Paice, Ashton Lord

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fter Deep Purple broke up in 1976, drummer Ian Paice and keyboardist Jon Lord formed their own act, Paice Ashton Lord, with friend Tony Ashton (keyboards/vocals). After extensive auditions, Bernie Marsden (guitar) and Paul Martinez (bass) would be recruited.

Ashton and Lord had previously ventured on their own with the 1974 album First of the Big Bands and on Lord's own Gemini Suite project in 1971, singing lead vocals on one track. He also had collaborated on Lord's solo work, as well as Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover's solo projects.

Soon after Ashton broke his leg falling off a stage at a London concert, the group was folded after releasing only a single album, Malice in Wonderland (1977). Lord, Marsden and later Paice joined David Coverdale's Whitesnake operation. Martinez joined Stan Webb's Chicken Shack for a spell, before joining John Otway for one album, and later with Robert Plant. Paice would later play in Gary Moore's band before he and Lord joined the re-formed Deep Purple in 1984.

Ashton would die of cancer on 28 May 2001. Jon Lord followed him to the Great Beyond of pancreatic cancer, on 16 July 2012.