Ritchie Blackmore

The arsiest man in rock! The "Bastard in Black"! Ritchie Blackmore is the amazing former Deep Purple guitarist best known for his awesome riffs like "Smoke On The Water", "Black Night" and "Burn". He's famous for being a bit temperamental (or sometimes just plain mental with a hot temper)... Blackmore quit Deep Purple in the mid 70's to start a new heavy rock band called "Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow" with future Black Sabbath vocalist Ronnie James Dio. The name was later shortened to "Blackmore's Rainbow" and then just plain "Rainbow". The original Rainbow bass player, keyboard player and drummer were soon replaced by Jimmy Bain (formerly of Street Noise and Harlot), Tony Carey (formerly of Blessings) and Cozy Powell (of everyone else). This is probably the most popular Rainbow lineup. Ritchie Blackmore now plays guitar (NOT lute!) with Blackmore's Night.