Editing Jon Lord (section)

===Formation of Deep Purple===
In early 1967, through his roommate [[Chris Curtis (musician)|Chris Curtis]] of the [[The Searchers (band)|Searchers]], Lord met businessman [[Tony Edwards (manager)|Tony Edwards]] who was looking to invest in the music business alongside partners Ron Hire and John Coletta (HEC Enterprises). Session guitarist [[Ritchie Blackmore]] was called in and he met Lord for the first time, but Chris Curtis's erratic behaviour led the trio nowhere. Edwards was impressed enough by Jon Lord to ask him to form a band after Curtis faded out. Said Edwards, "I couldn't really cope with [Curtis] but I had a great rapport with Jon Lord; here was somebody sensible, somebody I could communicate with on my level."<ref>Tyler, Kieron [http://www.deep-purple.net/archive/68-76history/roundabout.htm On The Roundabout With Deep Purple] Retrieved 31 August 2020</ref> Simper was contacted, and Blackmore was recalled from [[Hamburg]]. Although top British player [[Bobbie Clarke]] was the first choice as drummer, during the auditions for a singer, [[Rod Evans]] of "The Maze" came in with his own drummer, [[Ian Paice]]. Blackmore, who had been impressed by Paice's drumming when he met him in 1967, set up an audition for Paice as well. The band was called the "Roundabout" at first and began rehearsals at Deeves Hall in Hertfordshire. In March 1968, this became the "Mark 1" line-up of "[[Deep Purple]]": Lord, Simper, Blackmore, Paice, and Evans.

Lord also did session work in the late 1960s with the band "Boz", along with Blackmore (guitar) and Paice (drums), given that Boz was being produced by [[Derek Lawrence]] who produced Deep Purple's first three albums. Boz was led by [[Boz Burrell]] (vocals/guitar, later bassist for [[King Crimson]] and [[Bad Company]]) and also included [[Chas Hodges]] (bass guitar).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/boz-burrell-mn0000099073/biography |title=Boz Burrell - Artist Biography by Bruce Eder |last=Eder |first=Bruce |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=30 November 2020}}</ref>