“We were opening for Deep Purple, and Ritchie Blackmore got food poisoning and was in the hospital overnight”: How a support slot with Deep Purple and a last-minute guitarist replacement led to Eric Johnson meeting Christopher Cross

In the ’70s and early ’80s, Eric Johnson cut his teeth in the session world, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Cat Stevens, Carole King, and Steve Morse, before eventually taking the plunge to release his debut solo album, Tones, in 1986.

However, before embarking on his solo journey, there was also a group called Mariani, through which he ended up supporting Deep Purple – and ended up developing a fruitful relationship with the Grammy Award–winning Christopher Cross.

“I was in a group called Mariani. We were opening for Deep Purple, and Ritchie Blackmore got food poisoning and was in the hospital overnight,” Johnson recounts in an interview with Guitar World.

“Deep Purple had to do this gig, and Christopher Cross was a real hot-shot guitar player, and he knew all the Deep Purple songs. So, they hired him to do this gig.

Christopher Cross - Minstrel Gigolo (Official Lyric Video) - YouTube

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“I met him on that gig, and at the time, Chris was more of a rocker. He played a Gibson Flying V and had long hair,” he adds with a laugh. “He was really rocked-out; totally different from what he did later. We got to be friends, and we stayed friends after that gig.”

Years later, for what would become Cross' hugely successful eponymous debut album, he invited Johnson to guest on the track Minstrel Gigolo.

“He had, I think, three or four different guitarists, like Larry Carlton and Jay Graydon,” Johnson explains. “He had a number of guitarists play on that first record, and he just asked me if I’d play on that one song with him.

The album, released in 1979, would end up spawning Cross' career-making hit, Sailing – while it would be another couple of years (and tons of session work later, and the disbandment of the Electromagnets) before Johnson pivoted to his solo career.

Guitar World's full interview with Eric Johnson will be published in the coming weeks.

Earlier this year, Johnson sat down with Guitarist to discuss his G3 reunion with Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, and observed that the limits of guitar have yet to be reached.