/ 28 January 2021
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Though Mike Moran is best described as a musical everyman, the title gives but a scant indication of his multiple talents as composer, arranger, songwriter and producer, who has worked with Joe Cocker, Paul Simon, Placido Domingo, Rod Stewart, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, Kate Bush and Paul McCartney among many others.
“I stared playing piano aged four,” he tells RC. “My older brother – 11 years older than me – played classical and jazz and I wanted to play, too. I had a spell as child performer and never considered any other career.”
After guesting on bassist Roger Glover’s concept album The Butterfly Ball And The Grasshopper’s Feast (1974), Moran was invited to join the Ian Gillan Band, with whom he recorded their debut, Child In Time (1976). “Ian had just left Deep Purple and wanted to start a solo project,” he explains. “We had a lot of fun making the album. Ian was always a great rock singer, and I would have stayed longer with the band but he wanted us all to move to France, which I wasn’t keen to do.”