Don Airey

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Don Airey (2005)
Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
One of a kind
  DE 91 06/01/2018 (1 week)
Contractual Obligations # 2 (with Ian Gillan )
  DE 41 08/02/2019 (1 week)
  AT 56 08/09/2019 (1 week)
  CH 38 08/04/2019 (1 week)

Donald Smith "Don" Airey (born June 21, 1948 in Sunderland , England ) is an English rock musician . Since March 2002 he has been a member of the hard rock band Deep Purple , in which he replaced keyboardist Jon Lord .

In his long career - he has already worked on more than 200 albums - he previously played with bands and artists such as Colosseum II , Ozzy Osbourne , Judas Priest , Black Sabbath , Gary Moore , Brian May , Jethro Tull , Whitesnake , Divlje Jagode , Michael Schenker Group , Rainbow , Strawbs , Andrew Lloyd Webber , Olaf Lenk and many others.

biography

Don Airey was born on June 21, 1948 in Sunderland , northeast England. As a child he showed an interest in music and took classical piano lessons. At the age of 13 he founded a jazz trio and played with several bands from Sunderland. Wanting to become a professional musician, he graduated from the University of Nottingham and graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music .

In 1974 he went to London and initially joined Cozy Powell's band Hammer . He then appeared on numerous albums by solo artists and the Colosseum successor band Colosseum II , until he joined Black Sabbath on short notice in 1978 and with them Never Say Die! recorded, the last album of the Ozzy Osbourne era. In the same year he was on Gary Moore 's second solo album Back On The Streets and joined Ritchie Blackmore's band Rainbow , with whom he recorded the albums Down to Earth and Difficult to Cure .

In 1980 he took part on Osbourne's debut solo album Blizzard of Ozz , on which he made a particular appearance with a keyboard intro to the piece Mr. Crowley . After leaving Rainbow, he concentrated on working with Osbourne for three years, which resulted in the albums Bark at the Moon and Speak of the Devil . On March 19, 1982, Airey was the main witness when Randy Rhoads and Rachel Youngblood were killed in a plane crash. He himself had flown with this machine minutes before and saw the accident up close. In 1986, former Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Asia drummer Carl Palmer tried to put together a trio with Don Airey and the Californian singer, bassist and guitarist Robert Berry . But the first band rehearsals were unsatisfactory and the band did not materialize. In 1987 he joined Jethro Tull as a tour musician. He gave up this job to record the solo album K2 .

By 2001 Airey had withdrawn from the music business with a few short-term exceptions. This year he initially stepped in as a temporary solution for Jon Lord, who lost his health due to a tour at Deep Purple . When he finally separated from the band, Airey moved up as a permanent keyboardist in March 2002. The albums Bananas and Rapture of the Deep , Now What ?! as well as Infinite . In 2006 Airey played on Gary Moore's album Old New Ballads Blues on all tracks. In 2008 his second solo album A light in the sky was released.

Airey lives in south-west Cambridgeshire , England with his wife, with whom he has three children .

Discography

  • 1970: Quatermass (album, Harvest Records)
  • 1974 - Cozy Powell - Na Na Na (Single)
  • 1976 - Babe Ruth - Kid's Stuff
  • 1976 - Colosseum II - Strange New Flesh
  • 1977 - Colosseum II - Electric Savage
  • 1977 - Colosseum II - War Dance
  • 1977 Andrew Lloyd Webber Variations
  • 1978 Jim Rafferty Don't Talk Back
  • 1978 - Strife - Back to Thunder
  • 1978 - Black Sabbath - Never Say Die!
  • 1978 - Gary Moore - Back on the Streets
  • 1979 - Rainbow - Down to Earth
  • 1979 - Cozy Powell - Over the Top
  • 1980 - Michael Schenker Group - The Michael Schenker Group
  • 1980 - Bernie Marsden - And About Time Too
  • 1981 - Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Ozz
  • 1981 - Cozy Powell - Tilt
  • 1981 - Rainbow - Difficult to Cure
  • 1982 Gary Moore Corridors of Power
  • 1982 Gary Moore Rockin 'Every Night
  • 1983 Ozzy Osbourne Bark at the Moon
  • 1983 - Chris Thompson - Out of the Night
  • 1984 Gary Moore Dirty Fingers
  • 1985 Alaska The Pack
  • 1985 - Phenomena - Phenomena
  • 1985 - Gary Moore - Run for Cover
  • 1986 - Rainbow - Finyl Vinyl
  • 1986 - Zeno - Zeno
  • 1987 - Thin Lizzy - Soldier of Fortune
  • 1987 - Whitesnake - Whitesnake
  • 1987 - Wild Strawberries - Wild Strawberries
  • 1988 - Fastway - Bad Bad Girls
  • 1988 - Jethro Tull - 20 Years of Jethro Tull
  • 1989 - Don Airey - K2: Tales of Triumph and Tragedy
  • 1989 - Gary Moore - After the War
  • 1989 Whitesnake Slip of the Tongue
  • 1990 Gary Moore Still Got the Blues
  • 1990 Perfect Crime Blond on Blonde
  • 1990 Jagged Edge You Don't Love Me
  • 1990 - Judas Priest - Painkiller
  • 1990 Forcefield IV Let the Wild Run Free
  • 1990 Tigertailz Love Bomb Baby
  • 1992 Cozy Powell Let the Wild Run Free
  • 1992 - UFO - High Stakes and Dangerous Men
  • 1992 - Anthem - Domestic Booty
  • 1992 - Kaizoku - Kaizoku
  • 1993 - Brian May - Back to the Light
  • 1994 - Graham Bonnet - Here Comes the Night
  • 1994 The Kick Tough Trip Thru Paradise
  • 1994 - Katrina and the Waves - turnaround
  • 1997 - Quatermass II - Long Road
  • 1997 - Glenn Tipton - Baptizm of Fire
  • 1998 - Colin Blunstone - The Light
  • 1998 - Crossbones - Crossbones
  • 1998 - The Cage - The Cage
  • 1998 - Olaf Lenk - Sunset Cruise
  • 1998 - Eddie Hardin - Wind in the Willows (live)
  • 1998 - The Snakes - Live in Europe
  • 1999 - Millennium - Millennium
  • 2000 - Micky Moody - I Eat Them for Breakfast
  • 2000 - Silver - Silver
  • 2000 - Uli Jon Roth - Transcendental Sky Guitar
  • 2000 - Olaf Lenk's FOOD - Fun Stuff
  • 2000 - Ten - Babylon AD
  • 2000 Company of Snakes Burst The Bubble
  • 2001 - Mario Fasciano - E-Thnic
  • 2001 - Judas Priest - Demolition
  • 2001 - Silver - Dream Machines
  • 2001 - Rolf Munkes' Empire - Hypnotica
  • 2001 - Company of Snakes - Here They Go Again
  • 2002 - Metalium - Hero Nation Chapter Three
  • 2002 Bernie Marsden Big Boy Blue
  • 2002 - Bruce Dickinson - Tattooed Millionaire
  • 2002 - Rolf Munkes' Empire - Trading Souls
  • 2003 - Deep Purple - Bananas
  • 2003 - Living Loud - Living Loud
  • 2003 - Silver - Intruder
  • 2005 - Deep Purple - Rapture of the Deep
  • 2006 - Gary Moore - Old New Ballads Blues
  • 2008 - Don Airey - A Light in the Sky
  • 2008 - Michael Schenker Group - In the Midst of Beauty
  • 2011 - Saxon - Call to Arms
  • 2011 - Michael Schenker - Temple of Rock
  • 2011 - Don Airey - All Out
  • 2013 - Deep Purple - Now What ?!
  • 2014 - Don Airey - Keyed Up
  • 2017 - Deep Purple - Infinite
  • 2018 - Don Airey - One of a Kind
  • 2019 - Ian Gillan with the Don Airey Band and Orchestra - Contractual Obligations # 2
  • 2020 - Deep Purple - Whoosh!

Web links

Commons : Don Airey  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Chart sources Germany - Austria - Switzerland
  2. racerxband.com
  3. Ozzy Osbourne: I AM OZZY; Heyne Verlag 2009
  4. US record review at Peacedogman.com Author: Mark Marchman (2006) ( Memento from September 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  5. Michael Flexig