Biography
English guitar virtuoso Ritchie Blackmore, who also plays multiple instruments and writes songs, stands among the key figures who shaped the foundational elements of hard rock and heavy metal. Drawing from blues, heavy metal, progressive rock, folk, and classical traditions, he has long belonged to Deep Purple, established both Rainbow and Blackmore's Night, and created one of rock's most recognizable riffs in Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water." With Deep Purple the guitarist cut dozens of albums, among them the landmark releases Fireball (1971) and Machine Head (1972), while Rainbow, at one point featuring Ronnie James Dio, produced eight studio LPs and scored hits with "Since You've Been Gone" and "Stone Cold." During the late 1990s Blackmore launched Blackmore's Night, a progressive folk ensemble steeped in Baroque, Celtic, and Renaissance influences, and the project has since yielded ten albums highlighted by Fires at Midnight (2001) and Dancer and the Moon (2013). In 2016 he entered the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame together with his Deep Purple colleagues.
Richard Hugh Blackmore arrived in 1945 in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, where his father presented him with his first guitar at age eleven. Throughout the 1960s he served as a session musician for English record producer Joe Meek, performed with the instrumental outfit the Outlaws, and worked alongside Glenda Collins, Heinz, Screaming Lord Sutch, and beat singer Neil Christian. In 1968 he entered Deep Purple, a band that, alongside Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, spearheaded British heavy metal and hard rock throughout the following decade. Blackmore remained in the group's most commercially potent lineup, which included Ian Gillan and later David Coverdale on vocals, Jon Lord on keyboards and backing vocals, Roger Glover on bass, and Ian Paice on drums; that stretch lasted until 1975 and generated enduring rock staples such as "Smoke on the Water," "Highway Star," and "Woman from Tokyo," plus eight studio albums, seven of which achieved gold status.
Blackmore departed in 1975 intending to record a solo album yet instead assembled a band under the name Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow. Recruiting members of the New York-based blues-rock group Elf, including powerhouse vocalist Ronnie James Dio, the ensemble delivered its self-titled debut later that year, which contained the signature track "Man on the Silver Mountain," a song that became a fixture in Dio's live sets for years afterward. Later records appeared simply as Rainbow once Dio exited in 1978 to pursue a solo path. Blackmore guided the band toward a more commercial sound through vocalists Graham Bonnet and Joe Lynn Turner until Rainbow disbanded in 1984.
Not long after the split, Blackmore returned to Deep Purple and stayed through several personnel shifts and five studio albums—Perfect Strangers (1984), The House of Blue Light (1987), Nobody's Perfect (1988), Slaves and Masters (1990), and The Battle Rages On (1993)—before exiting once more. He revived Rainbow in 1994 with vocalist Doogie White and issued Stranger in Us All in 1995, though the group wound down two years later.
In 1997 Blackmore established the folk-rock collective Blackmore's Night alongside girlfriend and vocalist Candice Night. Their 1997 debut Shadow of the Moon remained largely acoustic, though later releases incorporated additional electric guitar, and the album blended originals with covers while drawing inspiration from medieval and Renaissance sources; Blackmore once described the sound as "Mike Oldfield meets Enya." Blackmore and Night eventually married, and the venture became one of his most lasting, producing well-received studio albums such as Under a Violet Moon (1999), Ghost of a Rose (2003), The Village Lanterne (2006), Secret Voyage (2008), Autumn Sky (2010), Dancer and the Moon (2013), and All Our Yesterdays (2015), along with the 2006 holiday collection Winter Carols.
Deep Purple's work earned recognition in 2016 with the band's induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. That same year Blackmore assembled a fresh Rainbow lineup featuring Ronnie Romero, Jens Johansson, David Keith, and Bob Nouveau; the musicians performed at several festivals, performances later compiled on the concert album Memories in Rock: Live in Germany. The group played three U.K. dates in 2017 that resulted in the live album and film Memories in Rock II, issued the following year.
Richard Hugh Blackmore arrived in 1945 in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, where his father presented him with his first guitar at age eleven. Throughout the 1960s he served as a session musician for English record producer Joe Meek, performed with the instrumental outfit the Outlaws, and worked alongside Glenda Collins, Heinz, Screaming Lord Sutch, and beat singer Neil Christian. In 1968 he entered Deep Purple, a band that, alongside Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, spearheaded British heavy metal and hard rock throughout the following decade. Blackmore remained in the group's most commercially potent lineup, which included Ian Gillan and later David Coverdale on vocals, Jon Lord on keyboards and backing vocals, Roger Glover on bass, and Ian Paice on drums; that stretch lasted until 1975 and generated enduring rock staples such as "Smoke on the Water," "Highway Star," and "Woman from Tokyo," plus eight studio albums, seven of which achieved gold status.
Blackmore departed in 1975 intending to record a solo album yet instead assembled a band under the name Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow. Recruiting members of the New York-based blues-rock group Elf, including powerhouse vocalist Ronnie James Dio, the ensemble delivered its self-titled debut later that year, which contained the signature track "Man on the Silver Mountain," a song that became a fixture in Dio's live sets for years afterward. Later records appeared simply as Rainbow once Dio exited in 1978 to pursue a solo path. Blackmore guided the band toward a more commercial sound through vocalists Graham Bonnet and Joe Lynn Turner until Rainbow disbanded in 1984.
Not long after the split, Blackmore returned to Deep Purple and stayed through several personnel shifts and five studio albums—Perfect Strangers (1984), The House of Blue Light (1987), Nobody's Perfect (1988), Slaves and Masters (1990), and The Battle Rages On (1993)—before exiting once more. He revived Rainbow in 1994 with vocalist Doogie White and issued Stranger in Us All in 1995, though the group wound down two years later.
In 1997 Blackmore established the folk-rock collective Blackmore's Night alongside girlfriend and vocalist Candice Night. Their 1997 debut Shadow of the Moon remained largely acoustic, though later releases incorporated additional electric guitar, and the album blended originals with covers while drawing inspiration from medieval and Renaissance sources; Blackmore once described the sound as "Mike Oldfield meets Enya." Blackmore and Night eventually married, and the venture became one of his most lasting, producing well-received studio albums such as Under a Violet Moon (1999), Ghost of a Rose (2003), The Village Lanterne (2006), Secret Voyage (2008), Autumn Sky (2010), Dancer and the Moon (2013), and All Our Yesterdays (2015), along with the 2006 holiday collection Winter Carols.
Deep Purple's work earned recognition in 2016 with the band's induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. That same year Blackmore assembled a fresh Rainbow lineup featuring Ronnie Romero, Jens Johansson, David Keith, and Bob Nouveau; the musicians performed at several festivals, performances later compiled on the concert album Memories in Rock: Live in Germany. The group played three U.K. dates in 2017 that resulted in the live album and film Memories in Rock II, issued the following year.
Albums
Singles
