ON LEAVING DEEP PURPLE IN JUNE 1973, IAN GILLAN seemed to turn his back on music. Instead of joining or forming a new outfit, the vocalist instead invested heavily in a number of business projects and to all intents and purposes, appeared to have retired.

But there was more to Gillan than just his work with Purple; he’d been singing for over a decade by this time so it was inevitable that he would eventually go back to what he did best – fronting a band - so in September 1975, in Paris, the world was introduced to the Ian Gillan band.

Over the next few years, the band expanded and transformed into Gillan, releasing a batch of successful albums and singles, sell-out tours, headlining the Reading Festival, guesting at the second-ever Monsters of Rock event and playing a final show at Wembley Arena before the band disintegrated. What happened next surprised everyone and in April 1983, Ian Gillan, flanked by Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler, was officially announced as the new singer of Black Sabbath.

Portraits of Gillan - is a photographic celebration of Ian Gillan’s post-Deep Purple career, published as a brand-new coffee-table book tracing his career with a mixture of well-known, rare and unseen photographs from some of rock’s greatest photographers. The book includes an 8000-word essay from rock journalist and writer John Tucker, tracking Gillan’s career through this period. This unofficial book is 230mm square, case-bound, 240 pages, and printed on luxury 170gsm matt-coated paper. The book comes with a fold-out poster and is presented in a black slipcase with a gold foil logo. The main edition comes in 500 numbered copies and sells for £55 plus shipping.

THE NEW PORTRAITS SERIES FROM RUFUS

Portraits is a new series of titles from Rufus and will comprise beautiful 230mm and 380mm square books, each presented in a slipcase, and will feature a range of artistes. Each title will be created using the work of a main photographer associated with the artiste, plus supplementary imagery to complement the main images. The books are printed and bound in the UK and presented in a luxury, foiled slipcase. The books are not signed but will be numbered and will come with an exclusive poster or print.

Portraits will grow into a series of books released across the year and will be produced in a very limited run.