The guitarist Ritchie Blackmore is one of the most important guitarists in the history of Rock and Roll music. His work with Deep Purple and Rainbow was an inspiration for countless artists and bands throughout the decades and he is still regarded as a real guitar hero. During his career he played Progressive Rock in the early days of Deep Purple and Hard Rock after they released the groundbreaking album “Deep Purple In Rock” (1970).
With his own band Rainbow he approached Heavy Metal in some tracks then trying to make pop songs in other incarnations of the band. Since the late 90s he had been focused on Renaissance music and that shows how versatile he is.
But he continues to love Rock and Roll and especially Progressive Rock. He even chose one Prog Rock keyboardist as one of the best artists in the history of music.
The artist that Ritchie Blackmore said was one of the best in history
Deep Purple first started mixing Rock and Roll, Psychedelic music and Classical, which can be heard on their first albums. But everything changed after the release of their famous album “Deep Purple In Rock”, which showed them the path they should follow. But it wasn’t only the keyboardist Jon Lord who loved Prog Rock, Blackmore also was a big fan.
He even said in an interview with Newsweek in 2017 that the late keyboardist Keith Emerson was one of the best showmen and players of all time. Emerson was known for his work with The Nice and in the supergroup Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
Deep Purple co-headlined the famous festival Cal Jam with ELP back in the early 70s.
“I always loved watching Keith perform. I was a big fan of the Nice. We used to play the rounds together back in ’68, ’69. To me, he was one of the best showmen and players. A very nice guy. (He was among) was one of the people who) were so good at doing the show as well as playing the music,” Ritchie Blackmore said.
Blackmore said that Emerson also one of Jon Lord’s favorites
The legendary Deep Purple keyboardist Jon Lord also loved Keith Emerson as Blackmore said on his Facebook right after the news of Emerson’s death arrived.
“Sad news to hear about Keith Emerson. One of my favorite keyboard players. Used to tour with him when he was in The Nice. Always extremely exciting to watch on stage. Also one of Jon Lord’s favorites. Loved his rendition of America.”
“He will be sadly missed. PS Not many people know this. Jimi Hendrix wanted to form a band with ELP called HELP. That was the insiders rumour I heard but it obviously never materialized,” Ritchie Blackmore said. Emerson tragically decided to end his life back in March 11, 2016 at the age of 71 in Santa Monica, California.
As a solo artist Emerson released six studio albums and
Blackmore and Keith Emerson were part of the charity version of “Smoke on The Water”
Besides seeing Keith Emerson playing live with The Nice and ELP, Blackmore was also lucky enough to have recorded with him. They were both part of the charity version of Deep Purple’s “Smoke On The Water”. The single was covered in order to help those affected by the 1988 Armenian earthquake.
On the vocals the track had: Ian Gillan, Bruce Dickinson, Paul Rodgers and Bryan Adams. On the guitars there were: Brian May, David Gilmour, Tony Iommi, Ritchie Blackmore and Alex Lifeson.
Chris Squire played the bass and Geoff Downes and Keith Emerson played keyboards. Queen’s Roger Taylor was the only one recording the drums.