On November 30th, 1945, Roger Glover was born in Wales. We all know him as the bassist for Deep Purple and Rainbow, but to celebrate his birthday, here are 12 things you might not know about him.

1. While a student at London’s Harrow County School for Boys, Roger formed his first band with some friends. They was called the Madisons.

2. Glover decided to play the bass because, when forming the band, the other guys either could already play guitar better than him or owned a better axe than he did.

3. Roger’s first bass was actually an old Spanish guitar. He took off the two top strings, screwed a pick up on and turned it into a bass.

4. The Madisons merged with a rival band and changed their name to Episode Six. Another member of the group was future Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan.

5. Roger’s nickname is The Stinking Hippie. It started when he first met Deep Purple and wore an old pair of bellbottoms that smelled of the cigarettes he smoked. They guys in the band bestowed him with the nickname.

6. Glover wrote the riff to the hit Deep Purple song “Maybe I’m a Leo” after hearing John Lennon’s song “How Do You Sleep?”

7. Roger isn’t just a musician, he’s a producer too, and during the 70s was at the helm of albums by Judas Priest, Elf, David Coverdale and others.

8. In 1974, Roger released his first solo album. It was called The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper’s Feast.

9. Music isn’t Glover’s only artistic talent, he paints as well.

10. Bassists that Roger admires include Paul McCartney, Jack Bruce and George Porter, Jr. of The Meters.

11. The reason Roger wears bandanas on his head is because he had been wearing hats, since after a few minutes onstage it looks like he was just in the shower, but he got bored of hats and tried headscarves and hasn’t looked back. He prefers Indian head scarves made from cotton.

12. Roger lives in Switzerland.

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Ken Dashow