Glenn Hughes is one of rock’s great survivors. After starting out with Trapeze in the early 70s, he went on to huge success as bassist and co-vocalist in the Mk III line-up of Deep Purple.
A debilitating drug addiction almost derailed his career – not to mention nearly ending his life – but after he cleaning up in the late 90s, he experienced a personal and professional resurrection that continues to this day.
During that time, he’s played alongside a series of iconic guitarists, most famously Deep Purple’s Ritchie Blackmore, who recruited Hughes into what would become the band’s Mk III line-up in 1974.
But Hughes has worked with several other acclaimed six-stringers, including former Trapeze bandmate Mel Galley, the late Tommy Bolin (who replaced Blackmore in Deep Purple following the latter’s departure in 1975) and US hotshot Pat Thrall, with whom the bassist briefly formed early-80s supergroup Hughes/Thrall.
Beyond that, he played bass and sang with Gary Moore on the Irish guitarist’s 1985 album Run For Cover, and teamed up with Tony Iommi for Black Sabbath’s 1986 album Seventh Star and the latter’s 2005 solo album, Fused.
Hughes’ own solo career has seen him enlist Jane’s Addiction’s Dave Navarro, Red Hot Chilli Peppers man John Frusciante and Alice Chains’ Jerry Cantrell on guitar, while his ongoing supergroup Black Country Communion finds Hughes playing alongside Joe Bonamassa.
The brand new issue of Classic Rock features an in-depth interview with Hughes, in which he looks back over the highs and lows of his turbulent career, from his early days in Trapeze, via the wild success of Deep Purple to his drug-fuelled decline and subsequent comeback.
In the interview, Hughes is asked to say who is the greatest guitarist he’s ever worked with – and his answer is surprising.
“Oh god, that’s really difficult,” he tells Classic Rock. “I don’t want people to be upset with me because I don’t mention Ritchie or Tommy or Mel or Pat, but I have to say it’s a tie between Gary Moore and Joe Bonamassa.
“I’m talking about the fever it has given me working with them. Gary coming to my house at three in the morning and just blowing my mind - it’s incredible what a guitar player he was.
“And Joe Bonamassa is blowing my mind every night. Bonamassa is the greatest right now.”
In the same interview, Hughes reveals that Chosen could be his final solo record.
“This may be the last Glenn Hughes solo album,” he says. “It was suggested that I needed to do one for the label, I owed them an album. So I thought: ‘Okay, if that’s the way it’s going to be’, and I wrapped my head around it.
“Solo albums, for me, are very personal. I like to make records when I have something to say. I don’t think about genres any more, I just think: ‘How is this going to sit with me?’”
He adds: “I’m not going to retire, but making a solo album tears me up. They’re so personal, they just do a number on me. I can’t make plans. If I make plans, God goes: “No way, pal, we’re not going to do that”.
“If Chosen is the last album I make, it’s an epic way to finish. But then again you never know with me.”
Chosen is released on September 5. Classic Rock has teamed up with Glenn Hughes for an exclusive limited edition issue of the magazine featuring Hughes on the cover and the full interview inside, plus a hand-signed lyric sheet and an exclusive coke-bottle clear vinyl version of the album.
Order this exclusive edition o Classic Rock online here and have it delivered straight to your door.
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