Ritchie Blackmore
Hard rock's dark wizard, who fused Bach with blistering riffs
Ritchie Blackmore was born in Weston-super-Mare in 1945 and grew up in Heston, west of London. He started playing guitar as a boy. In the early 1960s he became a busy session player for the eccentric producer Joe Meek, recording with The Outlaws and backing singers such as Heinz and Glenda Collins. He also toured with Screaming Lord Sutch and Neil Christian, and later lived in Hamburg, where he became fluent in German. These years of constant work built the speed and stagecraft that would soon make him famous.
In 1968 Blackmore co-founded Deep Purple. After a psychedelic pop start with the hit Hush, the band's classic Mark II line-up, with singer Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover, turned toward heavy rock. Deep Purple in Rock (1970) and Machine Head (1972) made the band one of the pillars of hard rock, along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. The riff of Smoke on the Water became perhaps the most widely learned in history, and the live album Made in Japan showed off Blackmore's improvising and his duels with Jon Lord's organ.
After the Mark III albums Burn and Stormbringer with David Coverdale, Blackmore left Deep Purple in 1975 to start Rainbow with singer Ronnie James Dio. Rising, released in 1976, and its epic Stargazer took his classical ideas furthest. Rainbow then became more commercial with Graham Bonnet and Joe Lynn Turner, scoring hits such as Since You Been Gone. In 1980 the band headlined the first Monsters of Rock festival at Donington. Blackmore was the only permanent member through Rainbow's many line-up changes, and he gained a reputation for being demanding and hard to work with.
The Mark II Deep Purple line-up reunited in 1984 for Perfect Strangers, but tensions came back and Blackmore quit for good in 1993. He then formed Blackmore's Night with his partner, singer Candice Night, playing Renaissance-inspired folk rock mostly on acoustic instruments. That duo has released more than ten studio albums. He married Night in 2008. Blackmore revived Rainbow for concerts between 2016 and 2019, and in 2016 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Deep Purple.
The 10 greatest Ritchie Blackmore solos
- 1Deep Purple · solo by Ritchie Blackmore · 1972
- 2Deep Purple · solo by Ritchie Blackmore · 1970
- 3Rainbow · solo by Ritchie Blackmore · 1976
- 4Deep Purple · solo by Ritchie Blackmore · 1972
- 5Deep Purple · solo by Ritchie Blackmore · 1974
- 6Rainbow · solo by Ritchie Blackmore · 1978
- 7Deep Purple · solo by Ritchie Blackmore · 1970
- 8Deep Purple · solo by Ritchie Blackmore · 1974
- 9Rainbow · solo by Ritchie Blackmore · 1978
- 10Deep Purple · solo by Ritchie Blackmore · 1984
The sound
Blackmore played with a menacing, unpredictable edge. He mixed blues-based rock licks with harmonic-minor and diminished runs taken from Baroque music, especially Bach. Many historians credit him as the key figure behind neoclassical metal. His scalloped fretboards let him use a wide, singing vibrato and precise bends, and his fast picking cut through with a bright Stratocaster attack. His riffs are simple and unforgettable, often built on fourths, octaves or single notes. On stage he improvised freely, trading phrases with the keyboards, and he often used the whammy bar and sound-effect feedback dramatically.
- Gibson ES-335 (guitar) His main guitar in the 1960s and in early Deep Purple.
- Fender Stratocaster (scalloped neck) (guitar) His main guitar from about 1970. It became his trademark, especially an Olympic White 1974 Strat with a scalloped rosewood fingerboard.
- Marshall Major 200W (modified) (amp) Loud, modified Marshall heads gave him his raw 1970s Deep Purple and Rainbow sound.
- Hornby Skewes treble booster (effect) A simple booster used early on to push his amps into bright saturation.
- Modified Aiwa TP-1011 tape recorder (effect) Used as a preamp and echo unit, and a key part of his classic tone.
- Moog Taurus bass pedals (effect) Used on stage to add deep synth notes under guitar passages.
- Acoustic and Renaissance instruments (guitar) Used for Blackmore's Night's folk-rock repertoire.
Covers
- Hush, originally by Joe South Deep Purple's organ-heavy version became their first big hit, with Blackmore adding punchy fills.
- River Deep – Mountain High, originally by Ike & Tina Turner An expanded, dramatic reworking of the Spector production in heavy psychedelic style.
- Still I'm Sad, originally by The Yardbirds Rainbow turned the moody chant into a driving instrumental showcase.
- Black Sheep of the Family, originally by Quatermass Deep Purple turned the song down, which helped push Blackmore to form Rainbow.
- Since You Been Gone, originally by Russ Ballard A polished pop-rock hit that took Rainbow onto the singles charts.
- I Surrender, originally by Russ Ballard Another Ballard song made into a hit, with a tight melodic Blackmore solo.
- Greensleeves, originally by Traditional Blackmore's Night gave the old English tune a gentle folk-rock setting.
Timeline
- 1945 Born on 14 April in Weston-super-Mare, England
- 1962 Starts working as a session guitarist for producer Joe Meek
- 1968 Co-founds Deep Purple; Hush becomes a US hit
- 1970 Deep Purple in Rock launches the classic Mark II heavy sound
- 1972 Machine Head and Made in Japan are released
- 1975 Leaves Deep Purple and forms Rainbow with Ronnie James Dio
- 1980 Rainbow headline the first Monsters of Rock at Donington
- 1984 Deep Purple Mark II reunites for Perfect Strangers
- 1993 Quits Deep Purple for good during a European tour
- 1997 Blackmore's Night releases its debut, Shadow of the Moon
Facts
- He was a session guitarist for Joe Meek, the producer of Telstar.
- In the film Telstar: The Joe Meek Story he is played by actor Mathew Baynton.
- He lived in Hamburg in the late 1960s and speaks fluent German.
- He took cello lessons in 1974, which influenced his writing.
- He used a modified Aiwa tape recorder as part of his guitar sound.
- He learned to drive when he was 39.
- Yngwie Malmsteen learned Deep Purple's Fireball as a child and later copied Blackmore's look on stage.
- Two of his Deep Purple solos, Highway Star and Lazy, made Guitar World readers' list of the 100 greatest solos.
- He was the only member who stayed in Rainbow through every line-up change.
- He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Deep Purple in 2016.