Jon Lord

On September 24, 1969, Deep Purple performed Jon Lord's Concerto for Group and Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall in London, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Malcolm Arnold. It was one of the first serious attempts to combine a rock band with a full symphony orchestra, and it reflected Lord's lifelong ambition to bring his classical training and his love of rock together.

He was born on June 9, 1941, in Leicester, England. No birth time is recorded for him, so his Ascendant cannot be determined. Gemini, though, holds both his Sun and Jupiter. Gemini combines and connects, and Jupiter expands that tendency. Lord's music was a fusion of styles: Bach and blues, jazz and hard rock, classical form and heavy riffs.

Saturn and Uranus, both in Taurus, describe a heavy, grounded sound and an innovative approach to it. Taurus is associated with sound, rhythm and physical presence, and Uranus brings experimentation. Lord developed a distinctive way of playing the Hammond organ, running it through a Leslie speaker and then through Marshall guitar amplifiers to create a growling, distorted tone that became part of the sound of hard rock.

His Moon is in Sagittarius, describing an expansive, adventurous emotional nature and a love of grand gestures. His organ solos, on songs like "Highway Star" and "Lazy," were long, dramatic and virtuosic.

Mercury and Venus, both in Cancer, describe a melodic, nostalgic sensibility and an attachment to tradition. Lord trained as a classical pianist as a boy and kept returning to classical forms throughout his life.

Mars in Pisces adds musical imagination and emotional depth. Lord co-founded Deep Purple in 1968, and the band's classic lineup recorded albums including Machine Head, with its famous song "Smoke on the Water," and the live album Made in Japan. From 1978 to 1984 he played with Whitesnake, before Deep Purple reunited.

Neptune in Virgo and Pluto in Leo belong to his generation. In 2002 Lord left Deep Purple to concentrate on composing orchestral works, including concertos and suites that drew on his English heritage.

He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2011 and died on July 16, 2012, at seventy-one. In 2016 Deep Purple was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Lord was honored posthumously. Musicians from later generations, including keyboard players in metal and progressive rock, have cited Lord as a founding influence, and his way of treating the organ as a lead instrument equal to the guitar reshaped the sound of heavy rock. He was also remembered by bandmates as a gentle, witty and cultured presence in a famously volatile band. The Gemini planets made him a musical bridge-builder; the Taurus planets gave his organ its weight.