GLENN HUGHES: 'I Will Be A Student Of Music And A Student Of Singing Until They Throw The Dirt Over Me'

Glenn Hughes, Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee as member of DEEP PURPLE and bassist/vocalist with supergroup BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION, spoke to the “Iron City Rocks” podcast about his “Glenn Hughes Performs Classic Deep Purple Live” tour, which finds him performing various hits and deep cuts from the DEEP PURPLE catalog, including “Burn”, “Stormbringer”, “Sail Away” and “Smoke On The Water”, among others. Asked if he handles all the vocal parts in the classic PURPLE songs, including those that were originally sung by David Coverdale, Hughes said: “I do sing it all. It’s not like I want somebody in the band to sound like David. I enjoy singing his parts as well as my own parts. I have a very — as you know — bluesy, soulful voice, and I feel kind of comfortable singing some of David‘s stuff. I’ve been singing ‘Burn’ now as a lead vocalist for 45 years, pretty much, and I don’t think anybody really has ever gone home going, ‘Woah, that wasn’t Coverdale.’ I just think I’m doing it because it feels like I can do it; let’s just say I feel free doing it. It’s not a chore for me to do; it’s something I actually enjoy. I wouldn’t sing something I didn’t wanna sing.”

Glenn also talked about his incredibly diverse vocal range and the fact that age just seems to have no effect on his voice whatsoever. “I have taken care of my voice, and I know how to take care of my instrument,” he explained. “And I’m very much an athlete when it comes to taking care of the way I live and the way I conduct my life.

“I will be a student of music and a student of singing until they throw the dirt over me,” he added. “I’ll never be the finished article, ’cause I’m always learning, I will always be studying the artform of music and the artform of singing. And I’ve learned from the greatest singers in the world and the greatest entertainers in the world, and I’ve been full of gratitude for them sharing that with me.”

The 18-city U.S. leg of the “Glenn Hughes Performs Classic Deep Purple Live” tour kicks off on August 25 in Westbury, New York at the NYCB Theatre and travels around the Northeast before wrapping up in Tarrytown, New York on September 22.

Once the U.S. run wraps at the end of September, Hughes will return to Europe to continue to bring his interpretation of the legendary music of DEEP PURPLE to the fans worldwide.

During the “Glenn Hughes Performs Classic Deep Purple Live” tour, Glenn focuses on arrangements from the live albums — not studio recordings — for the classic PURPLE songs, “giving fans even more insight as to what it was like seeing a DEEP PURPLE show during the 1970s,” according to a press release for the tour.

Interview (audio):