Glenn Hughes

Whether onstage with Deep Purple or in the studio with Black Sabbath, Glenn Hughes has always been a soul musician saddled with a rock star’s career. While he was able to follow in the funky footsteps of bands like Sly & the Family Stone as a part of the early ’70s funk-rock outfit Trapeze, his career path changed when he joined the heavy rock band Deep Purple at the height of the group’s popularity. Hughes replaced Roger Glover and assumed vocal duties from Ian Gillan on 1974’s Burn [Warner Bros.].

As if that weren’t enough to establish Glenn as a hard-rock heavyweight, he joined up with monster riff-master Tony Iommi for the 1986 Black Sabbath album Seventh Star [Warner Bros.], contributing bass and vocals for the metal pioneers. Ten years later, Hughes again entered the studio with Iommi; the long-awaited album 1996 DEP Sessions was officially released by Sanctuary just last year.

Despite Glenn’s familiarity with the hard rock limelight, he is most comfortable belting out vocals with his raspy, bluesy tones and laying down soulful bass grooves. On his latest solo release, Soul Mover, Hughes finally gets to indulge every funky four-on-the-floor impulse. “It’s almost like this is the first record for me,” he says. “I’ve been with record companies in the last ten or 15 years that have wanted me to be one-dimensional. To them, I was Glenn Hughes of Deep Purple, and they wanted that Deep Purple element.

“As you know, we all borrow from everyone,” he continues. “Zeppelin borrowed from the blues. Deep Purple borrowed from the classics. My style has always been a hybrid of funk, rock, soul, and a little jazz. That’s who I am. I come from the strong heritage of bass playing from the ’60s and ’70s, where it’s all about the groove,” says Glenn. “In the ’80s, bass players with flashy technique came along and totally destroyed the image and role of the bass player.”

While many bassists trade in their 4-string for a guitar when they go solo, Hughes still sports a bass. “I had a moment in 1994 when I put the bass down and hired a bass player,” Hughes confesses. “I look at footage and I think to myself, What the hell was I thinking? You can’t imagine Jack Bruce or Sting or Paul McCartney without a bass guitar. I breathe so much easier when I have my sacred instrument, my bass.”

Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith co-produced and manned the kit on Soul Mover, and Jane’s Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro plays on the disc’s title track, adding an L.A. punk-funk flavor to Glenn’s hard rockin’ blue-eyed soul. “This record was recorded live,” Hughes enthuses. “What you get on Soul Mover is a very live, organic session. The Pro Tools approach of adding the bass later doesn’t fly with me.”

Glenn is currently preparing to tour Europe and the U.S. to promote Soul Mover, and he just wrapped up recording his third collaboration with longtime friend Iommi. He’s just as excited about the upcoming Iommi album as he is about Soul Mover: “The new Glenn and Tony album, which will be released in a few months, is a huge spectacle of a rock record. It’s a well-focused, hard-driving piece of music that can’t be ignored.”