The legendary guitarist Ritchie Blackmore first left Deep Purple in 1975 and then created his own band Rainbow, which started being heavier and by the early 80s had a more commercial sound. He then reunited with Purple again for the last time from 1984 to 1993, then reactivating Rainbow for a few years.
But it was essentially in 1997 that his career in Renaissance music started when he formed the band Blackmore’s Night, alongside his wife Candice Night. Since then they have released 11 studio albums, the most recent one being “Nature’s Light” in 2021.
In an interview with New Jersey Stage, the musician explained why he left Deep Purple and ended Rainbow for Renaissance music.
Ritchie Blackmore explains why he left Rock and Roll for Renaissance music
“The stress was from the traveling to do with rock and roll, the continual trying to come up with different augmentations of heavy riffs which can be boring, I was getting stale playing the same type of music: heavy rock for the sake of playing heavy rock.”
“ I have always been interested in melodic rock – melodies in general. Toward the end of Purple it was just being loud for the sake of being loud so when I heard renaissance music – there were so many incredible melodies that struck a chord with me. That was such a relief in many ways so I jumped off the monster train just to play some melodies more organically,” Ritchie Blackmore said.
Next Ritchie Blackmore’s Night tour dates
June
- 22 – The Sherman Theater – Stroudsburg, PA
- 23 – District Music Hall – Norwalk, CT
- 29 – Berklee Performance Center – Boston, MA
- 30 – Academy of Music – Northampton, MA
July
- 6 – The Vogel – Red Bank, NJ
Besides Ritchie Blackmore and Candice Night, the band is also formed nowadays by David Baranowski (Keyboards), Mike Clemente (Guitar, bass, mandolin), David Keith (Drums), Claire Smith (Violin) and Christina Lynn Skleros (Harmony vocals, shawn, flute and recorder).