Glenn Hughes (musician)

Glenn Hughes (born 21 August 1951) is an English musician, best known for playing bass and performing vocals in the hard rock band Trapeze and in the Mk. III and IV line-ups of Deep Purple, as well as briefly fronting Black Sabbath in the mid-1980s.

In addition to being an active session musician, Hughes also maintains a notable solo career.

Hughes was born in Cannock, Staffordshire, England, on 21 August 1951.

He fronted Finders Keepers in the 1960s as bassist/vocalist, as well as the British funk rock band Trapeze.

Hughes was bassist and lead vocalist for the first three Trapeze albums, released between 1970 and 1972.

He also credited with contributing guitar, piano and trombone to these albums.

Hughes was recruited to replace Roger Glover as bassist in Deep Purple in 1973, though he considered himself more a vocalist than a bassist.

He was reportedly uninterested in the Deep Purple job until some of the other members proposed that Paul Rodgers of Free be brought in as co-lead vocalist.

Although the recruitment of Rodgers fell through, Hughes had now become interested in the "two-lead-singer thing", and David Coverdale was later hired as Deep Purple's lead vocalist.

The two would ultimately share lead vocal duties in the band for the next three albums, until the break-up of Deep Purple in 1976.

Battling a severe cocaine addiction, Hughes then embarked on a solo career, releasing his first solo album in 1977, titled Play Me Out.

This Rickenbacker was eventually given to Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler, who subsequently used it on the Never Say Die! tour in 1978.

In the mid-1980s, Hughes recorded several different albums with bands and artists including Phenomena (Phenomena, Phenomena II: Dream Runner), Gary Moore (Run for Cover), and Black Sabbath (Seventh Star; originally a solo album by Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi that was released as a Sabbath album due to record label pressure).

Hughes' health problems due to overeating, drugs and alcohol began to seriously affect his musical projects and this contributed to very short stints with Gary Moore and Tony Iommi, as Hughes was unable to tour with them properly due to his poor health.

In 1982, he joined with ex-Pat Travers guitarist Pat Thrall to form Hughes/Thrall, and they released one self-titled album which went virtually unnoticed at the time.

Part of the reason for the album's obscurity was the inability to support it with a proper tour, due to both parties suffering from drug addiction.

In 1985 Black Sabbath reunited with original vocalist Ozzy Osbourne for their one-off Live Aid performance.

While waiting for a break in Osbourne's career, Iommi decided to record a solo album and Hughes was brought in to provide the vocals.

Due to the aforementioned contractual obligations with the record company, the album was credited to Black Sabbath featuring Tony Iommi and released in 1986 to generally positive critical reviews.

While touring to promote the new album, Hughes was replaced by vocalist Ray Gillen after just six shows; this was due both to injury from a confrontation with Black Sabbath's production manager John Downing, which contributed to a degradation in his voice, and his not being in good enough physical shape to complete the tour.

Hughes's first bass guitar was a salmon pink, pre-CBS Fender Jazz Bass.

During his tenure in Trapeze, he played a Fender Jazz Bass as well as a Rickenbacker 4001 on the Deep Purple albums Burn, Stormbringer, and Come Taste the Band.

At the end of the decade, Hughes realised his ongoing drug problem was derailing him; a clean, sober and fully rejuvenated Hughes returned by 1991 with the vocal for the hit "America: What Time Is Love?" with The KLF.

He also recorded all the vocals for former Europe guitarist John Norum's solo album Face the Truth.

He then re-embarked on a solo career that has been his primary focus to date.

In 1999, Hughes did a short tribute tour to Tommy Bolin in Texas, with Tommy's brother Johnnie (of Black Oak Arkansas) on drums.

In 2003, Hughes made a guest appearance in the metal opera project "AINA", alongside other guest vocalists like Michael Kiske, Tobias Sammet, Andre Matos, and Simone Simons on the debut album Days of Rising Doom.

In 2005 Hughes released Soul Mover supporting it with a European tour.

He also collaborated with Tony Iommi on the 2005 album Fused.

Hughes then released Music for the Divine in 2006, which featured Red Hot Chili Peppers members Chad Smith and John Frusciante.

Hughes toured in support of the album throughout Europe in autumn 2006.

In 2006 Hughes made a guest appearance on Quiet Riot's eleventh studio album Rehab, doing bass work and songwriting work with the band.

As Hughes stated in a 2007 interview, "The Hughes-Thrall album was a brilliant, brilliant album, but we only did 17 shows because we were too loaded."

Live in Australia, an acoustic CD and companion DVD of a performance at Sydney's famous "Basement" club was released via Edel Records on 17 November 2007.

The album First Underground Nuclear Kitchen was released on 9 May 2008 in Europe and on 12 May in the rest of the world.

In 2009, Hughes formed Black Country Communion with Jason Bonham (drums), Joe Bonamassa (guitar) and Derek Sherinian (keyboards).

The band released three albums through 2012 and disbanded in March 2013 following the departure of Bonamassa.

He currently fronts the supergroup Black Country Communion, and fronted California Breed from 2013 to 2015 and The Dead Daisies from 2019 to 2023.

In 2016, Hughes was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Deep Purple.

In 2016, Hughes was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Deep Purple.