Ritchie Blackmore

Richard Hugh Blackmore (born 14 April 1945) is an English guitarist and songwriter. He was a founding member of Deep Purple in 1968, playing jam-style hard rock music that mixed guitar riffs and organ sounds. He is prolific in creating guitar riffs and classically influenced solos.

During his solo career, Blackmore established the heavy metalband Rainbow, which fused baroque music influences and elements of hard rock. Rainbow steadily moved to catchy pop-style mainstream rock. He later formed the traditional folk rock project Blackmore's Night, transitioning to vocalist-centred sounds.

As a member of Deep Purple, Blackmore was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2016. He is cited by publications such as Guitar World and Rolling Stone as one of the greatest and most influential guitar players of all time.

Blackmore was born at Allendale Nursing Home in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, as second son to Lewis J. Blackmore and Violet (née Short). His father was born in Cardiff and his paternal grandfather was born in Swansea, Wales.The family moved to Heston, Middlesex, when Blackmore was two. He was 11 when he was given his first guitar by his father on certain conditions, including learning how to play properly, so he took classical guitar lessons for one year.

In an interview with Sounds magazine in 1979, Blackmore said that he started the guitar because he wanted to be like British musician Tommy Steele, who used to just jump around and play. Blackmore loathed school and hated his teachers.

While at school, Blackmore participated in sports including the javelin. He left school at age 15 and started work as an apprentice radio mechanic at nearby Heathrow Airport. He took electric guitar lessons from session guitarist Big Jim Sullivan.

1960s

In 1960 he began to work as a session player for Joe Meek's music productions, and performed in several bands. He was initially a member of the instrumental band the Outlaws, who played in both studio recordings and live concerts. Otherwise, in mainly studio recordings, he backed singer Glenda Collins, German-born pop singer Heinz (playing on his top ten hit "Just Like Eddie", "Beating Of My Heart"), and others. Thereafter, in mainly live concerts, he backed horror-themed singer Screaming Lord Sutch, beat singer Neil Christian, and others.

Blackmore joined a band-to-be called Roundabout in late 1967 after receiving an invitation from Chris Curtis. Curtis originated the concept of the band, but would be forced out before the band fully formed. After the line-up for Roundabout was complete in April 1968, Blackmore is credited with suggesting the new name Deep Purple, as it was his grandmother's favorite song. Deep Purple's early sound leaned on psychedelic and progressive rock, but also included cover versions of 1960s pop songs. This "Mark One" line-up featuring singer Rod Evans and bass player Nick Simper lasted until mid-1969 and produced three studio albums. During this period, organist Jon Lord appeared to be the leader of the band, and wrote much of their original material.

1970s

The first studio album from Purple's second line-up, In Rock (1970), signalled a transition in the band's sound from progressive rock to hard rock, with Blackmore and Lord having heard King Crimson's debut album. This "Mark Two" line-up featuring rock singer Ian Gillan lasted until mid-1973, producing four studio albums (two of which reached No. 1 in the UK), and two live albums. During this period, the band's songs primarily came out of their jam sessions, so songwriting credits were shared by the five members. Blackmore later stated, "I didn't give a damn about song construction. I just wanted to make as much noise and play as fast and as loud as possible."

Famous guitarist Steve Vai was more complimentary about Blackmore's role in developing song ideas : "He was able to bring blues to rock playing unlike anybody else."

The third Deep Purple line-up featured David Coverdale on vocals and Glenn Hughes on bass and vocals.Songwriting was now more fragmented, as opposed to the band compositions from the Mark Two era. This "Mark Three" line-up lasted until mid-1975 and produced two studio albums. Blackmore quit the band to front a new group, Rainbow. In 1974, Blackmore took cello lessons from Hugh McDowell (of ELO). Blackmore later stated that when playing a different musical instrument, he found it refreshing because there is a sense of adventure not knowing exactly what chord he's playing or what key he is in.

Blackmore originally planned to make a solo album, but instead in 1975 formed his own band, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, later shortened to Rainbow. Featuring vocalist Ronnie James Dio and his blues rock backing band Elf as studio musicians, this first line-up never performed live. The band's debut album, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, was released in 1975. Rainbow was originally thought to be a one-off collaboration, but endured as an ongoing band project with a series of album releases and tours. Rainbow's music was partly inspired by elements of medieval and baroque music since Blackmore started to play cello for musical composition. During this period, Blackmore wrote a crucial part of Dio's basic melodies, particularly on their debut album. Shortly after the first album was recorded, Blackmore recruited new backing musicians to record the second album Rising (1976), and the following live album, On Stage (1977). Rising was originally billed as "Blackmore's Rainbow" in the US. After the next studio album's release and supporting tour in 1978, Dio left Rainbow due to "creative differences" with Blackmore, who desired to move in a more commercial sounding direction.

Blackmore continued with Rainbow, and in 1979 the band released a new album titled Down To Earth, which featured R&B singer Graham Bonnet. During song composition, Bonnet says that he wrote his vocal melodies based upon the lyrics of bassist Glover. The album marked the commercialisation of the band's sound, and contained Rainbow's first chart successes, as the single "Since You Been Gone" (a cover of the tune penned by Russ Ballard) became a smash hit.

1980s

The next Rainbow album, Difficult to Cure (1981), introduced melodic vocalist Joe Lynn Turner. The instrumental title track from this album was an arrangement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with additional music. Blackmore once said, "I found the blues too limiting, and classical was too disciplined. I was always stuck in a musical no man's land." The album marked the further commercialisation of the band's sound with Blackmore describing at the time a liking for the AOR band, Foreigner. The music was consciously radio-targeted in a more AOR style, resulting in some degree of alienation with many of Rainbow's earlier fans. Rainbow's next studio album was Straight Between the Eyes (1982) and included the hit single "Stone Cold". It would be followed by the album Bent Out of Shape (1983), which featured the single "Street of Dreams". In 1983, Rainbow was also nominated for a Grammy Award for the Blackmore-penned instrumental ballad track "Anybody There". Rainbow disbanded in 1984. A then-final Rainbow album, Finyl Vinyl, was patched together from live tracks and the B-sides of various singles.

In 1984, Blackmore joined a reunion of the former Deep Purple "Mark Two" line-up and recorded new material. This reunion line-up lasted until 1989, producing two studio albums and one live album. Although the reunion's first album Perfect Strangers (1984) saw chart success, the second studio album The House of Blue Light (1987) displayed a sound that was closer to Rainbow's music and did not sell as well. The album's musical style differed from the traditional Purple sound due to Blackmore's Rainbow background, which distinguished him from the other members. During the 1987–1988 tour, Blackmore was reluctant to play "Smoke on the Water", and singer Ian Gillan apologised for his vocal range, which had become weaker than audiences expected.

1990s

The next Deep Purple line-up recorded one album titled Slaves and Masters (1990), which featured former Rainbow vocalist Joe Lynn Turner. During song composition, Turner wrote his vocal melodies. Subsequently, the "Mark Two" line-up reunited for a second time in late 1992 and produced one studio album, The Battle Rages On.... Overall, the traditional Deep Purple sound returned. During the follow-up promotional tour, Blackmore quit the band for good in November 1993. Prominent guitarist Joe Satriani was brought in to complete the remaining tour dates.

Blackmore reformed Rainbow with new members in 1994. This Rainbow line-up, featuring hard rock singer Doogie White, lasted until 1997 and produced one album titled Stranger in Us All in 1995. It was originally intended to be a solo album but due to the record company pressures the record was billed as Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow. Though Doogie White wasn't as distinctive as previous Rainbow singers, the album had a sound dissimilar to any Rainbow of old. This was Rainbow's eighth studio album, made after a gap of 12 years since Bent out of Shape, and is regarded as Blackmore's last hard rock album. A world tour including South America followed. Rainbow was disbanded once again after playing its final concert in 1997. Blackmore later said, "I didn't want to tour very much."

Over the years Rainbow went through many personnel changes with no two studio albums featuring the same line-up: Blackmore was the sole constant band member. Rainbow achieved modest success; the band's worldwide sales are estimated at more than 28 million album copies, including 4 million copies sold in the US.

In 1997 Blackmore, with his girlfriend Candice Night as vocalist, formed the traditional folk rock duo Blackmore's Night. From about 1995, they were already working on their debut album Shadow of the Moon (1997). Blackmore once portrayed their artistic characteristics as "Mike Oldfield plus Enya". Blackmore mostly used acoustic guitar, to back Night's delicate vocal melodies, which he wrote. Night said, "When he sings, he sings only for me, in private". As a result, his musical approach shifted to vocalist-centered sounds. They recorded a mixture of original and cover materials. The band's musical style is inspired by medieval music and it blended with Night's lyrics about love's themes. The second release, entitled Under a Violet Moon (1999) continued in the same folk-rock style, with Night's vocals remaining a prominent feature of the band's style. The title track's lyrics were partly written by Blackmore. "Violet" was his mother's first name and "Moon" was his grandmother's surname.

2000s–present

In subsequent albums, particularly Fires at Midnight (2001) which featured the Bob Dylan cover "The Times They Are a Changin'," there was occasionally an increased incorporation of electric guitar into the music, whilst maintaining a folk rock direction. A live album, Past Times with Good Company was released in 2002. After the next studio album's release, an official compilation album Beyond the Sunset: The Romantic Collection was released in 2004, featuring music from the four studio albums. A Christmas-themed holiday album, Winter Carols was released in 2006. Through numerous personnel changes, the backing musicians have totalled 26 persons. Blackmore sometimes played drums in recording studio. They choose to avoid typical rock concert tours, instead limiting their appearances to small intimate venues. In 2011, Night said, "We have actually turned down a lot of (touring) opportunities." Blackmore continued to write her vocal melodies. They have released eleven studio albums, with the latest one being Nature's Light in 2021.

A re-formed Rainbow performed three European concerts in June 2016. The concert setlists included both Rainbow and Deep Purple material. The band featured metal singer Ronnie Romero, keyboardist Jens Johansson and bassist Bob Nouveau.

During the 1960s, Blackmore played a Gibson ES-335 but from 1970 he mainly played a Fender Stratocaster until he formed Blackmore's Night in 1997. The middle pick-up on his Stratocaster is screwed down and not used. Blackmore occasionally used a Fender Telecaster Thinline during recording sessions. He is also one of the first rock guitarists to use a "scalloped" fretboard which has a "U" shape between the frets.

In his soloing, Blackmore combines blues scales and phrasing with dominant minor scales and ideas from European classical music. While playing he would often put the pick in his mouth, playing with his fingers. He occasionally uses the diatonic scale, with rapidly changing tonality.

In the 1970s, Blackmore used a number of different Stratocasters; one of his main guitars was an Olympic white 1974 model with a rosewood fingerboard that was scalloped. Blackmore added a strap lock to the headstock of this guitar as a conversation piece to annoy and confuse people.

His amplifiers were originally 200-Watt Marshall Major stacks which were modified by Marshall with an additional output-stage (generated approximately 27 dB) to make them sound more like Blackmore's favourite Vox AC30 amp cranked to full volume. Since 1994, he has used ENGL tube-amps.

Effects he used from 1970 to 1997, besides his usual tape echo, included a Hornby Skewes treble booster in the early days. Around late-1973, he experimented with an EMS Synthi Hi Fli guitar synthesizer. He sometimes used a wah-wah pedal and a variable control treble-booster for sustain, and Moog Taurus bass pedals were used in solo parts during concerts. He also had a modified Aiwa TP-1011 tape machine built to supply echo and delay effects; the tape deck was also used as a pre-amp. Other effects that Blackmore used were a Uni-Vibe, a Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face and an Octave Divider.

In the mid-1980s he experimented with Roland guitar synthesizers. A Roland GR-700 was seen on stage as late as 1995–96, later replaced with the GR-50.

Blackmore has experimented with many different pick-ups in his Strats. In the early Rainbow era, they were still stock Fenders, later Dawk installed over wound, dipped, Fender pick-ups. He has also used Schecter F-500-Ts, Velvet Hammer "Red Rhodes", DiMarzio "HS-2", OBL "Black Label", Bill Lawrence L-450, XL-250 (bridge), L-250 (neck). In his signature stratocaster Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound Flat SSL-4's are used to emulate the Schecter F500ts and since the early 90s, he has used Lace Sensor (Gold) "noiseless" pick-ups.

Blackmore credits fellow guitarist Eric Clapton's music with helping him develop his own style of vibrato around 1968 or 1969.

In 1979, Blackmore said:"I like popular music.I like ABBA very much.But there's so much stigma like, 'you can't do this because you're a heavy band', and I think that's rubbish.You should do what you want ... I think classical music is very good for the soul.A lot of people go 'ah well, classical music is for old fogies' but I was exactly the same.At 16 I didn't want to know about classical music: I'd had it rammed down my throat.But now I feel an obligation to tell the kids 'look, just give classical music a chance' ... the guitar frustrates me a lot because I'm not good enough to play it sometimes so I get mad and throw a moody.Sometimes I feel that what I'm doing is not right, in the sense that the whole rock and roll business has become a farce, like Billy Smart, Jr. Circus, and the only music that ever moves me is very disciplined classical music, which I can't play.But there's a reason I've made money.It's because I believe in what I'm doing, in that I do it my way—I play for myself first, then secondly the audience—I try to put as much as I can in it for them.Lastly I play for musicians and the band, and for critics not at all."

In May 1964, Blackmore married Margit Volkmar (b. 1945) from Germany. They lived in Hamburg during the late 1960s. Their son, Jürgen (b. 1964), played guitar in the touring tribute band Over the Rainbow. Following their divorce, Blackmore married Bärbel, a former dancer from Germany, in September 1969 until their divorce in early 1970s. As a result, he is a fluent German speaker.

For tax-reasons, he moved to the US in 1974. Initially he lived in Oxnard, California, with opera singer Shoshana Feinstein for one year. She provided backing vocals on two songs in Rainbow's first album. During this period, he listened to early European classical music and light music a lot, for about three-quarters of his private time. Blackmore once said, "It's hard to relate that to rock. I listen very carefully to the patterns that Bach plays. I like direct, dramatic music." After having an affair with another woman, Christine, Blackmore met Amy Rothman in 1978, and moved to Connecticut. He married Rothman in 1981, but they divorced in 1983. Following the marriage's conclusion, he began a relationship with Tammi Williams. In early 1984 Blackmore met Williams in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where she was working as a hotel employee. In the same year, he purchased his first car, having learned to drive at 39 years of age.

Blackmore and then-fashion model Candice Night began living together in 1991. They moved to her native Long Island in 1993. Having been engaged for nearly fifteen years, the couple married in 2008. Night said, "he's making me younger and I'm aging him rapidly."Their daughter Autumn was born on 27 May 2010, and their son Rory on 7 February 2012.Blackmore is a heavy drinker, and watches German-language television on his satellite dish when he is at home. He has several German friends and a collection of about 2,000 CDs of Renaissance music.

Readers of Guitar World voted two of Blackmore's guitar solos (both recorded with Deep Purple) among the 100 Greatest Guitar Solos of all time. ("Highway Star" ranked 19th, and "Lazy" ranked 74th.) On 8 April 2016, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of original members of Deep Purple; however, he did not attend the ceremony.

In 1993, Musicologist Robert Walser defined him as "the most important musician of the emerging metal/classical fusion". He is also credited as a precursor of the so-called "guitar shredders" that emerged in the mid-1980s.

Blackmore has been an influence on various guitarists such as Fredrik Åkesson, Brett Garsed, Janick Gers, Paul Gilbert, Craig Goldy, Scott Henderson, Dave Meniketti, Randy Rhoads, Michael Romeo, Wolf Hoffmann, Lita Ford, Brian May, and Yngwie Malmsteen.

He was portrayed by Mathew Baynton in the 2009 film Telstar.