Ritchie Blackmore
Full name Richard Hugh Blackmore Date of Birth April 14, 1945(1945-04-14) (age 65) Place of Birth Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England Country United Kingdom
Richard Hugh Blackmore is an English rock musician, virtuoso guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, and composer.
One of the founders of the group Deep Purple, after leaving which he created the group Rainbow. In 1996 he created the project Blackmore's Night, in which he still plays.
Blackmore is considered one of the most significant and influential guitarists of the 20th century, and is included in many charts of the “best guitarists of all time.”
Guitar FENDER RITCHIE BLACKMORE STRATOCASTER.
There are two signature Ritchie Blackmore models in the world.
The first is produced in Japan - it copies Ritchie's personal guitars from the period when he played in Deep Purple and Ranbow.
The second model is made in America by the Custom Shop and represents the instrument that Ritchie prefers to play these days.
At one time, I owned a Japanese model for about a year, and therefore I will try to tell you everything I know about it.
This model was released in 1997 and was presented as a Limited Edition, that is, produced for a "limited period of time" and specifically only in 1997.
And then this guitar could be freely purchased at any decent guitar store around the world.
Beginning in 1998 and continuing to this day, this guitar has disappeared from Fender catalogs and is only produced for the Japanese domestic market by Fender Japan.
When I was in Tokyo in 2003, I often saw this guitar in local stores.
This guitar is officially prohibited from being shipped outside of Japan. various kinds licenses and agreements, so these guitars are distributed around the world mainly through private individuals who transport such guitars either personally or somehow through the mail.
In general terms, the Ritchie Blackmoe signature guitar is based on the Fender Stratocaster 70s.
These guitars are visually easy to distinguish from models of other years by the “large” headstock and truss rod, a bullet-shaped piece of which peeks out of the hole on the headstock.
Since Ritchie Blackmore switched to the stratocaster in the 70s (he previously played a Gibson ES-335), this is quite natural.
Ritchie himself claims in numerous interviews that he began playing the stratocaster solely under the influence of another “stratocaster” icon, J.Hendrix (just as he had previously chosen the Gibson ES-335 under the influence of his other idol, Chuck Berry).
Like Hendrix, Ritchie did most of his legendary guitar work on white guitars, which is why his signature model is also white.
This model differs from copies of guitars of the 70s in two things - the electronics and the neck.
First, about the neck. This model has been scalloped.
I'll try to explain this in words. Scalloping is when the fingerboard space has indentations between the fret wire.
As a result, the fingers of the left hand when playing do not touch the fretboard, but only have contact with the strings.
Physically, playing on such a bar can be uncomfortable at first.
However, I have personally dealt with many guitars that have been scalloped and have become convinced that guitarists very quickly get used to such necks and do not experience any inconvenience.
Usually on scalloped necks there is more attack, there is more ringing and high frequencies in the sound - the sound becomes more “blues-Fender” and there is a certain “metallic” tint to it, as when playing with a slide.
Plus, on scalloped necks you have better control over bends and finger vibrato, which require much less effort to perform.
However, despite this, very few guitars with such necks are mass-produced.
Besides the Blackmore model, I know only the Fender Yngwie Malmsteen Stratocaster - the signature model of the successor of the music of “that same Blackmore”.
By the way, if you compare these two guitars, the Malmsteen model has scalloping three times deeper than Blackmore's.
That is, in Malmsteen it is maximum, and in Blackmore it is barely noticeable - very light.
In the 70s, Ritchie first scaled the necks himself using a file.
Subsequently, this operation was performed by his technicians.
Besides scalloping, it must be said that the Blackmore has a very thin neck in all respects.
It's incredibly thin.
I have never seen such thin and comfortable (for my short swimsuit) bars.
It is obvious that Blackmore and his fellow technicians sharpened and thinned the necks to the limit on their guitars.
Speaking of the pickups (Seymour Duncan SSL-4) on this guitar, they are anything but ordinary.
Firstly, there are only two of them. What appears to be a medium single-coil is actually just a filler cap.
Ritchie, after Gibson, was used to playing with two pickups. The middle single bothered him and therefore he usually removed it, and in order not to spoil the classic appearance, he put the sensor cover in the middle. Accordingly, the pickup switch on this guitar is three-position, like on a Gibson.
These sensors also sound quite interesting.
If you tried to compare the sound of two rock guitar legends of the 70s - Ritchie Blackmore and Jimmy Page, you might not immediately be able to tell which of this pair plays a Fender Stratocaster and which plays a Gibson Les Paul.
This is how good, powerful and not “strat-like” the stratocaster guitar of friend Blackmore sounds in combination with the Distortion effect.
As you know, Seymour Duncan himself worked in the British branch of Fender in the 70s, worked on pickups there and personally “winded” pickups for British guitar stars.
Among his clients were such popular people as Jimi Hendrix, Ritchie Blackmore and Jeff Beck.
The SSL-4 sensors do not have Blackmore's name in their name, but they are made exactly the way Blackmore wanted them and they are made for him.
They are found on most of his personal Strats and on his signature Japanese Fender model, which copies his personal Strats from the 70s.
The first thing I want to say after getting acquainted with these sensors is to repeat the phrase “Gibsonian past”.
There is such a famous model as the P-90, which is installed on a Les Paul.
A kind of rocker single, capable of “giving out glass” and “rolling meat,” to put it poetically.
So the SSL-4 is close in sound to the P-90. First of all, I must say that the SSL-4 sounds very good with overdrive. And the solos and riffs are all great (listen to Blackmore playing).
A distinctive feature of this pickup is its excellent adaptability to playing using such techniques as “stacatto” (Ritchie breathes unevenly with such things).
Each note when playing chords is very clearly audible.
Overdriven singles are very difficult to achieve good sound when playing with muted strings with the right hand.
On SSL-4, jamming goes off like a charm, as do mediator harmonics (also a rare thing for singles).
In general, of the Strat-type single coils, the SSL-4 is probably the best suited for playing with distortion and you won’t feel much discomfort from the lack of a humbucker.
When it comes to playing clean, the sound of this pickup is similar to single-coils with increased output, such as the Fender Texas Special (sensors dedicated to SRV) and, of course, Gibson's P-90.
The SSL-4 doesn't have as much top end as a completely glass Strat single-coil. Although from the outside the sound looks like a regular Strat clean, picky Strat maniacs will notice that there isn't as much "glass" as there could be.
The feeling of “glassiness” in a sound is a very subjective characteristic and cannot be expressed in words.
There is only one thing that confuses these sensors - they make noise. And you can't do anything about it. These are still singles. On the one hand, this single-coil background is a little annoying, because in the 21st century, we are accustomed to all sorts of vertical humbuckers and other tricky things that give any sound and do not produce any noise. But on the other hand, comrade Blackmore came up with such sensors, recorded a bunch of rock masterpieces and played incredibly cool concerts. And these sensors did not bother him. Moreover, these pickups are not the worst thing about this guitar.
I won't talk about the hardware on this instrument - the usual old type tuners and the old type tremolo bridge. If you don't touch the lever, you won't get upset. If you try to actively work with the lever, then for me personally the guitar will constantly not work. You know, there is such a breed of guitarists - they play guitars with old-type tuners and an old-type tremolo bridge. And at the same time they successfully work as a lever. And everything works out for them and they are happy. Same Blackmore, Malmsteen. Or my friend Volodya Rusinov. Unfortunately, I'm not one of those people. talented people. And therefore, as soon as a Fender with such hardware falls into my hands - and most Fenders are like that - I don’t touch its lever, and, in general, I don’t screw the lever to the guitar. And then everything builds well.
This guitar has a very cool locking system that secures the strap to the body. Typically most Fenders come with Schaller StrapLocks and we're all used to them. I once tried a similar solution from Dunlop on different guitars and didn’t like it. But in this model they are embodied perfectly. I really liked how the strap in this system fits very tightly to the body, which makes it more comfortable to play while standing - the guitar hangs better. But making such a mount yourself on any other guitar will be very problematic due to the fact that it will be necessary to make large holes in the body of the guitar. It will also be problematic to install some other system on this “Blackmore guitar”.
Above I talked about the background in the single-coils and said that this is not the worst thing about this guitar. It's time to say what's bad about it. And why did I actually sell it? The main drawback of this guitar, in my subjective opinion, is the body material. The thing is that the guitar is made of basswood. I don’t know why, but most Fenders made in Japan have a body made of linden, and not alder or ash, as was the case on regular normal Fenders all their lives. For some reason, the Japanese love this tree - linden. Almost all Japanese Ibanez are made from it. And unfortunately most of the Japanese Fender models too.
Linden is a good tree. But to my “conservative” taste, this is not “Fender” wood and it does not give exactly “that” sound. It has a smoother, less sensitive and ringing sound. In general, her sound is good, but it is of a different style. The basswood sound is an Ibanez style sound. Not Fender at all. Of course, I'm not entirely objective. But I don't like the sound of "Fender-like" guitars with basswood bodies.
It is very unclear why the Japanese did not completely copy Blackmore’s personal guitars and replaced the wood of the body. After all, Blackmore himself played guitars made of ash or alder in the 70s.
The price of this instrument in Japanese stores when I was there fluctuated between $1500-2000 in normal money terms. It is expensive. Although it’s funny to complain about this, because in Japan the prices for everything are insane and this country is the most expensive in terms of money of all the countries I’ve been to and that I’ve ever heard of. In my opinion, if this guitar had been made with an ash body, then its price would have been normal for the signature model of such a stellar guy. But buying a strat with a linden body for that kind of money is, in my opinion, incredibly expensive. At least today. What's good for the chop-saw sound of Ibanez may not be good for Fender. And vice versa.
Therefore, when one of my friends wanted to buy a personalized Blackmore model made in Japan through an online thrift store, I dissuaded him. And he and I tried to make our own personalized model.
Just like Blackmore bought a regular strat in the 70's and made a few changes to it, we decided to buy a regular strat in the spirit of the times and make "a few changes" to it. For this purpose, we bought a regular Mexican Classic Series 70"s Strat in white with a rosewood fretboard. Two SSL-4 pickups. A set of black "Fender plastics" (knobs, pickup covers, a tip for the lever and a cover for the recess for the bridge springs ) And also asked the master for a file for scalloping the frets.
As a result, we changed the pickups and plastic parts and scaled the frets. My friend wanted to do it himself, to feel like Blackmore of the early 70s. On the other hand, scalloping is a very specific thing and not everyone needs it, so if you go this route, you can leave the fretboard alone and then you will be able to play on a non-scalloped fretboard.
What happened in the end? Same thing, friends. Externally and in design it was the same model as the Japanese Ritchie Blackmore. But in my personal eyes, in addition to the lower cost, it also had a huge advantage. Its body was made of ash. Real "Fender" wood. Namely, Ritchie himself likes ash the most and that’s why his Custom Shop models have an ash body. The only difference with our "homemade" Ritchie Blackmore model was the lack of Ritchie's signature on the headstock. However, as a consolation, we used the global thesis that Ritchie himself did not have his personal signature on his personal guitars either. That is, the copy was complete.
What did she sound like? Perhaps I will be subjective. We may have had a very successful Mexican Strat and a not so successful Japanese Strat, but the "modified Mex" sounded better. It sounded more correct and natural. It was definitely better with a clean sound, but with overload it gave more nuances, overtones and God knows what.
Now let's talk about the American Custom Shop model R.Blackmore. Unfortunately, I have never held it in my hands and am guided only by descriptions. This is a very expensive guitar. Its price ranges from $5000-6000. As you know, Blackmore now prefers acoustic music in the spirit of the Middle Ages with the leading vocals of his wife Candice Knight. So there's not much chance of seeing Ritchie with such a Strat.
Therefore, the appearance of this instrument is something new and extravagant for most guitarists. But how well the Fender catalogs write about its design. In short, this guitar corrects all the shortcomings of the Japanese version.
Firstly, as I already said, its body is made of ash. There is nothing to add to this. Everything speaks for itself.
Secondly, the pickups in this guitar do not emit noise. There are Lace Sensors on it. These are quite controversial pickups and not everyone likes them, but I think they are good for music in the spirit of Deep Purple and Rainbow. Another thing is that they look very unusual due to the fact that there are only two sensors on the plastic panel and there is no hole for the third middle one, as was the case on the Japanese model. Still, a strat with two singles is very unusual. I personally have never seen this model except in photographs.
Thirdly, working with a lever on this guitar does not lead to the “tuning creeping”. The combination of a modern "Fender" tremolo bridge with a two-screw mount and tuners with a locking mechanism is a reliable and time-tested combination. You can live and play with it without any suffering.
In addition to correcting the shortcomings, this guitar also has a very unusual trick. This is a glued (!!!) neck. Again, the “Gibsonian” legacy does not allow comrade Blackmore to sleep peacefully. It is a known fact that Ritchie glued the neck into the body on some of his personal strats. What did it give? Just ask Ritchie. theoretically, the sustain and something else increased. But in practice, I have never held a stratocaster in my hands that was in every way like a regular stratocaster except for the glued neck.
This Custom Shop guitar comes in two versions. In addition to what was described above, there is also an option with an additional built-in Roland sensor for various types of devices such as Roland GR guitar synthesizers and Roland VG systems. This little thing, although rare, is not at all new. And for many years now, the Mexican Roland Ready Standard Strat guitar with just such a pickup has been in Fender catalogs. I don't think Ritchie plays all that virtual Roland stuff very much. Most likely this is just a trick. But when you're Ritchie Blackmore, you can have the guitar just the way you want it. Only for you. And no one else. I hope you have such a moment someday.
FENDER RITCHIE BLACKMORE STRAT OWT electric guitar with case, white, alder body, maple neck, scalloped rosewood fingerboard, 7.25” radius, 21 frets - Vintage Style, 25.5' scale, pickups: neck - Seymour Duncan® Quarter Pound Flat™ SSL -4 Single-Coil Strat®, Medium - Non-Active “Dummy” Pickup, Bridge - Reverse Wound/Reverse Polarity Seymour Duncan® Quarter Pound Flat™ SSL-4 Single-Coil Strat®, Chrome Hardware, 3-Ply White Pickguard , set includes: Deluxe Gig Bag, tremolo arm
In the collection of video schools you can find a guitar school studying the legendary hits of the DEEP PURPLE group and order them from us. To do this, you need to click on the VIDEO LIBRARY main page and search by school number.
Richard Hugh Blackmore is a brilliant British guitarist. He not only performs, but also writes songs himself. Blackmore was one of the first to introduce elements of classical music into blues-rock.
Biography of Ritchie Blackmore: childhood years
Richard Hugh Blackmore was born on April 14, 1945 in the English resort town of Weston-super-Mare, located on the coast. At two years old, Richard moved with his parents to Heston (a suburb of London). His father worked at Heathrow. He worked on a team laying runways for airplanes. My mother had her own small shop.
At school, Richie studied without diligence, and achieved a lot in sports. He was most successful in swimming and shot put, but he was also able to throw the javelin. Due to his serious achievements in sports, they wanted to include Richard in the England team, but he did not qualify for age.
How Ritchie Blackmore's passion for music began
At the end of the 50s. Musical life was in full swing in London. Thanks to television, which began broadcasting the first pop shows, Ritchie Blackmore heard rock and roll for the first time. What impressed him most was the performance of guitarist Tommy Stahl. Blackmore immediately borrowed a guitar from a friend and tried to play. And although nothing worked out right away, he realized that this was his passion.
First steps to fame
Some time later, his father gave him a second-hand acoustic guitar, which he bought for seven pounds. First, Richie studied the classical game for a year, learning the basic rules. This was Ritchie Blackmore's first guitar. Most blues guitarists played with just three fingers. Richie learned to use all ten.
Over time, Blackmore converted his first musical instrument to an electric guitar, adding a speaker and an amplifier. With the help of his brother's friends, he met Jim Sullivan, who was considered one of the most authoritative guitarists of the 60s. Polishing his skills, Richie practiced for six hours every day. During this time, he developed his own unique style, combining rock and classics.
Blackmore's first performances and the creation of his own group
The first ensemble in which Blackmore played was organized in 1960. At this time, Ritchie worked as a radio mechanic at Heathrow Airport. After saving some money, he bought a new electric guitar for £22 and worked with a local band for a while. Then I decided to create my own team. This was Ritchie Blackmore's first band that he created.
Since school, Blackmore had been friends with Mick Underwood, who had a real crush on him and invited him to join his band as a drummer. Then I recruited the remaining participants. The group did not exist for long and soon disbanded. After that, together with Mick, Ritchie joined the group The Satellites.
In May 1961, Ritchie Blackmore saw an advertisement for a guitarist in one of the popular groups called The Savages. There he first met David Satch, with whom he subsequently often crossed paths in his work. He came to the audition with his girlfriend and father. But, despite the obvious talent and virtuoso passages, Richie was not accepted into the group due to the fact that he was only 16 years old. A year later, Blackmore was finally hired by The Savages. Despite his young age, Richie already has his own fans. The group spent several months touring in Australia and Scandinavia. Combining work with show business became increasingly difficult, and Richie quit in 1963.
Ritchie Blackmore's Rising Fame
In 1965, Richie was invited to join the band The Crusaders. It was led by singer Neil Christian. Before Blackmore joined, Phil McPill was the band's guitarist. But before Richie appeared, he disappeared without a trace. Blackmore did not stay with the group for long and returned to The Savages. But he didn’t stay there either due to strained relations with leader David Sutch. Ritchie Blackmore left the group after three months. He was followed by bassist Avis Anderson and drummer Tornado Evans.
All three went on a temporary tour to Germany with another group. After the contract was completed, they remained in Germany and began performing at a music club in Bochum, forming their own group, which they called “The Three Musketeers”. But after a while, the administration stopped liking the noisy performances, and the contract with the musicians was terminated. All three returned to England in the spring. After his arrival, Richie wrote a song that reached 14th place on the hit parade. Richie's fame began to grow. They started talking about him not only as a virtuoso guitarist, but also as a composer.
Blackmore's Depression Period
After returning to England, Ritchie did not stay there long. He again decided to return to Germany and changed several groups there. But, disappointed, seeing that this could continue indefinitely, and there was no progress, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore decided to interrupt his musical career for an indefinite period.
During the day he walked aimlessly through the streets of Hamburg, in the evenings he played scales in his hotel room, preparing for the final exam at the conservatory, where he entered several years ago. In 1967, Ritchie returned to England, passed his exams at the conservatory, received a diploma and again went to Germany.
Blackmore's return to the music world
Returning to Germany, Ritchie Blackmore spent days honing his skills. This continued until he received a telegram from London inviting him to join Deep Purple and accepted the invitation. This group soon became one of the most famous, and Richie began to be called the dark and inscrutable king of hard rock guitar.
Richie's style was distinguished by its individuality. According to him, during a concert he does not listen to other guitarists, dissolving in the sounds of his own instrument. Apparently, Richie’s unusual playing style was influenced by his love for string music (specifically performed on the violin and cello). The education received at the conservatory also played a significant role. But Richie felt uncomfortable in the group, as if something was missing, and after a while the musician left it.
Hidden dreams
Ritchie Blackmore's biography is replete with many groups from which he left and returned again. One of them was Deep Purple, which he left in 1975. Blackmore went to New York and invited several musicians from the Elfa group to organize their own band. They agreed and named their team Rainbow. The same year the group released their first album. And after a while, internal conflicts began to arise in Rainbow.
In an interview, Blackmore admitted that after leaving Deep Purple, he wanted to create something new, where he could breathe easier. And as a result, I again found myself in the same tension from which I was trying to escape. And due to the growing popularity of Rainbow, it has only intensified.
Richie shared his desires with reporters. It turned out that at home he most often listens to Bach. Richie would like to play classical music, but at concerts she seems boring. It lacks a bit of joy, a sense of celebration. And in rock and roll this is present. He dreamed of creating something in between, a new direction, but so far it hasn’t worked out.
A new round of Blackmore's music
Richie left Rainbow and for some time periodically returned to the groups in which he had previously performed. Despite the success achieved, in 1997 he decided to create a new project, Blackmore's Night, together with his wife. The idea arose from the music that Richie heard while touring in Germany. A group of musicians played medieval music on ancient instruments. Ritchie Blackmore helped him find the zest that was required to create a musical masterpiece.
In his home studio, he himself recorded all the parts of keyboards, drums, etc. The result was an unusual album. An original cocktail of different music of the Middle Ages, which contains passion, romanticism, pathos and mysticism with the addition of the sounds of electric and acoustic guitars, ancient string melodies and the charming voice of Blackmore’s wife performing songs. The project still does not lose its attractiveness.
Blackmore's personal life
Ritchie Blackmore (photo can be seen in this article) married Margaret Volkmar on May 18, 1964. She was from Germany. At first they lived in Hamburg, where their son Jurgen was born. A few years later, Richie got divorced. The second time he married Barbel Hardy, also German. The wedding took place in September 1969. The marriage was short-lived and Blackmore divorced again. In 1974, he moved to Oxnard, where he met Anya Rothman, who became his third wife. The marriage lasted until 1983, then another divorce followed.
In the late 80s, Blackmore met Candice Knight, a poet and vocalist. At that time the girl was only 18 years old. They soon became engaged, but they got married only 15 years later - in October 2008. Two years later, they had a daughter, who was named Otom Esmeralda. And the second child was born on February 7, 2012.
All white Stratocasters were subject to alterations and modifications:
- the fretboard is scalloped;
- the neck was glued into the soundboard;
- tremolo levers were changed;
- tuners were installed, first Schaller, later - Sperzel Trim-Lok locking machines;
- Electronics and pickups were changed, MTC - Master Tone Control was installed.
Of the standard parts, Blackmore left only a wooden soundboard with a neck and tremolo. Let me remind you that starting in 1971, Stratocasters were equipped with solid bridges with cast saddles instead of stamped ones (according to Ritchie, they give greater sustain). Richie broke the standard tremolo arms with a bang, so they were replaced with reinforced ones.
Scaloping the neck
Scalping refers to the process of removing wood between the frets so that indentations (grooves) remain in the gaps:
The procedure itself is quite simple (if you have straight hands or a guitar master), but scalloping makes its own adjustments to both the playing technique and the final sound:
- more accurate control strings - the fingertips touch only the string, and not the fingerboard underneath;
- more accurate vibrato- you can do not only classic vibrato, but deep vibrato, or what? - when the finger pressure on the string changes;
- when playing, a certain metallic sound appears;
- It quickly becomes a little more difficult to play on a scalloped neck.
The reasons why the Maestro prefers scalloped bars remain unknown to us, but I can only assume that it is force of habit; after all, his signature aggressive left-hand vibrato is heavily influenced by the scalloped nature of the neck.
On the other hand, the scaloping pattern of Blackmore guitars differs from the common oval-symmetrical one; This is the so-called progressive scaloping:
A differentiated and asymmetrical scaloping profile is clearly visible
Historically, Ritchie made the first attempts to scallop the neck himself (with a meat cleaver), after which the knife was confiscated; this procedure began to be performed by his guitar technicians.
What is the reason for this progressive profile? Recalling my early attempts to analyze Blackmore's vibrato, let me remind you of some facts:
- the placement of the fingers of Richie’s left hand is not in the middle between the frets, but closer to the fret of the note being played;
- since the vibrato amplitude is wide and the speed is high, the corresponding area of the interfret space should be as spacious as possible, including in 3D (in depth) - this is a direct reference to point 2 of the advantages of scalloping the neck above;
- In addition, in riffs Richie purely practices the so-called. “cello” vibrato with a brush directly above the fret:
Pay attention to the position of your fingers relative to the fret space of the fingerboard.
Having summed up the facts above, we come to the conclusion why the profile is so wedge-shaped - the beginning is removed less, so as not to ruin the rigidity of the lining, closer to the end, more, so that there is a comfortable vibrato with the fingers.
I would like to emphasize that the necks of not only electric guitars, but also acoustic ones (not all, but some) are scaled - the Maestro is true to his habits.
Gluing the neck
The classic Stratocaster design, as invented by Leo Fender, involves attaching the neck to the soundboard with four bolts:
This design ensures that the neck is firmly pressed into the socket, the sustain is quite good and the neck is securely fastened.
In 1971, the Stratocaster mount was changed to a three-bolt mount, with Micro-Tilt technology to adjust the inclination of the neck relative to the soundboard:
Sorry for being vague, but this is a photo of Strat #1 with serial number 578265
Despite the innovative advantages of Micro-Tilt, a significant drawback of the three-bolt design is considered to be the unreliable fastening of the neck, due to which the neck often moves relative to the soundboard, and the sustain of this design was worse than in the classic 4-bolt design.
What did Richie do? Here it should be recalled that the Maestro’s first serious instrument was a semi-acoustic Gibson ES-335 - and in “Gibsons” all the necks are glued into the soundboard, which tightly holds it and gives endless sustain (infinite by the standards of Strats).
...that's right, Richie glued the neck into the soundboard. As Blackmore's guitar technician John “Dawk” Stillwell personally told me, a five-minute epoxy glue was used for this, after which the neck merged with the body as if it were original:
By the way, this gluing will come back to haunt Blackmore in the future
Master Tone Control
In addition to re-soldering the electronics, Blackmore's guitars were equipped with a small and invisible from the outside small box with four wires called MTC (Master Tone Control).
There's no denying that Ritchie's electric guitar sounds magical in 1995 and later: it's the sound I personally strive for - but I'm not sure it's not the influence of the ENGL amps used during that period. It is believed that the sound of an early Blackmore guitar can be achieved without any miracle boxes.
The composition of this magic ingredient of Ritchie's sound is (yet) an unsolved mystery, but persistent attempts to decipher the design of the box should be crowned with success in any case. For example, competitors X-rayed it:
Putting together all the scant mentions of MTC on the Internet, we have the following information about the filling of the box:
The MTC has 4 components and a few wires. 2 Resistors, 1 Capacitor, 1 coil, 1 capacitor.
Dawk says it has “2 circuits”, though how a capacitor is a “circuit” I’m not sure. The Red/Black wires go to the capacitor ONLY and it’s not connected to anything else inside. The White Wires go to the resistors and the coil and they are not connected to anything else inside either. The red/black wires replace the cap in your guitar with the same value cap in the MTC! The white wires go to the volume control and this bit only operates on reduced volume. The capacitor only comes in around mark 3 on the tone pot. That's it. It’s packaged in a keyfob box filled wih resin for obvious reasons.
Free translation:
The MTC contains four components: 2 resistors, 1 capacitor, 1 inductor, 1 capacitor (?).
Dawk reports that there are 2 circuits in the box, but I'm not sure how the capacitor can be a circuit in its own right. The red and black wires are connected ONLY to the capacitor and nothing else. The white wires go to the resistors and coil, and are also not connected to anything else. The red and black wires are soldered in place of the stock capacitor on the guitar, and the capacitor inside the MTC has the same capacitance! The white ones are connected to the volume control and this part of the MTC starts to work only in the intermediate position of the volume control. The capacitor is activated in position 3 of the tone knob. That's all. Everything is hermetically sealed in a compound for obvious reasons.
Analysis of similar solutions on the Internet allows us to say with confidence that Dawk uses the so-called Q factor in MTC, based on an LCR circuit with carefully selected component values.
Such tone control technologies are quite widespread and are sold in kits for self-installation, in particular Rothstein Guitars, Torres Engineering, Bill Lawrence’ Q-filter (remember the last manufacturer). Dawk is also not at all devoid of a commercial spirit and sells boxes to everyone who wants to touch the Treasured Sound for $350 with delivery:
There is an alternative solution - RBTC. If you hang out on Dawk’s forum for a certain amount of time, you will notice that especially valuable sections of the forum are closed and in his posts he constantly vilifies some (sorry) “ASSHOLES”. There is even a separate forum topic dedicated to them and their destructive activities. If I'm not mistaken, the clever guys collected information about the miracle box from sections of the site when they were available, analyzed and created their own commercial product (presumably RBTC). Of course, Dawk, who successfully sells his boxes, was fundamentally not satisfied with this, and he closed/deleted priceless sections, simultaneously vilifying the insidious and treacherous (sorry) “ASSHOLES” in every message.
In general, their disassembly does not concern us at all, it is up to everyone to decide which box sounds better, which technology works more authentically; You can dig around yourself, as I started to do. I’ll give you a useful link to an online resonant frequency calculator, it might come in handy.
Now specifically about the White Stratocasters.
White Stratocaster #1, serial number 578265
Ritchie Blackmore's most trusted instrument, which he played for more than 15 years. Almost all Studio albums and live Rainbow concerts were recorded and played on it, it survived the revival of Deep Purple in 1984 and the arrival of Turner in 1989 - in general, a real fighting instrument of the Maestro.
Despite the year of release in 1974, there are certain suspicions that the real release date of the neck and soundboard is earlier: the neck, for example, may even be 1972...1973. It is noted that the neck has a minimum thickness, and this is typical for guitars of these particular years of production. But on the other hand, the 1974 Sunburst Strat that Richie played at the video concert in Munich in 1977 has a wider neck, so we can only guess about the true release dates.
But be that as it may, in 1975...1976 the instrument became available to Blackmore, and Ritchie gradually began to master it. The initial changes were minimal: just the neck was scalloped and glued in. Electronics and pickups remained standard, covers and knobs remained white:
Guitar in pristine whiteness
Over time, improvements in electronics began to appear on the Strat. If the reader remembers, in the early Rainbow the stage design implied the use of a real Rainbow above the stage:
This design consisted of many multi-colored light bulbs, was controlled by a computer, was unreliable and terribly capricious. But the biggest drawback of the Rainbow was that this entire array of lamps caused terrible radio-electric interference on the equipment and Richie’s guitars in particular - the fight against the guitar “background” was a headache for Richie for 10 years.
As part of the fight against noise and the search for new horizons of sound, in 1977, at the direction of Dawk (YES... I WAS A ''SCHECTER'' DEALER...), Schecter F-500T pickups were installed on the guitar:
Unlike the stock Stratocaster pickups, the Schecter's magnets were the same height and were flush with the pickup surface; in addition, their increased diameter contributed to a higher “exhaust” of the sensors. Copper foil around the winding is an additional electrical shield to minimize external interference.
Ritchie’s “Jibsonian” past made itself felt from time to time, and this time it manifested itself in the fact that the middle pickup was dismantled and instead there was a proud plug, into which a dummy coil was sometimes installed to reduce the noise of the electronics (humbacking effect). Richie admitted that he never used the middle pickup, driving it flush with the pickguard.
The larger magnets also affected the pickup's frequency response, producing more punchy low frequencies - something that Richie liked in those days. He wanted to get rid of the typical Stratocaster bass feel, but at the same time retain the transparency of the sound inherent in single-coil pickups.
Dawk did not solder the Schecter pickups to full capacity; instead, he used only part of the coil with a loss of "exhaust". Richie compensated for this with the degree of compression in his legendary AIWA reel-to-reel tape recorder, which was used not only to create a delay effect, but also to compress the sound. Dawk coupled the inner half of the bridge pickup coil to the outer half of the neck pickup to enhance the low frequencies.
In addition, the pickups were impregnated with a special compound, but not in wax, as is the case with conventional pickups - this, according to Dawk, kills the top end.
In addition to the custom wiring, Dawk shielded the guitar's pickguard and cavities with copper foil and equipped the guitar with a specific MTC - Master Tone Control system.
Due to the fact that the pickups were black, the knobs of the knobs and pickup switch were matched to match them, and the guitar existed in this configuration until 1986:
Pay attention to the wide pickup magnets and the dummy in the middle
Always true to his gags, Blackmore screws a button onto the headstock to attach a guitar strap. Intended, according to Richie, “conversation piece to annoy and confuse people”, in other words, for catching the lulz:
In 1986 it began new stage in the fight against sound quality and noise. Having tested various pickups and their combinations on a dozen test Stratocasters, Blackmore decides to get rid of the noisy Schecter in favor of the Bill Lawrence L-450 (neck) + XL-450 (bridge) pickups:
Bill Lawrence L-450 is a double-rail humbucker made in the single-coil form factor with two coils connected in series with each other, with a total resistance of 12 kOhm. The presence of two coils provided flexible options for their switching, opening up new sound options, plus the advantage of humbuckers - minimal noise. But we can’t say that Richie really liked this configuration - the pickup was silent, but Blackmore did not like the sound of the pickup (humbuckers and single-coils are very different in sound).
Around the same time (mid-80s), Ritchie began to become interested in guitar MIDI systems that expanded the tonal options of the guitar, so all white Stratcasters were equipped with Roland GK-1 MIDI pickups, and this Strat was no exception:
Continuing the theme of small nuances, I will draw attention to three distinctive visual facts of Stratocaster No. 1:
- transferring the fastening of the strap to the guitar from the end of the upper horn to the back side;
- greenish plastic pickguard in the early...mid 80s;
- light scratch aka scratch on the soundboard below the second tone knob.
These changes were the last in the life of the legendary Stratocaster, because in 1992 the irreparable happened: according to Richie, he gave the Stratocaster to a guitar master for another fret replacement. The master decided that the scalloped indentations between the frets were wear on the fingerboard due to excessive playing and sanded it smooth, and kindly did not demand additional payment for this. Richie was furious to say the least! Deciding to quickly rescalop the fingerboard, which had already become much thinner after the careless trick of the master, Blackmore used a file to get to the maple base of the neck:
After all these misadventures, the neck became completely unplayable. Due to the fact that the neck was glued into the soundboard and it was impossible to replace it, Richie’s heart was forced to write off his favorite instrument.
This was the sad fate of Blackmore’s workhorse, who faithfully served the Maestro for almost 20 years.
White Stratocaster #2, serial number S778960
The second white Stratocaster from 1977 was also Blackmore's second most popular instrument; after the death of the first, Richie was forced to switch to this guitar, and since 1993, he has been constantly playing it.
Released in 1977, this guitar had all the attributes of the Stratocasters of that period, including:
- black plastic pickguard, pickup covers and potentiometer knobs, tremolo lever and pickup switch;
- serial number S778960, located on the headstock, under the word “Fender”;
- cast tremolo and saddles.
In all other respects, it was a classic CBS-era Stratocaster: Olympic White, with an oversized knob, bullet neck and rosewood fingerboard:
The electronics of the guitar were, naturally, subjected to changes: instead of standard pickups, “Velvet Hammer” manufactured by Red Rhodes were installed - high-quality wound pickups in the Fender style. According to the established tradition, two pickups were installed, and a demagnetized pickup was installed in the middle to create a humbucker effect - muffling unwanted “background”. Of course, the MTC magic box was also attached to the guitar (by the way, chronologically this was the first instrument MTC received).
In 1981, the black plastic pickguard was replaced with a white one, and the guitar acquired the familiar features of Ritchie Blackmore's signature style:
Visually, the guitar differed from Strat No. 1 in that it had narrower pickup magnets and the absence of a Lulz strap button on the knob (well, and the presence of a serial number on the neck):
My acquaintance with the work of Ritchie Blackmore began with the Come Hell Or High Water concert, during this tour this guitar was the main one, and it was with Lace Sensor Gold sensors (in fact, this is the configuration I was striving for
It is known that this Stratocaster was equipped with two Bill Lawrence L-250 pickups, which are humbuckers in a standard single-coil body:
Also, instead of a standard output jack, the guitar was equipped with an Alembic Stratoblaster active booster, powered by a 9-volt battery. In addition, the guitar featured an extra-long tremolo arm.
By the early 90s, the guitar's pickups were replaced, presumably with Seymour-Duncan SSL-4T + SSL-7T (SSL-4, by the way, are installed in Blackmore's signature Strats). In this configuration, the instrument took part in the Come Hell Or High Water tour, when Richie played the song on a guitar tuned in Drop D The Battle Rages On.
The instrument was subsequently also equipped with a Roland GK-1 MIDI sensor:
The further fate is little known, but presumably this Strat starred in the “Ariel” video:
Any self-respecting fan of classic rock music knows the name Ritchie Blackmore. He is a living legend, a musician included in the top 100 guitarists in the world according to Rolling Stone magazine.
Ritchie Blackmore born in the UK, in a town with the quaint name of Weston-super-Mare. He grew up as a rather reserved and unsociable child, whose main hobby and passion was playing the guitar.
The creative path of Ritchie Blackmore
Richie was 11 years old when, as a gift from his father, he received his first guitar - a Spanish acoustic from Framus, which he later converted into an electric guitar, installing a pickup and volume and tone knobs. He was deeply interested in music: he played the classical guitar, took electric lessons from “Big” Jim Sullivan, a famous British guitarist, practiced 6 hours a day, earned money for a more serious instrument by donating free time and without going to great lengths, like many other aspiring musicians of that time.
Richie's musical career began in the sixties of the last century. He performed with several different groups, such as Mike Dee & The Jaywalkers, The Outlaws and The Crusaders. When Richie joined the founders of Deep Purple, Chris Curtis and Jon Lord, he was already a fairly well-known guitarist, albeit with odd jobs and no clear prospects. It was to Blackmore that the group owed its name, and he also became its unofficial leader. In the mid-seventies, after Richie left the group, disillusioned with the direction in which Deep Purple's music was moving, he formed the Rainbow band. Later, together with Candice Knight, who wrote some of the lyrics for Rainbow and performed backing vocals, he founded Blackmore's Night, a group in which he plays to this day.
Ritchie Blackmore Guitars
What guitars have passed through the hands of the legendary Blackmore besides that Spanish acoustic?
Richie's first electric guitar was a Hofner club-50 model, which he soon outgrew and worked as a radio mechanic at an airport for two whole years in order to purchase a semi-acoustic Gibson ES-335.
Ritchie Blackmore with Hofner club-50
The first three Deep Purple albums were recorded by him on this instrument. A truly revolutionary universal guitar, opening up scope for many maneuvers, becoming a constant companion for a good ten years musical life Blackmore.
Gibson ES-335
Below is a video of Ritchie Blackmore with just this guitar.
Deep Purple - Wring That Neck
In the seventies, Blackmore changed to . Then he was influenced by the game, which used exactly this model. According to Blackmore himself, he received his first guitar of this model from. Richie remains faithful to the Stratocaster even now: the legendary one is still in the hands of an equally legendary guitarist. And listening to Ritchie Blackmore's music is a pleasure.
Ritchie Blackmore and his Fender
Richard Hugh "Ritchie" Blackmore is included in many charts of the "best guitarists of all time".
Rainbow
Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow (1975)
Rising (1976)
Long Live Rock"n"Roll (1978)
Down to Earth (1979)
Difficult to Cure (1981)
Straight Between the Eyes (1982)
Bent out of Shape (1983)
Stranger in Us All (1995)
Childhood
Ritchie Blackmore was born on April 14, 1945 in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. Grew up in Hurston, Middlesex. When Richie was 2 years old, his family moved to Hurston and settled in the Ash Grove area. His mother had a small shop, and his father worked at Heathrow Airport, where he laid out routes for airplanes. His favorite musicians were Gene Vincent and Hank Marvin.
Since childhood, the musician has been withdrawn. He remembers well the incident when his parents decided to celebrate his birthday and invited guests, and he ran into the attic and came out of the shelter only when the guests had left.
His appearance added to his isolation:
I, like my father, have the type of face that even when I am happy, there is an expression of dissatisfaction on it. As a child, I was often asked: “Boy, what happened? You look so unhappy!”
Being gifted, he did not achieve good grades in his studies. According to him, the school he attended was very puritanical and was disgusting to him. If he missed something and raised his hand, the following dialogue took place:
Sir, I don't understand...
- Don't you understand, Blackmore? Well, stand in the corner!
- Sorry, sir.
His father, who taught mathematics in his youth, once helped him with an assignment. The teacher, taking the notebook in his hands, was perplexed: he could not understand how they were solved. When Blackmore explained how he made them, and that it was much easier to solve them this way, the teacher simply crossed out the solution with the words: “I didn’t teach you that way, so it’s wrong!”
That day I felt like an electric shock. I realized that there was really something wrong in this world.
Throughout his life, Richie hated teachers, and always spoke very harshly about them, and only the music teacher enjoyed his respect, as he approached teaching creatively.
He always combined incompatible character traits: shyness and the desire to stand out: “I always wanted to do something that went beyond the generally accepted. That's why I don't smoke. Everyone smoked at school. Perhaps if they didn’t smoke, I would have done just that.”
Hardly a week went by without him being in danger of expulsion from school. He failed the exam allowing him to move on to high school and became an outcast. The only thing that attracted Blackmore was sports. He achieved success in football, swimming, javelin throwing and won various competitions more than once. One day his friend brought a guitar to school. Richie was fascinated by its appearance and immediately wanted to learn how to play it.
Soon his father bought him a Framus acoustic guitar. Richie often recalls:
I always quote my father's saying: "If you don't learn to play this thing, I'll smash it over your head." He said this as a joke as soon as we left the store, but it cost him 8 guineas! That was a lot of money, especially for someone who thought that I wasn't going to learn how to play it, but just act like I always do - play the fool. My father was the first one to show me how to play.
He studied classical guitar for a year, and it helped him greatly in the future that he learned the correct playing technique from the very beginning. These skills also allowed him to compose music, as he repeatedly used classics in his work.
The father took part in training the young guitarist:
Although he was a mathematician and not a musician, he knew a lot about music. If I had any problems, my father would sit down and show me how they could be solved. He had something for everything scientific approach, and he was a huge help in my musical studies.
His father played him records by many musicians who, in his opinion, played interestingly and unconventionally. He really liked Django Reinhardt:
He had two fingers on one hand, but if you listened to how he played with those two fingers, it was something!
He also studied with one of the best guitarists in Britain at that time - Jimmy Sullivan. Ritchie Blackmore:
He played the guitar for only a few years, but immediately became almost best guitarist England. I was practicing my guitar hard and thought I was playing great until I heard him. I couldn't even really understand what he was actually doing. Jim taught me many techniques. When you are next to a really good musician, it saves you from many mistakes and wrong moves.
Sullivan recalled that at first Ritchie copied other guitarists, playing their parts one-on-one, and told Blackmore that the playing should have its own style.
Early creativity[edit | edit source text]
His first group was 21's Coffee Bar Junior Skiffle Group, which consisted of his classmates and was named after the famous cafe where many famous musicians played. Here at first, surprisingly, Richie played washboard, and then - on a tea box with a pole stuck into it - instruments traditional for skiffle groups. He then switched to an electric guitar, which he made himself in craft class from his acoustic guitar. He made an amplifier and speaker from an old receiver.
In 1960, he graduated from school and, with the help of his father, got a job at the airport, where he repaired aircraft receivers. He formed his own group, the Dominators, inviting his friend Mick Underwood there, then they both moved to the group The Settlers. The group took on any kind of work: parties, weddings. Their repertoire included numerous covers.
After this, Richie played in the band Mike Dee & The Jaywalkers until April 1962. At this time he bought himself a new amplifier, but it soon broke down. The store replaced it, but the next amplifier suffered the same fate, and this happened 4 times. Then the sellers ran out of patience and asked him to show what he was doing with them. Blackmore plugged his guitar into the amp and began playing. After a couple of moments, this amplifier burned out. Then they gave him a new amplifier and told him to get out.
This amplifier did not let me down. Sixth amp.
With the money he earned from performing, he bought himself his first serious instrument - a red Gibson ES-335. He was then accepted into The Savages, which he had auditioned for the year before. Its leader was the then famous Lord Sutch, and playing in the group was very prestigious. The first performance amazed Blackmore:
At the first concert he appeared on stage... in a coffin! I thought, “This guy is completely crazy!” And I play in his band...” I didn’t even suspect that something like this would happen. Before that, during rehearsals, we just played. And then they carry him out in a coffin. What the heck? And I thought: I'm going to have to get home with this guy tonight, and he's going to be driving the bus. I didn't like it at all.
Each performance of the group was very spectacular and theatrical. At first Richie was very embarrassed by this, and he tried to hide behind the speakers and amplifiers, but Sutch pulled him out and forced him to play, running back and forth across the stage:
I objected, feeling like an idiot. But in the end, it turned out that I was running around the stage in a Tarzan costume and realized: “Incredible! The public is falling for it!”
The group toured a lot and during this time did not record a single record, but Blackmore gained extensive experience in performing and showmanship. In six months of working with Sutch, he learned more than in all previous groups. In the 90s, Richie admitted that Sutch fired him because he wasn't good enough. True, after a couple of days he asked the guitarist to return, but Blackmore already had another job.
He was offered the job by Joe Meek, who had a hand in recording many hits. He had his own record label and worked with many musicians. Joe needed new people for the group The Outlaws (English)Russian. In it, Richie gained invaluable experience in studio recording. They recorded not only covers, but also cowboy-style music.
If you turned on the radio, you would notice that out of ten hits, six were performed by The Outlaws (English)Russian. I recognized my guitar without even knowing who was singing. Typically we would record an instrumental backing and then overdub the vocals later.
Mick Underwood
We did five to six sessions a day. We started at about ten in the morning and finished at seven in the evening, and the singers changed, like on a carousel.
The Outlaws brand name (English)Russian. there was throwing “flour bombs” from the window of a minibus. They threw them at everyone, preferring women in wheelchairs. But then, as Blackmore recalls, they became completely impudent and began to throw themselves at the policemen. The whole group ended up in the police station and on the front page of the News Of newspaper The World, which specialized in attacks on rock bands.
Sometimes they performed with orchestras, and Richie several times locked the orchestra members in the dressing room while he changed all the notes on the music stands. All these pranks did not go unnoticed; they were accused of hooliganism, and in many cities they were prohibited from performing.
The group managed to become the backing band of Gene Vincent, American star rock and roll. With him they went on tour, first to Germany and then to France. Then Blackmore visited Germany for the first time and became imbued with its spirit. Since then it has been his favorite country.
The group was happy with Vincent professionally, but they did not feel the situation when Vincent himself was chosen as the object of jokes. The last straw for him was that they removed all the furniture from his room, placed a box in the middle of the room, covered it with plywood with traces of cigarette butts, and hung a cracked mirror. After that, he refused their services.
The collaboration with Don Arden, known for his tough temperament, turned out to be more fruitful. Their tour was to begin with the popular singer and pianist Jerry Lee Lewis. At first they were given a week to get used to it, then the time was reduced to five, and then to three days. Blackmore was warned that if Jerry didn’t like something, he would not stand on ceremony and immediately hit him in the face:
And here I stand, shackled, playing, expecting to get hit in the face. Fortunately, he liked me. Jerry even wanted to take me with him to Memphis, where he lived. This was before the concert. And after him he came up: “Give me your hand,” and shook it. Almost like Jon Lord. Jon Lord loves to shake hands.
In April 1964, Richie left the group and became the guitarist for Heinz And The Wild Boys. The ensemble consisted of Heinz Burton (vocals), Burr Bailey (organ), John Davis (bass guitar) and Ian Broad (drums).
Blackmore was not satisfied with the role of an accompanying musician; he dreamed of his own musical career. And it wasn't just a matter of ambition. The wages were meager, and he simply did not have enough money. He tried to join some group as a lead guitarist, but all attempts were in vain. Although it was not easy to find a musician of his level, he was not in demand. They asked him: “Can you sing and play chords on the guitar?”, He answered: “No. But I play good solos." And the answer was: “No, we are looking for someone who can sing well.”
After briefly working in some groups, in 1964 Blackmore returned to David Satch:
Always, when the mountain of bills began to grow, we returned to him. Sometimes it got to the point where group members swore: “I can’t stand this anymore, I won’t set foot in Satch’s group!” And they left. And you knew that they would have to return anyway. It was like a prisoner of war escaping from a concentration camp. A month later they found themselves back in the camp. So it is here. They were returning. It was something like penance. But Sutch was the only guy who paid any money. You could perform with all these wonderful bands, but there was no salary at all, and you had to go back to Satch.
His next project was called The Roman Empire, and he called himself “Lord Caesar Sutch.” The entire group was dressed in the style of Roman legionnaires. The group, in addition to Blackmore and Sutch himself, included: bass guitarist Tony Dangerfield, drummer Carlo Little, keyboardist Matthew Fisher and another guitarist Johnny Bedder. All musicians were experienced and had previously taken part in many projects. But the group lasted no more than six months. As soon as it appeared new job, Richie, Carlo and Tony hurried away.
The new project was called The Crusades, their manager was Neil Christian. In addition to them, the line-up included pianist Matt Smith. But the desire to earn money remained unfulfilled. After two months of touring in Germany, Neil announces the closure of the project.
At this time, Blackmore was married to a German woman, Babs Hardy. From his previous marriage he has a son, Jurgen Blackmore. Richie lived practically dependent on Babs, drank and played the guitar. After some time, he met drummer Ian Paice and invited him to form his own band:
I invited him to join my group. Interested in this proposal, he asked: “Who else is part of it?” I replied that at the moment - no one. He asked again: “Nobody? Do you even have a group?” I replied that not yet, and he is her first member, but I will soon pick up a couple of cool guys. Ian asked me to contact him as soon as I found the musicians. And a year later such a moment came.
Deep Purple[edit | edit source text]
In 1968, Chris Curtis assembled a team that included Lord and Blackmore. However, Curtis soon left the band, and Blackmore became the leader of the group, calling it “Deep Purple” (dark purple, violet). It was Richie who came up with the name of the group after the title of a song that his grandmother loved. With Deep Purple, he established himself as a virtuoso guitarist and one of the founders of hard rock.
In 1974, Blackmore became involved in a scandal at the California Jam festival in California. Deep Purple were the headliners and were scheduled to perform after dusk, with the band putting on a show of lasers and fireworks. However, due to the reduction in performances of other teams, Deep Purple's turn came long before sunset. Richie defiantly locked himself in his dressing room and refused to go on stage until the appointed time. ABC organizers brought the guitarist onto the stage with the help of the police. The annoyed Richie's response was a legendary performance of smashing the operator's camera with a guitar.
Disagreements with Lord, Paice and bass player Glover, and differences in musical taste between Blackmore and new band members Glen Hughes and David Coverdale, led to his leaving Deep Purple in 1975. A year later the group completely broke up.
Rainbow and Deep Purple reunion
Rainbow in 1977: Dio, Blackmore and Daisley
In 1975, Richie teamed up with the band Elf, led by vocalist Ronnie James Dio. The new band was named Rainbow and actively used the name of the popular Blackmore for promotion - for example, on the debut album it was written “Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow”. In Rainbow, Ritchie and Ronnie continued to play hard rock. The group also used reworkings of classical and folk music in their music Rainbow soon became almost a solo project for Blackmore, who fired most of the original members of Elf one by one, and in 1979 the second leader of the group, Dio, eventually moved to Black Sabbath himself.
In 1984, Blackmore, Lorde, Gillan and Paice announced the reunion of Deep Purple as the 1969-1973 lineup. The "new old" Deep Purple recorded the album Perfect Strangers and had a very successful tour in support of it. But soon the relationship between Blackmore and vocalist Ian Gillan deteriorated again. Richie tried to invite his Rainbow colleague Joe Lynn Turner to replace Gillan, but the replacement was met with disapproval by the rest of the participants and part of the public. As a result, Gillan was returned to the group, and Blackmore, after recording the album The Battle Rages On... and the subsequent tour, which Blackmore did not play in full (he was replaced at Japanese concerts by Joe Satriani), left it completely.
In 1993, Ritchie re-formed Rainbow with a new line-up with vocalist Dougie White. The new lineup recorded their only album, Stranger in Us All. On it, in particular, you can hear an arrangement of Edvard Grieg’s classic composition “In the Cave of the Mountain King.” Blackmore's work in Rainbow to this day receives only positive reviews from music critics.
Blackmore's Night[edit | edit source text]
Richie and Candice at Blackmore's Night concert
In the late 80s, Richie met vocalist and poet Candice Knight, who wrote some of the lyrics for Rainbow and also performed backing vocals for Rainbow and Deep Purple. In 1997, having finally officially closed Rainbow, Richie and Candice founded Blackmore's Night - a folk-rock project named after their last names. The group's music was significantly different from Richie's previous style: these were acoustic ballads in the spirit of Renaissance music, the group featured performers on wind, classical and folk instruments, and Blackmore himself began to play mainly acoustic guitar. Over the years, the influence of rock has increased in the music of Blackmore's Night and parts for electric guitar have appeared.
In recent years, Blackmore's Night began to perform some songs from the repertoire of Deep Purple and Rainbow at concerts, for example, Child in Time, Soldier of Fortune, Rainbow Eyes and even Smoke on the Water with vocals by Candice Knight.
Personal life
Richie has been married three times. His first wife (in 1964-1969), a German woman, was named Margrit, from this marriage Richie has a son, Jurgen Blackmore, who is also involved in music. An interesting remark from Blackmore himself about his son, which he made after meeting him: “I find it very strange (one might even say that it bothers me to some extent) when he calls me dad. If he called me Satan or something like that, it would seem more natural." Here's what Jurgen himself says about his star father:
It was a very difficult time for me as a child because everyone looks at you like you're special, even though I wasn't. I was just the simplest boy and I hated the way people reacted to me. At times I didn’t tell anyone my last name at all... I never boasted about it. But gossip travels fast in the music business, and people certainly found it. I'm proud that my father is a great guitarist, but I always wanted to have a very ordinary father.
Divorced in 1969, he married Barbel Hardy, also German. Blackmore's third marriage was to Amy Rothman from 1981-1987.
After one of the football games that Richie loved so much, among those wanting an autograph was an 18-year-old girl, a journalist for the WBAB radio station, Candace Knight. Blackmore complimented her and they then met at a local bar.
Of course, he made an impression, he looked very mysterious, strong, and, it seemed to me, he needed a real friend,” Candace recalls. “He demonstrated magic tricks all night, read my thoughts, and I was captivated. The fact that he was 44 didn't seem to matter. We chatted until 6am and when I got home my parents were furious.
Richie fell in love with her at first sight. When it was time to go on tour, he sent her postcards from all over the world. When Blackmore returned to the United States, they saw each other again and from that moment began dating. Since 1991 they lived in a civil marriage, and on October 5, 2008 they got engaged. On May 27, 2010, Ritchie Blackmore and Candice Knight had a daughter, Autumn Esmerelda.
Rory Dartagnan is the couple's second child, born on February 7, 2012. According to Candace, the first name was chosen for her son and from the Irish language it is translated as “red king”, and D’Artagnan is in honor of the famous musketeer.
