Ritchie Blackmore

Richard Hugh Blackmore born 14 April 1945 is an English guitarist and songwriter He was one of the founding members of Deep Purple in 1968 playing jamstyle hard rock music that mixed guitar riffs and organ sounds Blackmore is prolific in creating guitar riffs and is often noted for his classically influenced solos During his solo career Blackmore established the heavy metal band Rainbow which fused baroque music influences and elements of hard rock Rainbow steadily moved to catchy popstyle mainstream rock He later formed the traditional folk rock project Blackmores Night transitioning to vocalistcentered sounds As a member of Deep Purple Blackmore was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2016 He has been cited by publications such as Guitar World and Rolling Stone as one of the greatest and most influential guitar players of all time