Today in Rock History – 7th JANUARY:

BIRTHDAYS
1945: David Cousins (The Strawbs)

EVENTS
1924: George Gershwin completed “Rhapsody in Blue”, at the age of 26.
1970: Famed Woodstock farmer, Max Yasgur was sued for property damage by his neighbours.
1975: Deep Purple MkIII played their final concert together at Paris Olympia, France.
2018: Death of drummer, Mark Hough a.k.a. Buster Stiggs of The Suburban Reptiles / The Swingers [aged 63].
2018: Death of producer, Chris Tsangarides [aged 61]. He worked with Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Thin Lizzy, Gary Moore, Tygers of Pan Tang, Tom Jones, Concrete Blonde, The Tragically Hip & many others.
2019: Death of singer, Clydie King [aged 75]. Clydie was backing vocalist for Ray Charles, Humble Pie, Bob Dylan, B.B. King, The Rolling Stones, Steely Dan, Joe Cocker, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Dickey Betts, Joe Walsh, Barbra Streisand, Elton John, Linda Ronstadt & many more.
2020: Death of keyboardist / designer / writer / vinyl archivist, Bob Solly of The Manish Boys [aged 75].
2020: Death of drummer / lyricist / author, Neil Peart of Rush [aged 67].
2024: Death of songwriter / guitarist / bandleader, Tony Clarkin of Magnum [aged 77].

49 years ago, it was Deep Purple’s last gig, as guitarist,  Ritchie Blackmore had quit the band, to put together his own group, Rainbow. (The band continued for a year, with guitarist Tommy Bolin, before disbanding. MkII Deep Purple reformed with Blackmore in 1983).

Bit of a shame that there is no film footage of the 1975 concert in Paris, but there are some nice pics added to this ripper rendition of “Mistreated” from the historic gig…