who wanted him in the fold for the band's 25th anniversary tour, Gillan rejoined Deep Purple in 1992 to record the album The Battle Rages On.

Gillan was unhappy with working on the album, as it had already been partially completed with Joe Lynn Turner, and he was only required to write replacement lyrics and vocal melodies, which, unsurprisingly, drew criticism from Blackmore.

[73] Gillan was especially enthusiastic about carrying on after Blackmore's departure, and after a brief stint with Joe Satriani, Deep Purple recruited Dixie Dregs/Kansas guitarist Steve Morse.

He was keen to make changes to the live set immediately, adding the then-seldom played "Maybe I'm a Leo" (named after Gillan's birth sign) and "When a Blind Man Cries" – the latter becoming a mainstay in the band's setlist ever since.

He was accompanied by Roger Glover, Steve Morris, Dean Howard, Michael Lee Jackson, Harry James, Sim Jones and Richard Cottle.

Tony Iommi, Jeff Healey, Joe Satriani, Dean Howard, as well as current and former members of Deep Purple such as Jon Lord, Roger Glover, Ian Paice, Don Airey and Steve Morse are featured on this 2006 CD and DVD.

The project, produced by Nick Blagona, includes a re-recorded selection of his Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and solo tracks.

[85] In 2010, Ian Gillan met Tony Iommi, Nicko McBrain and Jon Lord, Mikko Lindström from HIM and Jason Newsted at a studio in London to finish recording a song called "Out of my Mind", which was released the following year.

[86] On the flight back from Armenia in 2011, after each receiving the Armenian Presidential medal of Honour, Gillan and Iommi decided to form the side project WhoCares for ad hoc recordings (and possible performances) dedicated to raising money for specific causes.

[88] In 2010 Ian Gillan hosted a documentary about the Polish composer and pianist Fryderyk Chopin in Poland directed by Jerzy Szkamruk.