Hard Rock certainly wouldn’t be the same without Ritchie Blackmore, who was a crucial part of Deep Purple‘s sound and later composed many incredible songs with his own band, Rainbow, which also became part of Rock history. He was a huge inspiration to many generations of guitar players, especially those who rose to prominence a few years after he released his most influential albums with both bands.
His generation helped create the guitar hero phenomenon, which was carried on by many other incredible musicians. Over the decades, Blackmore mentioned many of those he admired and gave his opinion on them, including ex-Scorpions and UFO guitarist Michael Schenker.
What is Ritchie Blackmore’s opinion on Michael Schenker
Ritchie Blackmore has always been a big fan of UFO and, consequently, has long admired Michael Schenker. Back in 1985, he mentioned the guitarist as someone he admired and who had “some great melodies in his head”. He was among Eddie Van Halen and Jeff Beck, who were also mentioned by Ritchie at the time.
Over the decades, the guitarist has praised UFO many times. During VH1’s “Greatest Artists of Hard Rock” episode, he said: “UFO, that’s an interesting band. They kind of represent the roots of English Blues-based Rock.” Schenker was a member of the band from 1973 to 1978, reuniting in the 90s and early 2000s. Although he and Blackmore did not have exactly the same playing style, he was invited to join Deep Purple as the legendary guitarist’s replacement when Blackmore decided to leave the band for good in 1993.
His answer to them was “no”, the same response he had given to Ozzy Osbourne, Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy and Motörhead. According to him, all of them had also invited him to join them on previous occasions. The German guitarist has always said that he preferred to continue playing his own music rather than stepping into someone else’s shoes. He didn’t want to play songs he didn’t write.
Michael Schenker has a habit of hiring people who worked with Ritchie Blackmore
Although he didn’t join Deep Purple, he curiously had the habit over the decades to hire musicians who had previously played with Blackmore. Since he formed The Michael Schenker Group, the line-up changed a lot over the years and had names like the drummer Cozy Powell, who had been a member of Rainbow in the 70s, working with him from 1980 to 1982. He also hired the singer Graham Bonnet, who was the vocalist of Rainbow only on the album “Down to Earth” (1979) and ended up joining Michael’s band in 1982 and from 2016 to 2020.
In the 1990s, he continued to bring former Blackmore bandmates into the fold. One of them was singer Doogie White, who had been the vocalist on Rainbow’s final studio album, “Stranger in Us All” (1995). White later sang in Michael Schenker’s band from 2013 to 2016 and again from 2018 to 2020.
From 2020 to 2023, Schenker worked with Ronnie Romero, who had been Rainbow’s vocalist during the band’s most recent reunion. Looking at the guest musicians featured on his studio albums, Schenker also collaborated with another former Rainbow singer, Joe Lynn Turner. He sang on several tracks of his 2021 album “Immortal”. Other musicians with ties to Blackmore who appeared on Schenker’s albums as session players include drummer Bobby Rondinelli and keyboardist Don Airey.
What Schenker said about hiring so many musicians who had played with Blackmore
About this interesting fact, Schenker said that he and Ritchie were probably living in a parallel universe. In his defense, Schenker told Chaoszine, that it wasn’t his fault that they both had great taste when it came to musicians.
“I always say that Ritchie Blackmore and I are living in a parallel universe. [laughter] We’re kind of doing the same things. He left the Purple; I left UFO. Then Rainbow got the replacement, and UFO got the replacement. Both of them got their replacement from the same management. And then I was doing acoustic guitar, and then Ritchie started doing acoustic guitar. And then I had Cozy come to me and join MSG.”
“Everybody who left, or most people leaving Rainbow, would come to MSG. It was kind of very strange. Then even the Purple asked me to join them. It was just kind of very powerful, very, very closely connected. But yet, we don’t really know much about each other. But we have very similar things happen to us in life. (…) That’s one other thing! (We both have great taste when it comes to musicians),” Michael Schenker said in 2022.
Before becoming a famous musician himself, Schenker was inspired by many bands, including Deep Purple. The first song he heard by them was “Child in Time” and a few years saw them live. He was not disappointed, saying that the group was remarkable that night. He also praised the band members, calling them incredible musicians.
I'm a Brazilian journalist who always loved Classic Rock and Heavy Metal music. That passion inspired me to create Rock and Roll Garage over 6 years ago.
Music has always been a part of my life, helping me through tough times and being a support to celebrate the good ones. When I became a journalist, I knew I wanted to write about my passions.
After graduating in journalism from the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais, I pursued a postgraduate degree in digital communication at the same institution. The studies and experience in the field helped me improve the website and always bring the best of classic rock to the world!
MTB: 0021377/MG
