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. 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. Get The Pick Newsletter All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox! Guitar World's full interview with Eric Johnson will be published in the coming weeks.