In a recent interview with Gary Graff for Guitar Player magazine, legendary Deep Purple and Rainbow guitarist Ritchie Blackmore shed some light on the alarming health scare that forced his current band to abruptly halt their latest run of shows.
Last November, Blackmore’s Night, the renaissance folk-rock group he fronts alongside his wife, Candice Night, was forced to cancel the final four dates of their six-show East Coast tour. Concerts originally scheduled in Newton, New Jersey; Wilmington, Delaware; Cohoes, New York; and Tarrytown, New York were all officially scrapped due to undisclosed medical reasons at the time.
Speaking with the publication, the 80-year-old British rock pioneer detailed his current recovery process and exactly what happened out on the road.
“At the moment I’m taking a bit of a rest and seeing a lot of doctors about various ailments. I had a nasty vertigo attack on our last small tour that we did, and I had to cancel.”
Going deeper into the terrifying ordeal, the veteran musician explained how an initial virus threw off his equilibrium and triggered a lifelong phobia.
“Despite having heart and back problems, I have never had such a horrible experience as that vertigo attack on our tour. I don’t wish that on my worst enemy. It started off with a virus which apparently went to my ears and upset the balance of the small crystals in the ear canals. After this, I have come to the conclusion I hate traveling. I’ve hated it ever since I was a child and I used to travel with my mother when we went to Bristol and Bath, where my relatives were. Every time we would leave in the coach I would throw up over the passenger in front of us. For some strange reason they didn’t like that. I have hated traveling ever since. I now seem to have a phobia about being confined in a car or a van or anything that travels.”
Regarding the possibility of him returning to live performances in the future, Ritchie said:
“Since we live on Long Island [New York], I’m hoping we can put some shows together in small theaters where people can come and see us. That way, I wouldn’t have to travel more than an hour.”
Right after the string of dates was officially axed last November, the iconic guitarist released a comprehensive public statement directly addressing the situation. In that original post, he provided a harrowing timeline of the events leading up to his hospitalization.
“Very quick history, for those who have nothing better to do: I have a long history of lumbar and neck herniated discs. Consequently, I would have back injections before a tour to help me over the pain. Recently, I have acquired debilitating migraines. They come and go very quickly. When I see the visual disturbance of these ocular migraines, I know they are coming.”
“When we did the long drive from Pennsylvania to Newton NJ we were booked into a hotel that had a wedding party going all night in the corridors. There was no heat in the room and the sheets were still damp. Which I assume culminated in me having a severe migraine attack. I couldn’t stop vomiting. The room wouldn’t stop spinning and I was extremely dizzy to the point of not being able to stand. Ambulance was called. I was taken to hospital and they gave me CAT scans and other tests. They were very gracious. The doctors came to the conclusion that my official diagnosis was severe vertigo. The results of this went on for days on end. I am now following up how serious these migraines are with various doctors.”
“When one tours, you have a lot of people who have to be healthy. Unfortunately, I was the one who got hit this time.”
“Hope to see you all one day again when I’m healthy.”
“All the best, Ritchie, a guitarist”
Speaking on the Iron City Rocks podcast in August while promoting her solo album Sea Glass, Candice Night said at the time:
“There’s the three main issues with him that are going on. He has a heart issue. He had a heart attack a couple of years ago, so we stay on top of that. He’s got gout, so that’s difficult. It’s affecting his feet really badly. And it’s starting in his forefinger, so it’s hurting the mobility in that, so he just had an injection for that. And his back, of course, which has always been an issue.”
Extended travel, particularly flying, has been ruled out due to the physical toll it takes on Blackmore.
“It’s not so much the travel on a plane. Honestly, it’s the aggravation before you even get into the plane… and it’s all the sitting of traveling,” she said. “So that’ll affect his back and all the rest of it. And the jet lag that stresses your heart… it really does take a toll on a human — on a healthy human, so forget about someone who’s 80 years old and going through these issues.”
“If we go someplace, I’m driving,” Night detailed regarding their new routine. “Hopefully it’s close enough to the venue. You get to the venue, you go back, you get a good night’s sleep that night… and then you move on to the next place and have a day of travel. So it’s a very slowed down way of doing it.”
Night also emphasized that Blackmore remains hyper-aware of his physical limits.
“One of the things that’s so great about Ritchie is he can recognize — he’s very in tune with his own body, and he stays on top of everything,” she said. “And when he doesn’t, I nag him to stay on top of it… like eating well and things like that.”
