Ritchie Blackmore At Eighty

On Monday, Ritchie Blackmore will be eighty years old. If you are not familiar with the legendary guitarist, he was a founder member of Deep Purple, started his own band, Rainbow, then teamed up with a woman 26 years his junior to form Blackmore’s Night.

As he had been married and divorced three times before, Candice wisely opted for a long engagement. They married in 2008 and she presented him first with a daughter then with a son. Ritchie already had a son, who has followed in his father’s footsteps.

I published a long article on Ritchie Blackmore, the man and his music, for his seventieth birthday which can be found here and now here, but a lot has happened since 2015. I saw him again, on June 17, 2017, when he played the 02 in London with a revamped Rainbow; Candice was one of the backing singers. I had previously seen him in Leeds more than three decades earlier, again with Rainbow, and in the 90s with Deep Purple at Hammersmith.

One might have thought that having long passed retirement age and having a young family, this old rocker would slow down, but although Blackmore’s Night have released only two albums since I saw him at the O2, the last in 2021, he and Candice have done a fair amount of touring.

Although an Englishman born and bred, Ritchie relocated to New York when he and Candice tied the knot, that is when they are not on the road. In 2016, they played a dozen concerts split between America and Germany. Ritchie’s first two wives were German, as is his son Jürgen by Margit Volkmar.

Like most of the rest of the world, the Blackmore’s were tied down by the insane covid lockdowns, so did not tour in 2020, although they did perform the odd on-line duet. Last year they played only six dates, all in the US, possibly because as Candice revealed recently, Ritchie suffered a heart attack about eighteen months ago. That being said, they have played one date so far this year, and are scheduled to play another one tonight, in New Jersey.

Doubtless, he will be back home in New York by Monday to celebrate this landmark birthday with the Loveliest Woman in Creation and their two offspring. Having said that, the legendary Les Paul was still performing at 94, so if he cuts down on his drinking, living legend Ritchie Blackmore should have a few miles in the tank yet.

Ritchie with Candice, Autumn and Rory in 2019.