Don Airey
| Don Airey | |
|---|---|
Don Airey performing with Deep Purple in 2005
|
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Donald Smith Airey |
| Born |
21 June 1948 Sunderland, England |
| Genres | Rock, hard rock, heavy metal, blues rock, progressive rock, jazz fusion |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
| Instruments | Keyboards |
| Years active | 1969–present |
| Associated acts | Deep Purple, Rainbow, Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, Electric Light Orchestra, Gary Moore, Glenn Tipton, Judas Priest, Wishbone Ash, Whitesnake, Ten, Jethro Tull, Hollywood Monsters, Divlje jagode |
Donald Smith "Don" Airey (born 21 June 1948 in Sunderland, England) has been the keyboardist in the rock band Deep Purple since 2002, after the retirement of Jon Lord. He has had a long and productive career, playing with such acts as Gary Moore, Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Jethro Tull, Whitesnake, Saxon, Wishbone Ash, Steve Vai, Colosseum II, Ten, Sinner, Michael Schenker, Rainbow, Empire, Thin Lizzy, Brian May, Divlje jagode and Living Loud. He has also worked with Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Inspired by his father, Norman Airey, Don Airey took a love for music at a young age and was trained in classical piano from the age of seven. He continued his love for music by earning a degree at the University of Nottingham and a diploma at the Royal Northern College of Music (where he studied under Ryszard Bakst).
In 1971 he moved to London and joined Cozy Powell's band Hammer. Don worked on several albums with solo artists and was a session musician on the 1978 Black Sabbath album Never Say Die! Soon after, he joined guitarist Ritchie Blackmore's band, Rainbow, and featured on Gary Moore's solo debut Back on the Streets. With Rainbow he contributed to two hit albums, Down to Earth and Difficult to Cure. He was also part of the very influential jazz rock band Colosseum II, with Jon Hiseman, Gary Moore, Mike Starrs, Neil Murray and later John Mole, which also formed the core band that recorded Andrew Lloyd Webber's variations on a theme of Paganini, simply called Variations.
...
Wikipedia