To mark his 81st birthday on Tuesday, April 14, iconic Deep Purple and Rainbow guitarist Ritchie Blackmore hosted an unannounced Instagram livestream. Broadcasting from his Long Island, New York home, the nearly hour-long Q&A session was hosted by his wife and musical collaborator, Candice Night.
During the chat, a fan asked for his thoughts on Tommy Bolin, the guitarist who famously replaced him in Deep Purple over 50 years ago. Ritchie Blackmore praised his late friend while offering a blunt critique of his fellow musicians.
“Well, I knew him more as a friend. And he was such a nice guy that I couldn’t believe he was a guitar player, because most guitar players aren’t nice people. He was so nice, and he was an Indian — I think Sioux Indian or something — and I would go around his house, and we’d oftenhave fun just talking to each other. There was never ever any envy, no competition whatsoever,” Ritchie said.
He then shared a funny memory regarding his peer’s gear maintenance.
“I said to Tommy once, ‘When did you last change your strings?’ And he looked at me, like, ‘I should change them?’ And I said, ‘Well, yeah.’ And he said, ‘Well, probably about five years ago,’ ’cause they were so caked in dirt and grit. He was a brilliant player, a great player, but he never changed his guitar strings.”
Addressing his current relationship with the members of Deep Purple, the guitarist confirmed he still maintains contact with several key figures from the band’s history.
“Yes. [Deep Purple drummer] Ian Paice sends me regards now and again, and I talked to [Deep Purple singer] Ian Gillan and [former Deep Purple vocalist] David Coverdale. But I don’t know the new people in the band. I mean, obviously [current Deep Purple keyboardist] Don Airey was in Rainbow. Don is a brilliant keyboard player, but he has been in every band in the business.”
The livestream also touched on the possibility of future live performances. When a viewer suggested gout surgery might help him get back on the road, Ritchie shut down the idea, citing a lack of energy and multiple health concerns.
“I don’t play with my feet. It’s not just my feet that I have a problem on tour with. I have a problem with my back, my heart, and my feet. And to go on tour at 81 is pushing it. And I don’t really wanna just sit down on stage, which I would have to do anyway. I’m kind of running out of energy a little bit. When you play rock and roll, you’ve gotta have a lot of energy, but I tend to like sleeping a lot these days,” he explained.
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.
Right after the string of dates was officially axed, 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”
