Legend of Rock
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Biography (continued)
The First Rainbow Years, 1975-1984
After Deep Purple, Blackmore formed the hard rock band Rainbow. The name of the band Rainbow was inspired by a Hollywood bar and grill called the Rainbow that catered to rock stars, groupies and rock enthusiasts. It was here that Blackmore spent his off time from Deep Purple and met vocalist Ronnie James Dio, whose band Elf had toured regularly as an opening act for Deep Purple.
The band's debut album, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, was released in 1975. The band's musical style differed from Blackmore's previous band and much of Blackmore's inspiration came from his love of classical music to pair up with Dio's lyrics about medieval themes.
Blackmore fired every original band member except Dio shortly after the first album was recorded, and recruited a new lineup to record the album Rainbow Rising.
For the next album, Long Live Rock 'n' Roll, Blackmore kept the drummer Cozy Powell and Dio but replaced the rest of the band. Blackmore had difficulty finding a bass player for this record so he handled bass duties himself on three songs: "Gates of Babylon", "Kill the King", and "Sensitive To Light". After the album's release and supporting tour, Ronnie James Dio left Rainbow due to "creative differences" with Blackmore.
Blackmore continued with Rainbow and the band released a new album entitled Down To Earth, which featured his ex-Deep Purple band mate Roger Glover on bass. The album contained Blackmore's first chart successes since leaving Deep Purple, as the Graham Bonnet fronted single "Since You Been Gone" (a cover of the Russ Ballard penned tune) became a smash hit. In 1980 Blackmore's Rainbow headlined the inaugural Monsters of Rock festival at Castle Donington in England. Bonnet and Cozy Powell would leave after this, Powell would go on to join former Deep Purple members in "Whitesnake".
The band's next album, Difficult to Cure, introduced vocalist Joe Lynn Turner. The title track from this album was an arrangement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, a personal favourite of Blackmore.
Rainbow's next studio album was Straight Between the Eyes and included the hit single "Stone Cold". It would be followed by the album Bent Out of Shape, which featured the single "Street Of Dreams". The song's video was banned by MTV for its supposedly controversial hypnotic video clip. The resulting tour saw Rainbow return to the UK and also to Japan where the band performed with a full orchestra.
By the mid-1980s, Blackmore and his former Deep Purple band mates had reconciled past differences and a reunion of the successful "Mark II" line up took place. A final Rainbow album, Finyl Vinyl, was patched together from live tracks and "b" sides of singles.
The Second Deep Purple years, 1984-1993
In April 1984, it was announced on BBC Radio's Friday Rock Show that the "Mark Two" line-up of Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord, and Paice was reforming and recording new material. The band signed a deal with Polydor in Europe and Mercury in North America. The album Perfect Strangers was released in October 1984. A tour followed, starting in Perth, Australia and wound its way across the world and into Europe by the following summer. It was the highest grossing group tour of the year. The UK homecoming proved mixed as they elected to play just one festival, 'The Return of the Knebworth Fayre', at Knebworth Park on 22 June 1985. Despite poor weather conditions, an audience of 80,000 attended the show that also featured Scorpions, Mama's Boys and Meat Loaf amongst others. BBC Radio One broadcast the set.
In 1987, the line-up recorded and toured in support of the album, The House of Blue Light. A live album, Nobody's Perfect was released in 1988. A new version of "Hush" was also released to mark the band's twenty year anniversary. In 1989, Ian Gillan was fired from the band because of a poor working relationship with Blackmore. His replacement was former Rainbow vocalist Joe Lynn Turner. The new line up recorded one album titled Slaves & Masters (1990). Blackmore and his band mates were disappointed with the efforts of the album and tours.
Neither the album nor the tour were critically or commercially successful. Following its conclusion, Turner was fired from the band. Both Jon Lord and Ian Paice argued that Deep Purple needed Ian Gillan as the band's frontman. Blackmore relented and Gillan returned prior to recording "The Battle Rages On" in 1993. During the support tour in late 1993, tensions between Gillan and Blackmore reached a climax and Blackmore left the band permanently, his last show with the band was in Helsinki, Finland on 17 November 1993.
Gillan said: "Joe Satriani came in at the last minute. Blackmore walked out and the tour was taking off to Japan...it was all very dramatic. He said: 'Alright, that's the end of the band', and assumed because he left that we were going to fold up." Satriani was asked to join full time but had to decline as he was tied into a long recording contract. A permanent replacement for Blackmore was eventually found in another guitar legend, Steve Morse of Dixie Dregs, who joined the band in 1994.
Ian Gillan, who had been Ritchie Blackmore's roommate during the early days of the band, stated in a 2006 interview that Blackmore had "turned into a weird guy and the day he walked out of the tour was the day the clouds disappeared and the day the sunshine came out and we haven't looked back since." Gillan noted that after Blackmore "walked out, things picked up and recovered unbelievably, remarkably well and the band's in great shape now". He added that "there are certain personal issues that I have with Ritchie, which means that I will never speak to him again. Nothing I'm going to discuss publicly, but deeply personal stuff."
The Second Rainbow Years, 1993-1997
Ritchie Blackmore reformed Rainbow after leaving Deep Purple a second time in 1993. This Rainbow line up with singer Doogie White lasted until 1997 and produced the album "Stranger in Us All". In the years Rainbow were together, Blackmore was the only consistent member. "Stranger In Us All" failed to measure up to the critical and commercial acclaim of previous releases, possibly due to the grunge movement at the time and was not particularly well publicised. In 1996, he appeared on the tribute album to Hank Marvin and The Shadows "Twang" on Stings Pangea label with a rendition of Gerry Lordan's Apache.
The Blackmore's Night Years, 1997-Present
In 1997, Blackmore and his fiancée Candice Night formed the Renaissance-inspired pop group Blackmore's Night. They have also performed the music for Magi Quest, a live simulation game located along the east coast. Their debut album "Shadow of the Moon" (1997) was an instant success, particularly in Europe. In subsequent albums, particularly "Fires at Midnight" (2001), there was an increased incorporation of rock guitar into the music, whilst maintaining a folk rock direction.
Personal Life
Blackmore has a son, Jürgen R. Blackmore (b. 1964), from his first marriage with a German woman named Margrit. Their marriage ended in 1969. He married another German woman, called Bärbel Hardie in September 1969. His third marriage, in May 1981, to Amy Rothman, ended after divorce in 1987 (they separated in 1983). He and bandmate Candice Night have been living together since 1991 (they first met in 1989). The couple currently reside in Mount Sinai, Long Island, New York, USA. In Fall 2008 Ritchie Blackmore and Candice Night plan to get married.
Blackmore's Musical Style
Blackmore's Gear Set Up
Source: Wikipedia
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