Most known for recording a version of "Hush" that inspired Deep Purple's hit cover of the same tune, Kris Ife was active on the British pop scene in various guises from the mid-'60s to the mid-'70s, though he had barely a taste of commercial success. The guitarist and singer/songwriter first recorded in the mid-'60s as part of the Quiet Five, who released half a dozen singles that combined different parts of Merseybeat, pop/rock, folk, and blue-eyed soul. They managed to sneak inside the Top 50 in 1965 with the Ife-composed "When the Morning Sun Dries the Dew," repeating the feat the following year with a cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "Homeward Bound," though the original version was the one that became a U.K. Top Ten single. Ife left the Quiet Five in 1967 to go solo, cutting several obscure 45s, among them a forceful soul-rock cover of Joe South's "Hush." It later emerged that Deep Purple became aware of the song after some members heard the single played at a Manchester discotheque, and Deep Purple would have a U.S. Top Five smash in 1968 after giving the number a more hard rock-slanted treatment.