Ian Anderson Paice was born in Nottingham on June 29, 1948. The family moved to Bicester, near Oxford a few years later. His father played piano with dance bands and encouraged Ian's interest in drumming. Ian got his first drum kit, a red glitter Gigster, when he was 15, then moved on to a Premier, gigging with his father for pocket money.

His first rock and roll group, Georgie And The Rave Ons, played locally around Oxford. In mid-1965 the Rave Ons changed their name to The Shindigs. The Shindigs also supported a Slough based M I 5 a number of times. When their drummer quit, lan Paice was offered the gig and quit The Shindigs.

M I 5 turned fully professional and in mid-1966 cut their first single before deciding to change their name to The Maze (not to be confused with the Black American band), cutting three singles and an EP between late 1966 and early 1967. In January 1967 they did a season in Italy providing the backing for a stage play, cutting an Italian only single. Ian Paice also met Ritchie Blackmore on the boat over, and again when The Maze got a three week booking in Hamburg.

Disillusioned by The Maze's lack of real success, Rod Evans and Ian Paice auditioned for Deep Purple in early 1968. Ian Paice played in Mk 1, 2, 3, 4 and then worked with Jon Lord in Paice, Ashton, Lord and later in 1979 in Whitesnake. He did a few sessions for Bernie Marsden and Jon Lord amongst others but never cut a solo album. Paice quit Whitesnake in late 1981 and joined Gary Moore in 1982, touring and recording two studio and two live albums, before Deep Purple reformed in 1984.