Last night in New York, a classic 1970s image of Jon Lord adorned the backdrop as Deep Purple was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Present at the induction were Ian Paice, Jon Lord’s wife Vicky Lord, Roger Glover and Ian Gillan (see photo below) together with David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes. Also inducted were Ritchie Blackmore and original singer Rod Evans.
During the band’s acceptance speech, Ian Paice introduced Vicky Lord to the audience:
‘This delightful lady is Jon Lord’s wife, Vicky. We thought it was really important and necessary that she would be here to represent our good pal, who left us four years ago.’
The induction speech was given by Metallica‘s Lars Ulrich, who spoke about seeing his very first Deep Purple concert as a young teenager in Copenhagen in 1973:
‘At stage right, the regal Jon Lord. We love Jon Lord, yes we do. I’ve never seen anyone get so physical with his organ. But I was only nine. He did things with the Hammond C-3 that no one had ever done before, firing the result through a wall of Marshall amps and Leslie speakers, uniquely heaving up the sound into uncharted territory. Let me emphasize this, Jon Lord was the first to truly amplify and destroy the Hammond organ. Sadly, we lost him in 2012.’
At the induction, Deep Purple performed Highway Star, Green Onions, Hush and Smoke on the Water with large images of Jon on the backdrop.
The induction ceremony will be televised later. Until then you can read Lars Ulrich’s full induction speech and the thank you speeches from Deep Purple.
On Youtube you can watch fan filmed footage of the speeches and music as well.
Deep Purple had been eligible for induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 1993.
Jon Lord - The Official Website 
As George Harrison said in response to the post Beatles’ composing & recording of ‘All things must pass’ LP. “What’s early and what’s late?”. Do these people really need telling about outstanding musicianship? Well, if a few uninitiated are introduced to Jon’s abd DP’s output then it will have been a worthwhile excersize.
One of the greatest musicians that ever lived
RIP Jon
Jon will live forever in his music……totally brilliant bloke😎👍🏻🎼
Jon Lord my music hero……say hello to my Dad
Jon was my idol, his classic compositions were breathtaking, spellbinding. Such an artist, sadly missed.
Besides saying “Its’ about damn time” Deep Purple was inducted into the Rock Hall here in my city Cleveland, as with many other fans out there who has ever seen DP live, Jon Lord was truly incredible to watch onstage and clearly the Most Phenomenal keyboard player ever! Sadly, Rest In Peace Jon.
My beloved Jon – I always loved his music and playing. He brought Rock into the organ, that’s for sure! A well deserved honour for my fav band and fav keyborder.
I still miss him and will probably ever do. Rest in Peace good ol boy.
So good to see them all together – Vicky Lord with Paicey, Big Ian, Roger, David & Glenn. I wish I could have been there. But where was Ritchie, and Nicky, and where is Rod Evans? Tommy Bolin should also be mentioned here.
God how much I like the music of Deep Purple! (& split groups)
I love my Purps.
Rod Evans the bogus DP 80 still haunting him, why bother?
Simper and Evans were fired almost 50 yrs ago…….do u also miss PETE BEST too, that was fired in 1962 replaced by RINGO STARR ?
My comment is: see you on cloud nine, Jon.
Love you, Sissi
Brilliant man
Jon , virtually friend of my life, creator of wonderful music, heroe of my young age….I love you!