 Ritchie
Blackmore
Richard Hugh Blackmore, was born April 14, 1945 in Weston-super-Mare,
England. He began his musical career at age 11 when he received
his first guitar and began to take classical music lessons. As his
skills grew in the 1960’s he got started as a session player
for Joe Meek’s music productions. He also played with many
bands including Screaming Lord Such, Glenda Collins and BOZ. He
then went on to co-found the band Deep Purple with keyboardist Jon
Lord. After adding vocalist Rod Evans, bassist Nick Simper and Ian
Paice on drums, Deep Purple was signed to EMI in the United Kingdom
and Tetragrammation in the United States. Blackmore continued to
be a major creative part in the band from 1968-1975 and then again
from 1984-1993. Rainbow released several albums featuring a verity of different band members including singers Graham Bonnet, Ronnie James Dio and Joe Lynn Turner. By the mid-1980’s Rainbow put out their final album as Deep Purple began to reform.
As for Ritchie’s musical style, he has been classified as “neoclassical” and will most often play a Fender Stratocaster, on which he takes out or disconnects the middle three pickups. Although he does not often use effects he occasionally used a wah-wah pedal and variable control treble-booster for sustain, and was known to discard the pick and play with his fingers. Blackmore is considered one of the most influential English guitarists
of all time, along with Clapton, Page, Beck and Tony Iommi. Click here to download the Ritchie Blackmore 1024x768 image. Click here
to return to the Hall Of Fame.
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