Ritchie Blackmore facts for kids

Ritchie Blackmore
Ritchie Blackmore
Background information
Birth name	Richard Hugh Blackmore
Born	14 April 1945 (age 75); Weston-super-Mare, England
Genres	Hard rock, heavy metal
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Guitar
Years active	1968–present
Associated acts	Deep Purple, Rainbow

Ritchie Blackmore (born 14 April 1945) is an English guitarist. He is former member and founder of British hard rock band Deep Purple.

Early life

Blackmore was born in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. His family moved to Heston, Middlesex when he was two.

Career

Ritchie Blackmore in 1970

In the 1950s, Blackmore played with small bands. In 1968, Blackmore , with keyboardist Jon Lord, singer Rod Evans, bassist Nick Simper and drummer Ian Paice created the band Deep Purple. Deep Purple had a hit song in the United States with "Hush". Although they were doing well, Ritchie Blackmore and Deep Purple decided to get a different singer. They replaced Evans with Ian Gillan. The band's album Deep Purple In Rock was released in 1970. In 1972, Deep Purple made the album Machine Head. It included one of their most popular songs, "Smoke on the Water. In 1972, they recorded the live album Made in Japan. Gillan and Glover left the group in 1974. They were replaced with singer David Coverdale and bassist David Coverdale. The new Deep Purple released two albums Burn (1974) and Stormbringer (1974). Blackmore left the band soon after these albums were released.

In 1984, Blackmore got together with Gillan, Glover, Lord and Paice and made the album Perfect Strangers. The album had many successes with the songs "Knocking at Your Back Door" and "Perfect Strangers". After recording the album The Battle Rages On, Blackmore left the band in 1993.

The Rainbow

Rainbow Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio

In 1975, Blackmore founded the band The Rainbow. The band included Ronnie James Dio as singer, Craig Gruber on bass, Micky Lee Soule on keyboards, and Gary Driscoll on drums. The band's first album, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, was released August 4, 1975. It was followed by Long Live Rock 'n' Roll in 1978, with Cozy Powell in drums. On Difficult to Cure (1981), The band included the vocalist Joe Lynn Turner, replacing Dio. After several changes in it's members, Blackmore disbanded the band in 1997.