Simon McBride

Simon McBride (born 9 April 1979) is a Northern Irish singer and guitarist, who has played with other artists, including Deep Purple and Snakecharmer, as well as recording and touring his own band, and teaching at BIMM in Dublin. He was announced as Deep Purple’s permanent replacement for Steve Morse on 16 September 2022 after covering for him in concerts earlier in the year. McBride started playing the guitar when he was nine. "I was born myself into a house of rock n roll and was influenced by the music my Dad listened to as I was growing up in Belfast, he was and still is a fan of classic rock bands like Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Free etc, which was always on the hi fi. ... I was about nine years old when I just picked it up one day and sat down with a tuition book and started to learn a few chords".. By age 15 he entered Guitarist magazine's Young Guitarist of the Year, a performance competition staged that year at Wembley Conference Centre, which he won.