Happy birthday to singer, guitarist, and producer Joe Lynn Turner.
(Photo: Facebook: Joe Lynn Turner)
He was born on August 2, 1951, as Joseph Arthur Mark Linquito.
As a child, he grew up on artists like Jimi Hendrix, "Led Zeppelin" and "Free".
The first instrument he played was an accordion and later he played the guitar.
The first band he formed already in school was "Ezra". They played cover versions of rock bands, but also original material.
In 1977 he joined the band "Fandango" where he played guitar and sang. Together with the band, Turner released 4 albums.
After the breakup of "Fandango", he got a phone call from guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, who invited him to audition.
He rose to fame as a singer on the band "Rainbow" in which he was a member for three consecutive studio albums "Difficult to Cure", "Straight Between The Eyes" and "Bent Out Of Shape" - the same number as the albums in which Ronnie James Dio was a member of the band.
With "Rainbow" he released quite a few hits that were quite successful on charts such as: "I Surrender", "Can't Happen Here", "Stone Cold", "Street of Dreams" and "Can't Let You Go".
After the breakup of "Rainbow", Turner releases his first solo album "Rescue You", which was released in 1985. Later, Turner will release 9 more studio albums, and 3 EPs. And two live albums, as part of his solo career.
In 1987 Lynn Turner joined legendary guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen and released with him the album "Odyssey" in 1988, and the live album "Trial by Fire: Live in Leningrad" in 1989.
In 1989 Turner replaced Ian Gillan after he was fired from "Deep Purple" and released the studio album "Slaves and Masters" in 1990.
As part of the tour to promote the album, Lynn Turner came to Israel with "Deep Purple" for two performances. The first took place on September 28, 1991, in Hayarkon Park in Tel Aviv, and the second at Tzemach Beach.
Although it was all members of the MKII band minus singer Ian Gillan and although expectations from the show were high, there was disappointment among the Israeli audience. Blackmore was not focused and on the performance of Tzemach Beach, he did not even go up to the stage during the Encore. Lynn Turner is a good singer, but it turns out that Gillan's songs can only be sung by Gillan.
In 1990, Lynn Turner contributed his voice to the song "Killer", taken from the album "The Privilege of Power" by "Riot".
He later moved to the "Mother's Army" supergroup with bassist Bob Daisley and drummer Carmine Appice. This is a progressive group with which Turner released three studio albums from 1993 to 1998.
In 2001, together with bassist and singer Glenn Hughes, he formed the band "Hughes Turner Project". As part of this band, he released two studio albums.
In 2008 he formed the tribute band for "Rainbow" - "Over the Rainbow", along with former band members Bobby Rondinelli, Greg Smith, Paul Morris, and with the son of Ritchie Blackmore Jürgen on guitar.
In 2021, he was a guest on two songs from the album "Immortal" by "Michael Schenker Group".
In 2022 he released his 11th studio album "Belly of the Beast". At the same time, he publicly revealed that already at the age of 3 he was diagnosed with a rare baldness disease and that he had to wear a wig from the age of 14.
Lynn Turner has a lot of collaborations and was also a member of other interesting projects such as: the supergroup "RATED X" with bassist Tony Franklin and drummer Carmine Appice, singer Brazen Abbot from Finland, "Michael Men Project", Akira Kajiyama, "Sunstorm" and more.
Turner is also known as a highly sought-after backing singer and he has contributed his voice to quite a few well-known artists such as Billy Joel, Michael Bolton, and even Bonnie Taylor and singer Cher.