Simon McBride has stepped down permanently from Deep Purple to care for his wife, Janine, who has…
Steve Morse has stepped down permanently from Deep Purple to care for his wife, Janine, who has cancer. Earlier in March, the guitarist announced that he would be taking a hiatus from the band, in the hope of returning to the fold once her health improved.
In a statement shared on the official Deep Purple Facebook page, Morse said that there was no way he could commit to tours under such circumstances.
The situation had come to head in last fall, when Morse had to leave a writing session in Germany, after which he suggested to the band that they might need a substitute. Simon McBride duly stepped in to the touring lineup when Morse announced his hiatus.
“Almost a year later, we are learning to accept stage 4 aggressive cancer and chemo treatment for the rest of her life,” Morse wrote.
“We both miss being at shows, but I simply couldn’t commit to long, or far away tours, since things can change quickly at home.
I suggested lining up a substitute guitarist last autumn, hoping we could see the miraculous cancer cure all of us have heard about. As time went by, I could see the way things were heading though, after 28 years of being in the band.”
“I’m now handing over the keys to the vault which holds the secret of how Ritchie’s Smoke on the Water intro was recorded,” Morse wrote. “I guess you have to jiggle the key just right because I never got it open.”
Morse thanked fans for turning “every show from a dress rehearsal to a thundering, exciting experience” and said he will miss the band and crew.
“Being Janines helper and advocate has made a real difference at many key points,” he continued. “As Janine adjusts to her limitations, she is able to do many things on her own, so we will try to play some shorter nearby concert tours with friends to, hopefully, get both of us out of the house!
