Nick Simper

Nicholas John Simper (born 3 November 1945) is an English bass guitarist, who was a co-founding member of Deep Purple and Warhorse. In the 1960s, he began his professional career in bands such as Johnny Kidd & the Pirates, The Flower Pot Men, and Lord Sutch's Savages.

Simper was born in Frogmore House Maternity Home, Norwood Green, Southall, Middlesex. Prior to co-founding Deep Purple in 1968, Simper played for a number of bands, including The Renegades (1960–1961), The Delta Five (1961–1963), Some Other Guys (1963–1964), Buddy Britten & The Regents renamed Simon Raven Cult (1964–1966) and Johnny Kidd & the Pirates. After a few months of his joining The Pirates, Simper and Kidd were involved in a car crash that took Kidd's life and left Simper injured. After recovering, Simper briefly reactivated The Pirates as a tribute band to Kidd (1966–1967) before joining the Garden, the backing band for The Flower Pot Men (1967–1968), where he played alongside Jon Lord who initially suggested that Simper be asked to join Deep Purple. Simper also had a brief encounter with Lord Sutch's Savages.

Simper played bass on three Deep Purple albums from 1968 to 1969. He was fired from Deep Purple in mid-1969 together with original singer Rod Evans. When new singer Ian Gillan from the band Episode Six was sought as a replacement for Evans, bandmate Roger Glover tagged along to play bass at some rehearsals and recorded the single "Hallelujah" for Deep Purple.

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 and Keith Moon.

For Warhorse, the breakthrough of a big selling album had not occurred. There was very strong interest from Warner Bros., with their senior A&R rep (Dave Dee) attempting to sign the band to the label. At Warner Bros. expense, they went into the studio and recorded two tracks, competing with Heavy Metal Kids.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.