Kris Ife

Most known for recording a version of "Hush" that inspired Deep Purple's hit cover of the same tune, Kris Ife was active on the British pop scene in various guises from the mid-'60s to the mid-'70s, though he had barely a taste of commercial success. The guitarist and singer/songwriter first recorded in the mid-'60s as part of the Quiet Five, who released half a dozen singles that combined different parts of Merseybeat, pop/rock, folk, and blue-eyed soul. They managed to sneak inside the Top 50 in 1965 with the Ife-composed "When the Morning Sun Dries the Dew," repeating the feat the following year with a cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "Homeward Bound," though the original version was the one that became a U.K. Top Ten single. Ife left the Quiet Five in 1967 to go solo, cutting several obscure 45s, among them a forceful soul-rock cover of Joe South's "Hush." It later emerged that Deep Purple became aware of the song after some members heard the single played at a Manchester discotheque, and Deep Purple would have a U.S. Top Five smash in 1968 after giving the number a more hard rock-slanted treatment. By the late '60s, Ife was writing songs with Vince Edwards and Michael Derrick under the collective pseudonym Miki Anthony, and put together a band, the Matchmakers, that recorded for British producer Mark Wirtz. Ife and Wirtz co-wrote most of the material recorded by Judd, featuring Ife as singer, that was released as the 1970 Judd LP Snarling Mumma Lion, though Ife has recalled that this was a combination of finished tracks and demos. Many of Judd's recordings had a swamp pop feel, albeit with a dash of British blue-eyed soul-pop, but these weren't as impressive as those of Joe South (to take an obvious reference point), and didn't make a commercial impact. Ife also...