Description
Ritchie Blackmore autographed page – Deep Purple
Hand-signed in blue marker.
Richard Hugh “Ritchie” Blackmore (born 14 April 1945) is an English guitarist and songwriter. He was one of the founding members of Deep Purple in 1968. Playing jam-style hard-rock music which mixed guitar riffs and organ sounds. During his solo career, he established a heavy metal band called Rainbow which fused baroque music influences and elements of hard rock. Rainbow steadily moved to catchy pop-style mainstream rock. Later in life, he formed the traditional folk rock project Blackmore’s Night transitioning to vocalist-centred sounds. As a member of Deep Purple, Blackmore was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2016.
Blackmore was born at Allendale Nursing Home in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. As the second son of Lewis J. Blackmore and Violet (née Short). The family moved to Heston, Middlesex. When Blackmore was two. He was 11 when he was given his first guitar by his father on certain conditions. Including learning how to play properly, so he took classical guitar lessons for one year.
In an interview with Sounds magazine in 1979. Blackmore said that he started the guitar because he wanted to be like Tommy Steele, who used to just jump around and play. Blackmore loathed school and hated his teachers. While at school, he participated in sports including the javelin. He left school at age 15 and started work as an apprentice radio mechanic at nearby Heathrow Airport. He took electric guitar lessons from session guitarist Big Jim Sullivan.
They were ranked number 22 on VH1’s Greatest Artists of Hard Rock program and a poll on British radio station Planet Rock ranked them 5th among the “most influential bands ever”. The band received the Legend Award at the 2008 World Music Awards.
