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QUOTES
Quotes from and about Ritchie Blackmore and Rainbow
You once told me a fantastic story about a Rainbow show: how Ritchie used to lean back dramatically against his stack while soloing. He’d have roadies on the other side of it holding it up so he didn’t fall over. This particular gig, they didn’t get there in time, so suddenly there he is toppling backwards...
Don Airey: I'll never forget it. The Sofia Gardens, Cardiff, 1980, on the Down To Earth tour. Ritchie kind of gave me a wave as he was falling backwards and pointed. That was my cue to do a ten-minute keyboard solo.
Classic Rock - June 2, 2025
Around Christmas 1978, Ritchie Blackmore visited you with an invitation to join Rainbow. Although you declined, he still played with Gillan at the Marquee club in London. Were you tempted by his proposition?
Ian Gillan: No. The reason I had left Deep Purple was that they were moving into a kind of territory [later filled by Rainbow]. I didn't want that. I wanted a group with grit, excitement and edge. Also one that had balls. That's no reflection on Ritchie, who was a fantastic, amazing guitar player – in fact I said: "You can come and play in my band if you want" – but Ritchie has firm ideas about how things should be, and there were things that we disagreed on.
Classic Rock - November 2024
Do you ever have contact with Ritchie since you left Rainbow in 1978?
Ronnie James Dio: I've seen him twice since I left Rainbow. I saw him once in Los Angeles and again at the Monsters of Rock shows we played in Germany in 1987. We did two shows with Purple and I only saw him from a distance, not to speak with him. He didn't make any attempt to speak to me and I didn't make any attempt to speak to him. It seems to be one of those very strange situations where two people who made such good music together, and who really liked each other, especially at the beginning, just seem to have gone their seperate ways. I don't understand why... he's never said anything bad about me in the press and I've never said anything bad about him. It's very strange, although he's a strange individual.
Boulevard Magazine 1990
Ronnie James Dio remembers Rainbow's Trondheim 1977 show when he played Hell Festival in 2002
Ronnie James Dio: When I was in Trondheim in the 70s with Rainbow, we were actually kicked out of town! The police escorted us to the airport, which was much smaller at the time. There we waited for four hours before a plane arrived that we could get on.
NRK Norway - September 9, 2002
Are you coming to Italy, Germany (lots of other places were mentioned)?
Ritchie Blackmore: I'm 79, I have six stents in my heart, I'm collecting them.... I had a heart attack last year. That makes me a little bit of worrying about travelling. I'm not afraid of flying, I'm afraid of not flying and being stucked in the terminal at the airport. Kennedy Airport in New York is absolute hell. Coming to a place like Germany, or Europe is fine but coming back.... I can't stand the aggravation at the airport. That stopped me from leaving this country. I just don't like travelling.
Instagram Q & A Session with fans - August 9, 2024
Is there any unreleased recorded material from your time in Rainbow that could see the light of day?
Doogie White: From Rainbow there is 'Pagan Love Song', 'Wrong Side of Morning', 'Ask God for That', plus 8 and 16 track recordings of 'Stand and Fight', two different versions of 'Black Masquerade' with different melodies and lyrics and a couple of jammed things.
Fireworks Magazine - October 20, 2023
Are you hopeful that one day the real Rainbow can tour and you can get back onstage with Ritchie after all these years?
Joe Lynn Turner: When Hell freezes over, like the Eagles said. Hey, you know what, I'll play with them. You can make up with your ex-wife and go, "Come on, let's go out to dinner one night. What's the difference?" I don't hold animosity. Hate is a very negative emotion. It's a cancer inside. I don't have any of that.
Rolling Stone - April 22, 2023
Joe telling a story about Candice Night.
Joe Lynn Turner: I'll tell you a story about Candice. [Laughs.] During the recording in Florida of Slaves and Masters, we were having a football game with a radio station in Florida for charity. After the game, this girl comes up and goes, "Hi!" She's asking me all these questions. I finally get the idea, "Hey, wait a minute. She thinks I'm Ritchie." I go, "Excuse me, what's your name?" She goes, "Candy." I looked her up and down. Say, "I bet you're as sweet as candy," or some chauvinistic remark. I go, "I'm not Ritchie. I'm the singer. Ritchie is there doing an interview." She goes, "Oh, I m sorry." And she walks over to him. That was it. Oh, she also asked me, "What kind of music does he like?" I go, "Truthfully? Renaissance." She always wanted to be a singer and famous.
Rolling Stone - April 22, 2023
You been the vocalist in several big acts in the past like Rainbow and Deep Purple, if you had the offer could you join one of those bands again?
Joe Lynn Turner: Well it would all depend obviously because there's a lot of water under the bridge but I would love to get together with Ritchie. Ritchie and I never had a problem. Ritchie and I always had a respect and a mutual admiration. We tried to call him last summer because a group of Rainbow alumni you know Dave Rosenthal, myself, Chuck Burgi and we couldn't get through because his mother-in-law whoever she is manages him now and the daughter and I think that she's protecting the daughter's career. That's the only thing we can think yeah so I don't think he ever got the message.
Metal Express Radio 2001
Doogie is grateful to Blackmore for giving him a break and making it possible for him to have a career in music
Doogie White:Ritchie is very good at bringing new people in and taking people not necessarily off the streets, but out of clothing shops, or out of being a coach builder or whatever," White said. "And then he sets you free to do [whatever]. He sucks you in, bleeds you dry and then sets you free, and you can go off and if you can find your wings, you can fly. Some do, some don't. And that's one of his great gifts to the world of rock and roll, is the amount of people who he has given careers to that you would maybe never have had of. And we've all got to be very grateful for that.
I mean, David Coverdale could still be selling suits in Redcar. You know, Ronnie Dio could still be trying to get ELF to do something. You know, Graham Bonnet could still be crooning away in Australia. I could still be sleeping on somebody's floor in London. But he gave us all this opportunity to go out there and make something of ourselves. And if you grasped it, you grasped it, and if you didn't, you didn't.
Vintage Rock Pod - April 17, 2023
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