Fame
& Fortune: Deep Purple's Ian Gillan
He won't mind his own business |
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| Bankrate: Have you done any investing?
Ian Gillan:
No. I never had a share in my life, or a stock, or whatever you
call them. I don't even have a bank account. I have a couple of
credit cards, and I have some cash. My office in London keeps tabs
on my household expenditures and stuff like that. They pay the bills.
I'm really hands-off in that area. The reason I don't have a bank
account is because no one will let me have a checkbook.
Bankrate:
What do you do with your money, then?
Ian Gillan: I don't
know. I don't know. I never seem to have any, so ... it doesn't
bother me a lot. I get to pay my bills, and that's it.
Bankrate:
Do you own any real estate? Ian Gillan:
Real estate? What do you mean? I've got a house. I've got no investments or anything
like that. I don't own anything. I've got a house and a 30-year-old Land Rover.
Bankrate: Who is this person
back at the office handling your money?
Ian Gillan: My manager.
He talks to my wife when she needs clothes and when the electricity
has to be paid. I don't know. I've never seen one of those things.
Bankrate: So as far
as you're concerned, the farther away that stuff is the better.
Ian
Gillan: If I had to deal with it, then I'd have to be spending my time
doing it, probably badly because my mind isn't built that way. I'd have to stop
doing the stuff that does earn the money, which is the creative side. There's
two ways of building a business, I suppose, and that's where I made my mistakes,
because I should have got a businessman involved. It seemed to me all the creative
ideas were good, but you need more than that to run a business. But I spent all
my life creating things, so that's what I love doing. I'm a writer and performer,
basically. Bankrate: What are
the most important lessons you would impart to a younger musician about the business
end of the music business?
Ian Gillan: Well, it's
very good to be well-rounded in the modern world. But if you're
going to be a musician, the music has to come first. Otherwise,
you're going to be putting money in the bank for what? From where?
If you want to be a businessman, then be a manager or agent or something.
It's good to keep your eyes and ears open, it's a big, bad world
out there, but you have to have fun. That's the most important thing.
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