by NICK AIDONIDIS

Richard Hugh "Ritchie" Blackmore (born 14 April 1945 in Weston-super-Mare, England) is an English guitarist, who was a founding member of hard rock bands Deep Purple and Rainbow. He left Deep Purple in 1993 due to a growing rift between Blackmore and other members in spite of renewed commercial success. His current band is the Renaissance influenced Blackmore's Night.

Blackmore was ranked #55 in Rolling Stone magazine list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".