While pursuing a solo career in music, Glenn Hughes also contributed to bands like Trapeze, Black Sabbath, The Dead Daisies, and California Breed. Although performing with numerous bands over the decades, he landed in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame thanks to his work with the band Deep Purple. Having spent almost six decades in the spotlight, the musician recently discussed his connection with David Bowie and how the star wanted him always to change.
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Speaking with Guitar Interactive about his years in the music industry, Hughes revealed how Bowie wrote a great deal of the Station to Station while quietly living in his home. “I got a call from him in Feb. ’75. He asked me privately, ‘I’m gonna come on a train to L.A. – can I stay with you?’” While one of the biggest stars in music, Bowie kept his word and arrived by train. And he was alone.
When Hughes returned home after a tour with Deep Purple, he found Bowie in his closet. “He was throwing some of my clothes away from my closet – some of the bell-bottoms, some of the boots. We had dinner one night and he said, ‘Listen, you’ve gotta keep changing, man…’ I saw him [becoming] the Thin White Duke and I learned so much from him changing; that’s what I’ve taken from him ever since.”
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Glenn Hughes No Longer Speaking With Deep Purple
Still holding the advice close, Hughes added, “You’ll notice a definite change in my look next year. You’ll notice it in my clothes… I love the Purple legacy but I’m saying goodbye to it. Thanks to Bowie – because he was still alive right now he’d be calling me, saying, ‘Are you still doing that?’ He would be very pissed off!”
As for his ongoing relationship with Deep Purple, Hughes spoke bluntly when discussing their induction into the Hall of Fame back in 2016. “I will never speak to any of them again.” He continued, “Roger [Glover], Ian [Paice] and [Ian] Gillan were rude to David Coverdale and I – very, very hurtful. I didn’t give a f**k, actually, because I knew they were rude to begin with.”
(Photo by Nicholas Hunt/FilmMagic)
