Ritchie Blackmore

All Music Guide:

British guitarist Ritchie Blackmore started out as a session player and then was a cofounder of the hard rock group Deep Purple in 1968. With Deep Purple, he made the albums Shades of Deep Purple (1968), The Book of Taliesyn (1969), Deep Purple (1969), Concerto for Group and Orchestra (with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, 1970), Purple in Rock, Fireball (1971), Machine Head (1972), Purple Passages (1972), Made in Japan (1973), Who Do We Think We Are? (1973), Burn (1974), and Stormbringer (1974) before leaving the group in April 1975. In Los Angeles in 1975, he took over the New York band Elf, replaced the guitarist, and renamed the resulting heavy metal quintet Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow. Personnel would change frequently during the band's existence. The first edition featured Ronnie James Dio (born Ronald Padavona, July 10, 1949, Cortland, NY) (vocals), Gary Driscoll (drums), Craig Gruber (bass), and Mickey Lee Soule (keyboards). They made the first album, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow. Driscoll, Gruber, and Soule then departed and were replaced by Jim Bain (bass), Tony Carey (keyboards), and former Jeff Beck Group drummer Cozy Powell (b. December 29, 1947, Cirencester, England) for the second album, Rainbow Rising (1976), and the third, On Stage, which made the U.K. Top Ten. (From the third album on, the band was credited only as Rainbow.) Carey and Bain then left and were replaced by David Stone (keyboards) and Bob Daisley (bass) for the fourth album, Long Live Rock 'N' Roll (1978), another Top Ten U.K. hit, after which Daisley and Stone left. In 1979, Blackmore, Dio, and Powell added former Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover (b. November 20, 1945, Brecon, South Wales) and Don Airey (keyboards), and started to make the fifth album, the U.K. Top Ten Down to Earth, but Dio left during the recording sessions and was replaced by Graham Bonnet. The album included two U.K. Top Ten singles, "Since You've Been Gone" and "All Night Long." Powell and Bonnet left in 1980 and were replaced by Bob Rondinelli (drums) and Joe Lynn Turner (vocals), and the lineup of Blackmore, Glover, Airey, Rondinelli, and Turner made the sixth album and fourth U.K. Top Ten LP Difficult to Cure in 1981. The album produced the U.K. Top Ten single "I Surrender." Then Airey left and was replaced by David Rosenthal. In 1982, Blackmore, Glover, Rondinelli, Turner, and Rosenthal made their seventh album and fifth U.K. Top Ten, Straight Between the Eyes. The eighth album, Bent out of Shape, was released in 1983 and featured the band's first U.S. Top 40 hit, "Stone Cold." In 1984, Blackmore disbanded Rainbow and joined a reformed version of Deep Purple, participating in the albums Perfect Strangers (1984), The House of Blue Light (1987), Nobody's Perfect (1988), Slaves and Masters (1990), The Battle Rages On (1993) and Stranger in Us All (1995). With new outfit Blackmore's Night, in 1997 he resurfaced with Shadow of the Moon; Under a Violet Moon followed a year later.

Wikipedia:

Richard Hugh "Ritchie" Blackmore (born 14 April 1945) is a British guitarist and songwriter, who is known as one of the first guitarists to fuse classical music elements with blues rock. He began his professional career as a studio session musician and was subsequently a member of Deep Purple, after which Blackmore established a successful career fronting his own band Rainbow, and later progressed to the traditional folk rock project Blackmore's Night with his wife.

Early life

Blackmore was born at Allandale Nursing Home, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, South West England, but moved to Heston, Middlesex (now Greater London) at the age of two. Although the surname Blackmore is thought to be of English origin, his father was of Welsh ancestry and his mother of English. He was 11 when he got his first guitar. His father bought it for him on certain conditions, including learning how to play properly, so he took classical guitar lessons for one year.

While at school he did well at sports including the javelin. Blackmore left school at age 15 and started work as an apprentice radio mechanic at nearby Heathrow Airport. He was given guitar lessons by Big Jim Sullivan.

Career

1960s

In about 1960 or 1961 he played with minor local bands, including one called the Jaywalkers. His playing improved and in 1963 he began to work as a session player for Joe Meek's music productions and performed in several bands. He was a member of the instrumental combo, The Outlaws, and backed Heinz (playing on his top ten hit "Just Like Eddie"), and Glenda Collins among others.

Blackmore joined the rock group Deep Purple in 1968 after receiving the invitation from organist Jon Lord. Purple's early sound leaned on psychedelia and progressive rock. From his youth his guitar play was partly inspired by violin. This "Mark One" line-up featuring singer Rod Evans lasted until mid-1969 and produced three studio albums.

1970s

The second line-up's first studio album, In Rock (1970), changed the band's style, turning it in a hard rock direction. This "Mark Two" line-up featuring singer Ian Gillan lasted until mid-1973, produced four studio albums.

The third line-up's new album was entitled Burn (1974), which featured blues singer, David Coverdale. This "Mark Three" line-up lasted until mid-1975 and produced two studio albums. Blackmore publicly disliked the funky soul influences that Coverdale and bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes injected into the band. Following its conclusion, he abandoned the band to front a new group, Rainbow. During this period, Blackmore lost interest on the guitar in personal life, so he received cello lessons by Hugh McDowell (ELO).

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 American vocalist Ronnie James Dio and his blues rock band Elf as studio session musicians, this first line-up never performed live. Rainbow's music was partly inspired by Baroque music since Blackmore started playing cello for songwriting. Blackmore later explained that when I’m playing different musical instrument such as cello, I find that refreshing because it’s a sense of adventure not knowing exactly what chord I’m playing or what key I’m in. The band's debut album, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, was released in 1975. Rainbow was originally thought to be a one-off collaboration, but has endured as an ongoing band project with a series of album releases and tours. Blackmore had been impressed by Dio's relatively flexible vocalist-style. 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, Ronnie James Dio left Rainbow due to "creative differences" with Blackmore, who disliked Dio's signature 'Dungeons & Dragons' lyric style.

Blackmore continued with Rainbow and the band released a new album entitled Down To Earth (1979), which featured R&B singer Graham Bonnet. The album marked the commercialization of the band's sound, and contained Rainbow's first chart successes, as the single "Since You Been Gone" (a cover of the Russ Ballard penned tune) became a smash hit. Bonnet left the band after this support tour.

1980s

The next album, Difficult to Cure (1981), introduced American vocalist Joe Lynn Turner. The instrumental title track from this album was an arrangement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with additional music. The album marked the further commercialization of the band's sound with Blackmore once describing at the time liking for the pop rock band, Foreigner. Hard rock-based fans thought the vocal parts ended up being a bit too melodic than Rainbow's previous releases. The music was consciously radio-targeted, in a more AOR style, resulting in some degree of alienation with many of their 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 Blackmore was also nominated for a Grammy Award for his work on an instrumental ballard 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 and produced two studio albums.

1990s

The next line-up recorded one album entitled Slaves & Masters (1990), which featured former Rainbow vocalist Joe Lynn Turner. The album's style differed from the traditional Purple sound. Subsequently the "Mark Two" line-up reunited for a second time in late 1992 and produced one studio album. During its follow-up promotional tour, Blackmore again quitted the band in November 1993.

Blackmore reformed Rainbow with new members in 1994. This Rainbow line-up, featuring Scottish singer Doogie White, lasted until 1997 and produced one album entitled 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 White was not as distinctive as its previous singers, it had a sound dissimilar to any Rainbow of old. Released in the post-grunge mid-1990s, a world tour including South America followed. This is regarded as his last hard rock album. Rainbow was put on hold once again after playing its final concert in 1997.

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.

In 1997 Blackmore, with his girlfriend Candice Night as vocalist, formed the traditional folk rock duo Blackmore's Night. Around the same time as production of Rainbow's final album in 1995, they were already gearing up their debut album Shadow of the Moon (1997). Though she lacked experience as a lead singer, Blackmore noticed Night's potential and encouraged her to become his creative partner. Blackmore once described at the time their artistic characteristics as "Mike Oldfield plus Enya". Blackmore mostly utilised acoustic guitar, to back Night's delicate vocals. They recorded a mixture of original and cover materials. The band's musical style is inspired by his personal favorite Renaissance music and blends with Night's lyrics about medieval themes and fantasy. 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.

2000s-current

In subsequent albums, particularly Fires at Midnight (2001), there was sometimes an increased incorporation of rock 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, a 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 about 25 persons. Blackmore sometimes played drums in recording studio. Possibly to concentrate on album production, they chose to avoid typically rock concert tour to perform, instead limiting their appearances in small theatre or 12th century castles. During song composition, Blackmore directly writes her vocal melodies. Night said, "When he sings, he sings only for me, in private". As a result, his musical approach shifted to vocalist-centered sounds. Their music is generally categorised as belonging to New age music.

Equipment and musical style

During the 1960s, Blackmore played a Gibson ES-335 but switched to a Fender Stratocaster in 1970. Since then, until formed Blackmore's Night in 1997, he used Stratocasters almost exclusively. The middle pickup is screwed down and not used. Blackmore has also occasionally used a Fender Telecaster Thinline during recording sessions.

From 1970 to 1997, Blackmore almost exclusively played a Fender Stratocaster. He is also one of the first rock guitarists to have used a "scalloped" fretboard where the wood is filed and carved out into a shallow "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; his main guitar (until 1978) was a sunburst 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 amplifers were originally 200W Marshall Major stacks which were modified by Marshall with an additional output stage (generated approximately 278W) to make them sound more like Blackmore's favourite Vox AC-30 amp, cranked to full volume. Since 1994, he has used Engl valve amps. One of the reasons he cited was that the Marshall heads did not sound as good as the Engls at low volume.

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 Unicord Univibe, 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.

His strings used from 1970 to 1997 were Picato brand (.010, .011, .014, .026, .038, .048).

Blackmore has experimented with many different pickups in his Strats. In the early Rainbow era, they were still stock Fenders, later Dawk installed overwound, dipped, Fender pickups. 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). He used Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound Flat SSL-4 for several years and since the late 80s he has used Lace Sensor (Gold) "noiseless" pickups.

Personal life

On 18 May 1964, Blackmore married Margit Volkmar (b. 3 Jan 1945) from Germany. They lived in Hamburg during the late 1960s, following divorce in 1969. Their son, Jürgen (b. 1964), played guitar in touring tribute band Over the Rainbow. Blackmore married former German dancer, Bärbel, 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 U.S.A. in 1974. Initially he lived in Oxnard, California, where he lived with American opera singer Shoshana (real name Judith Feinstein) for one year, so she provided backing vocals on Rainbow's first album. Shortly after Blackmore met Amy Rothman in 1978, he moved to Connecticut, New England. He married Rothman on 16 May 1981, but with Blackmore's reluctance to have a child, they divorced in about 1983. Soon after, a relationship with Tammi Williams followed. In early 1984 Blackmore met Williams in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where she was working as hotel employee. In the same year, he purchased his first car because he finally learned to drive a car at 39 years old.

Blackmore and then-fashion model Candice Night lived together from 1991. He moved on her native Long Island in 1993. After being engaged for nearly fifteen years, the couple finally married on October 2008. Their daughter, Autumn was born on May 2010. He is non-smoker, plays football once a week, and always watches German language television on the satellite dish when he stays at his home. Blackmore has a collection of approximately 2,000 CDs of Renaissance music.

In popular culture

Blackmore was ranked number 16 on Guitar World's "100 Greatest Metal Guitarists of All Time" in 2004, and number 50 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" in 2011.

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