Ritchie Blackmore is an English rock guitarist who has played guitar since the 1950's and continues to do so today. He also plays several other instruments, such as the mandolin and cello. He has played in many bands, most notably the British rock band Deep Purple and also played as a sessions musician for many years. His constantly adapting and developing style has made a lot of people take notice of him, as has his live musical work, which is different every time. This is because one of Ritchie's trademarks is his ability to improvise a solo at the drop of a hat, whether for a studio recording or for a crowd of thousands. His particularly innovative style of musical artistry was one of the major sounds of the 1970's.
Another trademark is his reputation as one of the most callous and unyielding people ever to play rock music. He is known as one of the rudest and most merciless people in the world to work for, or with. However, he was a man who always got exactly what he wanted. What he wanted was, in my opinion, pretty damned good. You may know his work, even if you don't recognise the name. His most famous is in songs such as
Smoke On The Water and
Since You've Been Gone. In the world of rock and roll, Ritchie Blackmore was one of the guitarists at the very top when it came to bringing rock to the world.
In this article I'll be examining the life, character and contribution that Ritchie Blackmore made to music. It was a contribution which began my own guitar work and, hopefully, the world will continue to benefit from all that Ritchie Blackmore did in his life.
A History Of Ritchie Blackmore
by Tom Colohue
Richard Hugh Blackmore was born on April 14th, 1945 in Weston-super-Mare, England. In his youth, at the age of two, his family moved to Heston in Middlesex. His interest in music, especially the electric guitar, was quite pronounced at an early age, leading his father to gift him with his first guitar at the age of 11. Determined that, if his son was going to play guitar, he was going to do it right, Ritchie's father had him in classical guitar lessons for a year. These lessons are what Ritchie believes responsible for his technical style. However, his lessons did not stop there. Ritchie also received lessons from Big Jim Sullivan, a well known sessions musician four years his senior.
“The only way you can get good, unless you're a genius, is to copy. That's the best thing. Just steal.” - Ritchie Blackmore
He first began his musical career as a sessions musician, working for Joe Meek's music productions. He performed in many different bands, appearing on several albums and becoming well known amongst the skilled musicians. Throughout the sixties he worked with several different artists such as Heinz, Neil Christian and the Crusaders, Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages, The Three Musketeers and was also a member of the instrumental band The Outlaws.
“Session work makes you more strict. You can't hit notes all over the place. You've got to make each one really count.” - Ritchie Blackmore
One of the many sessions guitarists who worked with him was Jimmy Page, before the inception of Led Zeppelin.
In 1968, Ritchie Blackmore was invited to become the guitarist for a band named Roundabout. The band was put together by Chris Curtis, former singer and drummer for the band Searchers for management duo Edwards and Colletta. Roundabout was a five member band. Alongside Curtis and Blackmore, there was Jon Lord on keyboards, and soon after they were joined by Nick Simper on bass and Bobby Woodman on drums. Before long, Chris Curtis was replaced with Dave Curtis (no relation) by Edwards and Colletta. However, that was not the only line-up change to Roundabout. Favouring Ian Paice since watching him play in Germany, Ritchie Blackmore sent their current drummer, Bobby Woodman, out for cigarettes so that they could audition, and then replace him with, Ian Paice. Dave Curtis was then replaced by a third singer named Rod Evans. The name of the band was then changed to the name of Blackmore’s grandmother’s favourite song - ‘Deep Purple’ by Bing Crosby.
The first three albums under the Deep Purple name were of a very different style to that which Deep Purple eventually became famous for. Despite barely being sold at all in the UK, the band became a huge hit in the US. Regardless of this, Evans, the singer, was proving to be a little too cabaret for the style that Blackmore wished to pursue, while Simper, the bassist, was also at odds with the sound of the rest of the band. While touring in support of their upcoming third LP, Deep Purple began to rehearse with Ian Gillan as their singer and Roger Glover as the bassist.
“Ian Gillan, Roger Glover and I wanted to be a hard rock band - we wanted to play rock and roll only.” - Ritchie Blackmore
Evans and Simper were replaced shortly after.
The mark two line-up was by far the most successful and the most well known for it’s brand of rock and roll.
“I've always played every amp I've ever had full up, because rock and roll is supposed to be played loud. Also, that's how you get your sustain.” - Ritchie Blackmore
During this time, Blackmore switched from using Les Paul guitars to using Fender models. He had been inspired to do so by the work of Jimi Hendrix, a guitarist whom he had greatly respected for his showmanship more than his technical prowess. The Deep Purple song ‘Child In Time’ was recorded using both a Les Paul guitar and a Fender. Afterwards, Blackmore became well known for favouring the Stratocaster model. His trademark became a particular white Fender Stratocaster. The tour schedule became incredibly intense, leading to problems occurring between many band members, specifically Blackmore and Gillan. Despite performing with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra early in this period, and performing an infamous show entitled ‘Made In Japan,’ cracks quickly began to form. Gillan and Glover left the band once again on June 29th, 1973. By this point Deep Purple was one of the most well known and successful bands in the world. Unfortunately, Edwards and Colletta were the ones to benefit, not the band itself.
Their replacements, David Coverdale on vocals and Glenn Hughes on bass, were not to Blackmore’s tastes. The influence of funk in their playing was unappreciated by the classically trained and rock and roll orientated Blackmore. Though the band continued to perform, Blackmore left Deep Purple in 1975 to perform in what had originated as a side project with then little known Ronnie James Dio.
At first, Blackmore had recorded with Dio’s band Elf, taking the place of their guitarist. When the Blackmore-Dio side project became a band in it’s own right, the first few albums released were by several different incarnations. The band was named Rainbow, with Blackmore’s name at the head for the sake of marketing. Rainbow was influenced strongly by classical and medieval music, both of which Blackmore and Dio shared a passion for. Blackmore’s composition became very different to his style in Deep Purple at this time. Able to finally explore routes that he had wanted to experiment with during his years with Deep Purple, Blackmore began to write songs such as Stargazer, which was written on a cello.
“But you have to give your whole life to a cello. When I realized that, I went back to the guitar and just turned the volume up a bit louder.” - Ritchie Blackmore
Unfortunately, without the same backing as Deep Purple, Blackmore found himself changing the style of his music in order to increase their potential sales revenue. This created yet another artistic divide, this time between Blackmore and Dio. After several years with only limited commercial success and near endless changes in line-up, including a period where Blackmore had performed bass duties himself, Dio left the band. His departure brought about a near complete change in the style of Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow.
Afterwards, Roger Glover, who had previously been ousted from Deep Purple by Blackmore, came in to play the bass guitar for Rainbow. The band continued with a new line-up recording more radio friendly pop-rock music. Finally receiving the commercial success that he was after, Blackmore was still unable to find a definitive line-up for his band. Though widely known and respected, Rainbow has become a very different band since it was first created. After performing with a full orchestra in Japan, Blackmore began to hint at the idea of returning to Deep Purple. This coincided with the release of an advertised Deep Purple best of compilation album. Later jamming alongside Ian Gillan at the Marquee Club, the reunion of the second line-up followed quickly after, ending Rainbow.
"Everything I do is usually totally spontaneous." - Ritchie Blackmore
Reuniting in 1984, Deep Purple, composed once again of Blackmore, Lord, Paice, Gillan and Glover, went on to record a new album and to perform at Knebworth festival. Unfortunately, old problems quickly returned. Gillan was quickly ousted again and former Rainbow singer Joe Lynn Turner was drafted in, but Gillan returned quickly after another album. Late in 1993, things reached fever pitch once again and a mid-tour bust up between Gillan and Blackmore caused the guitarist to leave Deep Purple once again, this time for good.
Blackmore brought back Rainbow for the next four years, going through numerous line-up changes where Blackmore himself was the only consistent member. Recording only one more album in that time, Rainbow received little to no commercial success in those four years. Due to this and the unending line-up changes, the end came again in 1997.
Practically giving up on rock n' roll, Blackmore began to pursue a different style of music altogether. Using his classical roots and his time playing medieval music, Blackmore and his then partner (now wife) Candice Night began to experiment with Renaissance music. As of this year, Blackmore is still performing in this project with Candice Night. The band is named Blackmore's Night. In 2008, Night and Blackmore were married in a castle, truly fitting of both of their styles. Through near unending styles and quite possibly hundreds of line-up changes, Blackmore is still playing music sixty-four years on.
There's a lot to be learned from Ritchie Blackmore's style, his dedication to music and his dedication to his fans. Consistently making good music is not something he ever claimed, but consistently trying to be true to his own way of doing things is no bad thing. As often as it caused a divide it would cause a new friendship. Nowadays he's playing the sort of music that you don't hear very often; occupying a niche so that people who enjoy Renaissance music have something to listen to.
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