Ritchie Blackmore, born April 14, 1945 in Weston-super-Mare, England, is a legendary guitarist and songwriter, known for his work with Deep Purple and Rainbow. Blackmore began his musical career in the 1960s, playing with various bands before co-founding Deep Purple in 1968.
With Deep Purple, Blackmore was instrumental in creating some of rock’s most iconic anthems, including “Smoke on the Water,” “Highway Star” and “Child in Time.” His style of playing helped define the sound of hard rock and heavy metal.
In 1975, Blackmore left Deep Purple to form Rainbow, a band that fused rock with elements of classical and folk music. With Rainbow, he continued to produce hits and explore new musical directions, standing out with songs like “Since You Been Gone” and “Stargazer.” Throughout his career, Blackmore has been known for his perfectionism and constant pursuit of musical innovation.
In the 1990s, Blackmore formed Blackmore’s Night with his wife, Candice Night, exploring a more folk and Renaissance music-oriented sound. Over more than five decades, Ritchie Blackmore has left an indelible mark on rock music, being considered one of the most influential and talented guitarists of all time.
For an entire generation of rock music lovers, Ritchie Blackmore and Jimy Page are the two great hard rock guitarists of the seventies. Blackmore led Deep purple and Rainbow, influenced an entire generation of musicians with his neoclassical style and wrote what is probably the most famous riff in rock history, Smoke on the water. The Fender Stratocaster that you can see in Guitar legens hall was used by Blackmore during his time with Rainbow and we can see this particular guitar in two of his video clips, “Stone Cold” and “Death Alley Driver”
On its fingerboard you can see one of the musician’s usual modifications, scalloping, a technique in which the wood is lowered between the frets. He made this modification himself using a kitchen knife.
