Keyboardist Mickey Lee Soule had a band in the mid-1960's until he was drafted into the army. After his honorable discharge he joined The Elves after the bands original keyboardist was injured in a car accident which killed guitarist Nick Pantas, who was replaced by David Feinstein. Shortly after Soule was recruited the band changed their name to Elf and enjoyed minor fame ( VERY minor fame ) as the opening act for Deep Purple.
After a few years, a few more members and two albums, Soule and the rest of Elf ( minus their guitarist ) were transformed into Ritchie Blackmores Rainbow, featuring Deep Purple guitar god Ritchie Blackmore. During this time a third and final Elf album "Trying to Burn the Sun" was recorded when the former Elves were not in the studio recording Rainbows debut album.
Blackmore fired the enitre line up with the exception of Dio before the first Rainbow tour. Soule would later tour France with The Ian Gillan Band.
Soule has since retired from the music business but his son, Matt Soule, plays drums in the alternative rock band Where's Moo ?
Soule (Zuberoa, Xiberu or Xüberoa in Basque, Sola in Gascon) is a former French province and part of the present day Pyrénées Atlantiques département.
Historically, Soule was the smallest province of the Basque Country.
Soule has been a bilingual province for centuries due to the proximity of Béarn and the Basque souletin dialect has been influenced by the Bearnese romance language.
In 1970 the band was involved in an automobile accident which claimed the life of Nick Pantas, whom the band decided not to replace.
After recovering from his injuries, Doug Thaler quit the band, and was replaced by MickyLeeSoule.
Dio's rich, soulful voice gained the attention of guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, who was looking for musicians for his first solo album, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow.
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