Richard Hugh "Ritchie" Blackmore (born 14 April 1945) is an English guitarist and songwriter, who began his professional career as a session musician as a member of the instrumental band
The Outlaws and as a backing musician of pop singers such as
Glenda Collins,
Heinz,
Screaming Lord Sutch and
Neil Christian. Blackmore was also one of the original members of
Deep Purple, playing jam-style hard-rock music which mixed simple guitar riffs and organ sounds. During his solo career, he established a band called
Rainbow which fused
baroque music influences and elements of
hard rock. Rainbow gradually progressed to catchy pop style hard rock. Later in life, he formed the traditional
folk rock project
Blackmore's Night transitioning to vocalist-centred sounds. Their latest album,
Dancer & the Moon, was released on June 2013, which entered at # 189 on USA's Billboard Album Charts.