| Ritchie Blackmore |
| Background
information |
| Birth name |
Richard Hugh Blackmore |
| Born |
14 April 1945 (1945-04-14) (age 62) |
| Origin |
 Weston-super-Mare,
England |
| Genre(s) |
Hard rock, Heavy
metal, Rock,
Folk
Rock |
| Years active |
1960 - present |
Associated
acts |
Deep Purple
Rainbow
Blackmore's Night |
| Website |
blackmoresnight.com |
| Notable instrument(s) |
| Ritchie Blackmore
Signature Stratocaster Gibson ES-335 |
Richard Hugh Blackmore, (born 14 April 1945) is an English guitarist.
He has been a founding member of both Deep
Purple and Rainbow and is currently a
member of the band Blackmore's Night. He was ranked
55 on Rolling Stone's the
100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time in 2003.
|
Contents
- 1 Biography
- 1.1 Early
life
- 1.2 The
first Deep Purple years, 1968-1975
- 1.3 The
first Rainbow years, 1975-1984
- 1.4 The
second Deep Purple years, 1984-1993
- 1.5 The
second Rainbow years, 1993-1997
- 1.6 The
Blackmore's Night years, 1997-present
- 2 Musical
style
- 3 Gear
set up
- 4 Plagiarism
claim
- 5 Personal
life
- 6 See
also
- 7 Further
reading
- 8 References
- 9 External
links
|
Biography
Early life
Blackmore was born in Weston-super-Mare, England, but
moved to Heston,
Middlesex
at the age of two. He was 11 when he got his first guitar. His father
bought it for him on certain conditions: "He said if I was going to
play this thing, he was either going to have someone teach it to me
properly, or he was going to smash me across the head with it. So I
actually took the lessons for a year – classical lessons - and it got
me on to the right footing, using all the fingers and the right strokes
of the plectrum and the nonsense that goes with it."Blackmore
is left-handed, although he plays guitar right-handed.
He was influenced in his youth by early rockers like Hank
Marvin and Gene Vincent, and later, country
pickers like Chet Atkins. His playing improved and in
the early 1960s he started out as a session player for Joe
Meek's music productions and performed in several bands. He
was member of instrumental combo The Outlaws and
backed Heinz (playing on his top ten hit
"Just Like Eddie"), Screaming Lord Sutch,
Glenda
Collins and Boz among others. While
working for Joe Meek, he got to know engineer Derek
Lawrence, who would later produce Deep Purple's first three albums.
With organist Jon Lord he co-founded hard rock
group Deep
Purple in 1968, and continued to be a member of Deep Purple from
1968-1975 and again from 1984-1993.
The first Deep Purple years,
1968-1975
Blackmore co-founded the hard rock group Deep
Purple in 1968 with Rod Evans (vocals), Nick
Simper (bass), Jon Lord (keyboards), and Ian Paice
(drums). The band had a hit US single with its remake of the Joe South
song "Hush". After three albums Evans and Simper
were replaced by Ian Gillan (vocals) and Roger
Glover (bass).
The second line-up's first studio album, In
Rock, changed the band's style, turning it in a
hard rock direction. Blackmore's guitar riffs, Jon Lord's distorted
Hammond organ, and Ian Paice's jazz-influenced
drums were
enhanced by the vocals of Ian Gillan, who Blackmore has described as
being "a screamer with depth and a blues feel."
The next release was titled Fireball
and continued in the same hard rock style established on the previous
release, with Blackmore's guitar remaining a prominent feature of the
band's style.
Deep Purple's next album was titled Machine
Head. The band originally intended to record
the album at a casino in Montreux, but the night before recording
was to begin the casino hosted a Frank Zappa concert (with members of
Deep Purple in attendance) at which an audience member fired a flare gun
which ignited a fire inside the building and the casino burned down.
The entire tragedy is documented in the lyrics of what was to become
Deep Purple's historic anthem "Smoke
on the Water". The song opens with a simple
Blackmore riff that many consider to be one of the most recognisable
hard rock riffs ever recorded.
The California Jam explosion.
In 1973,
Ian Gillan and Roger Glover left Deep Purple. Gillan was roommates with
guitarist Ritchie Blackmore during the early days of the band, and in a
2006 interview Gillan said Blackmore "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."
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.
They were replaced by former Trapeze
bassist Glenn Hughes and an unknown
singer named David Coverdale. The album recorded
by the new line-up was entitled Burn. Deep Purple
continued to perform concerts worldwide, including an appearance at the
1974 'California Jam', a televised concert festival that also included
many other prominent bands. At the moment Deep Purple were due to
appear, Blackmore locked himself in his dressing room and refused to go
onstage. Previous performers had finished early, and it was still not
sundown, the time at which the band had originally been scheduled to
start. Blackmore felt this would dull the effect of the band's light
show. After ABC brought in a
sheriff to arrest him, Blackmore agreed to perform. At the culmination
of the performance he destroyed one of his guitars and threw several
amplifiers off the edge of the stage. He also struck one of the ABC
cameras with a guitar, and in recorded footage can be seen arranging
for his road crew to set off a pyrotechnic device in one of his
amplifiers, creating a brief but large fireball.
Deep Purple's next album, Stormbringer,
was publicly denounced by Blackmore himself, claiming "Stormbringer was
crap",
who disliked the funky soul influences that Hughes and Coverdale
injected into the band. Following its release, he departed Deep Purple
to front a new group, Ritchie Blackmore's
Rainbow, which was originally thought to be a one-off solo album by
Blackmore but was later revealed to be a new band project. He said in a
US press interview that he "couldn't stand to do another LP with Deep
Purple".
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 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 drummer Cozy Powell and Dio and
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 albums 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.
The album contained Blackmore's first chart successes since leaving
Deep Purple. In 1980 Blackmore's Rainbow headlined the inaugural Monsters
of Rock festival at Castle Donington in England.
The title track from the band's next album, Difficult
to Cure, 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. The album 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
bandmates had reconciled past differences and a reunion of the
successful "Mark II" lineup 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 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 June 22 1985. Despite poor weather conditions, an audience of
80,000 attended the show that also featured The
Scorpions, Mama's Boys and Meat Loaf
amongst others.
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 lineup recorded one album titled Slaves
& Masters (1990). Slaves
& Masters met with mixed opinions among
fans and band alike.
Blackmore and his bandmates 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. Gillan noted that after Blackmore
"walked out, things picked up and recovered unbelievably, remarkably
well and the band's in great shape now".
The second Rainbow years,
1993-1997
Ritchie Blackmore reformed Rainbow after leaving Deep Purple a
second time in 1993. This Rainbow line up with Doogie
White lasted until 1997 and produced the Stranger
in Us All CD.
The Blackmore's Night years,
1997-present
In 1997, Blackmore teamed up with Candice
Night to create the Renaissance-style group Blackmore's
Night. They have also preformed the music for Magi Quest, a live
simulation game located along the east coast. Their manager, Carole
Stevens is Candice Night's mother.
Musical style
With Deep Purple and Rainbow, Blackmore almost exclusively
played a Fender Stratocaster. He is also one of the
first guitarists to use a "scalloped" fretboard where the wood is
shaved down between the frets. It requires the player to play with a
lighter touch as pressing hard will cause the note to sound sharp. The
result is increased control of vibrato and bending at the cost of
making chordal playing more difficult. Other scalloped neck users
include John McLaughlin, Yngwie
J. Malmsteen, Uli Jon Roth, and also Steve Vai,
whose signature Ibanez is scalloped above the 20th fret.
One of Blackmore's best-known guitar riffs is from the song Smoke
on the Water. He plays the riff without a pick, using two fingers to
pluck two adjacent strings held in a IV interval.
In his soloing, Blackmore combines blues scales and phrases
with minor scales and ideas from European classical music. His
resulting style has been referred to as "neo-classical" and has been
emulated by many modern heavy metal guitarists.
Blackmore ranked #55 on Rolling Stone
Magazine's "100
Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
He also has two guitar solos ranked on Guitar
World magazine's "Top 100 Greatest Guitar
Solos" (Highway Star at
#19 and Lazy
at #74, both from the album Machine
Head). [1]
Gear set up
During the 1960s Blackmore played a Gibson ES-335 but switched
to a Fender Stratocaster after seeing
Jimi
Hendrix playing one in concert. He bought a second hand model from Eric
Clapton's roadie. Since then and right up until his
Blackmore's Night project Blackmore has used Stratocasters almost
exclusively. The middle pickup is screwed down and not used, with only
the bass and treble pickup selector set. Blackmore has also
occasionally used a Fender Telecaster Thinline during recording
sessions.
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 1996 he has used Engl valve amps. He has cited that one
of his reasons was that his Marshall heads did not sound as good as the
Engls at low volume.
Blackmore did not use effects very often during his time with
Deep Purple or Rainbow. He would sometimes use a wah-wah pedal and a
variable control treble-booster for sustain. Taurus bass pedals were
used during solo parts of concerts. He also had a modified Aiwa tape
machine built to supply echo and delay effects. While playing he would
often put the pick in his mouth to play with
his fingers.
His strings used during his tenure's with Deep Purple and
Rainbow were Picato brand (.010, .011, .014, .026,
.036, .042)
Blackmore's gear was modified by John "Dawk" Stillwell of Dawk
Sound Limited
Dawk modified his Marshall Majors as well as his Fender Stratocasters.
Dawk designed the Master Tone Circuit that was installed in all the
guitarist's guitars. Dawk worked for Elf with Ronnie James Dio when Elf
toured with Deep Purple. Blackmore used a modified tape deck for delay
and as a preamp to overdrive his amp. He also used a Hornby Skewes
treble booster.
Plagiarism claim
Nick Simper, the bassist with
DP Mk I,
claims that he showed Ritchie Blackmore the riff from Ricky
Nelson's Summertime and that it was the basis for Black
Night. Roger Glover agrees in an interview
with Rumba Magazine, November 1993
and says that he (Glover) insisted that they write new words and put it
out as the single the record company wanted them to make. In mitigation
he claims that they were all drunk. Nick Simper also identifies It's
a Beautiful Day's Bombay Calling as a tune "which
Mark II borrowed, and turned it into Child in Time";
Ian
Gillan
confirms this.
Personal life
He has a son, Jürgen R. Blackmore (b. 1964), with his then German
wife Margrit.
He currently resides in Mount Sinai, Long Island, New York, USA.
See also
- Blackmore's Night
- Rainbow
- Deep Purple
- Ritchie Blackmore
Stratocaster
Further reading
- Davies, Roy (2002). Rainbow
Rising. The Story of Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow. Helter
Skelter.
- Popoff, Martin (2005). Rainbow
- English Castle Magic. Metal Blade.
- Bloom, Jerry (2006). Black
Knight - The Ritchie Blackmore Story. Omnibus Press.
References
External links
| v • d • e Deep Purple |
| Current
members |
| Ian Gillan | Steve
Morse | Don
Airey | Roger
Glover | Ian Paice |
| Former
members |
| Jon Lord | Ritchie Blackmore | David
Coverdale | Glenn Hughes | Joe
Lynn Turner | Rod
Evans | Nick Simper | Tommy
Bolin | Joe
Satriani |
| Discography |
| Albums : Shades
of Deep Purple | The
Book of Taliesyn | Deep
Purple | Deep
Purple in Rock | Fireball
| Machine Head
| Who Do We Think We Are
| Burn | Stormbringer
| Come Taste the Band
| Perfect Strangers
| The House of Blue Light
| Slaves & Masters
| The Battle Rages On
| Purpendicular
| Abandon | Bananas
| Rapture of the Deep |
| Live albums: Concerto for Group
and Orchestra | Made
in Japan | Made
in Europe | Last
Concert in Japan | Deep Purple in Concert
| Live in London
| Scandinavian Nights
| Nobody's Perfect
| In the Absence of Pink:
Knebworth '85 | Come Hell or High Water
| King
Biscuit Flower Hour Presents: Deep Purple in Concert
| California Jamming
| Mk III: The Final Concerts
| Live at the Olympia '96
| Gemini Suite Live
| In Concert with the London Symphony Orchestra | Total Abandon: Live
in Australia | Live at the Rotterdam Ahoy
| This Time Around:
Live in Tokyo | The
Soundboard Series | Inglewood - Live in
California | Kneel & Pray
| Space Vol 1 & 2
| Denmark 1972
| Perks and Tit
| Just Might Take Your Life | Live
in Stockholm | Live in Montreux 1969
| Live in Paris 1975 | Live
in Europe 1993 | Live
at Montreux 1996 | They All Came Down to
Montreux |
| Videos
and DVDs:
Concerto for Group
and Orchestra | Special Edition EP
| Live In Concert 1972/73
| California Jam / Live in
California 74 | Rises
Over Japan | Come Hell or High
Water | Bombay Calling | Live
at Montreux 1996 | In Concert with
the London Symphony Orchestra | Total Abandon Australia
'99 | New, Live & Rare
| Perihelion | Live Encounters |
| Compilation Albums: Purple
Passages | The Early Years
| 24 Carat Purple
| When
We Rock, We Rock, and When We Roll, We Roll | The
Mark II Purple Singles | Deepest
Purple: The Very Best of Deep Purple | The
Anthology | Powerhouse
| The Deep Purple
Singles A's and B's | 30: Very Best of Deep
Purple | Days May Come and Days
May Go | Listen, Learn, Read On
| Winning Combinations: Deep Purple and Rainbow | Deep Purple:
The Platinum Collection |
| Related
articles |
| Rainbow | Blackmore's
Night | Ian Gillan Band | Gillan | Whitesnake
| Trapeze
| Black
Sabbath | Dixie
Dregs | Episode
Six | |
| v • d • e Rainbow |
| Ritchie Blackmore |
| Vocals: Ronnie James Dio | Graham
Bonnet | Joe Lynn Turner | Doogie
White |
| Bass: Craig Gruber | Jimmy Bain | Bob
Daisley | Roger Glover | Greg Smith |
| Drums: Gary Driscoll | Cozy
Powell | Bobby Rondinelli | Chuck
Burgi | John O'Reilly | John Miceli |
| Keyboards: Micky Lee Soule | Tony Carey
| David Stone | Don
Airey | David Rosenthal | Paul Morris |
| Discography |
| Albums : Ritchie Blackmore's
Rainbow | Rising
| Long Live Rock 'n' Roll
| Down to Earth
| Difficult to Cure
| Straight Between the Eyes
| Bent Out of Shape
| Stranger in Us All |
| Live albums: On Stage
| Finyl Vinyl | Live
in Germany/Live in Europe | Live
in Munich 1977 | Rainbow Live at
Cologne SportsHalle |
| Videos
and DVDs:
Live
Between the Eyes/ The Final Cut | Live
in Munich 1977 |
| Compilation Albums: The
Best of Rainbow | The Very Best of Rainbow |
20th
Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Rainbow |
Pot of Gold |
Catch the Rainbow:
The Anthology | Winning Combinations: Deep Purple
and Rainbow |
| Related
articles |
| Deep Purple | Blackmore's
Night | Black Sabbath | Dio | Alcatrazz | Yngwie
J. Malmsteen |
