It’s easy to assume that joining a legendary rock band would come with a mix of tension, ego, and the weight of legacy. But for keyboardist Don Airey, whose résumé includes time with Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Deep Purple, and Whitesnake, stepping into the spotlight of such iconic groups has often been surprisingly down-to-earth.
“Walking into the Black Sabbath sessions, they had a terrible reputation — Tony Iommi for hitting people, Ozzy for being mad,” Airey recalled during a recent appearance on the Music Buzzz podcast (via Blabbermouth). “And so I walked in with my keyboards and set them up, and then they all came in. And the first thing Ozzy said, ‘Would you like a cup of tea?’ ‘I’d love one, please, Ozzy.’”
It wasn’t the chaos he expected. Instead, the experience had the warmth of a close-knit household. “So we sat down, had a cup of tea. It was like being in someone’s front room with a family, which is what they were — they were a family… They were just wonderful. Same with Judas Priest. Same with all these bands. Same with Purple.”
That sense of connection seemed to follow Airey wherever he went. In 2002, when Jon Lord of Deep Purple fell ill, Airey got a call from Roger Glover that would shape the next chapter of his career.
“Roger phoned me up. He said, ‘What are you doing tomorrow?’ ‘I’m conducting an orchestra at a Welsh festival.’ He said, ‘What are you doing the day after?’ I said, ‘Nothing much.’ He said, ‘Well, Deep Purple needs you. We’re doing the festival in Skanderborg [Denmark]. Jon’s ill. Can you stand in for him? Just three gigs.”
Despite the short notice, Airey jumped in. When he asked for a setlist, Glover simply replied: “‘Oh, setlist?’ He said, ‘Whatever you fancy.’” Airey did a quick run-through with then-guitarist Steve Morse, who took the opportunity to finally perform “The Well-Dressed Guitar,” a piece Jon Lord had always declined to include in the set.
“I went on stage and I just had to wing it. You either do or you don’t… I stood in for Jon for 20 gigs and then thought nothing more of it except how wonderful it’d been. And then they phoned me up and said, ‘Jon’s left. We’ve got four names on the to-do list, all of ’em yours. Would you join?’ I said, ‘I’ll have to sleep on it. Yes.’”
Airey’s career has been a remarkable patchwork of such pivotal moments. In the late ’70s, he briefly joined Black Sabbath, contributing keyboards to Never Say Die!, before heading to New York to join Rainbow at the request of drummer Cozy Powell.
Then, in 1980, during a break from Rainbow, Airey played on Ozzy Osbourne’s landmark debut solo album Blizzard Of Ozz. That project turned into a longer commitment. At the conclusion of the Rainbow tour, Don flew to Los Angeles and climbed aboard the Ozzy crazy train, staying for another three-year stint that saw the album Bark At The Moon.
