Glenn Hughes

by Steve Huey
Starting out as the bassist and lead vocalist for English hard rockers Trapeze (which evolved from British soulsters the News) in 1969, Glenn Hughes achieved his greatest fame as the bass player of Deep Purple from 1974 until the group split in 1976. Hughes subsequently reconvened Trapeze (with no records resulting) and issued his solo debut, Play Me Out, in 1978. His next effort, recorded with guitarist Pat Thrall under the name Hughes/Thrall, appeared in 1983, and worked in the supergroup Phenomena in 1985. Hughes then joined Black Sabbath as lead singer for 1986's The Seventh Star, departing after that album and eventually surfacing with -- of all artists -- the techno/house group the KLF, performing on their 1991 single "America -- What Time Is Love?." In 1993, Mike Varney's Shrapnel label issued the new Hughes solo album Blues, on which he played bass and sang with an array of guest guitarists. A string of solo releases followed through the '90s, including 1995's Burning Japan Live, 1997's Addiction (which addressed some of the personal problems that had kept Hughes out of recording for most of the latter half of the '80s), and 1999's The Way It Is. Mid-2000 saw the release of Return to Crystal Karma and Feel. The bluesy Building the Machine hit the shelves in 2001 while 2002's Hughes Turner Project coupled the bassist with another Deep Purple alumni, Joe Lynn Turner. Songs in the Key of Rock appeared in 2003, followed by Soul Mover in 2005.