Rainbow

Rainbow (also known as Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow or Blackmore's Rainbow) were a British hard rock band formed in Hertford in 1975 by guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. Established in the aftermath of Blackmore's first departure from Deep Purple, Rainbow originally featured four members of the American rock band Elf, including their singer Ronnie James Dio, but after their self-titled debut album, Blackmore fired these members, except Dio, recruiting drummer Cozy Powell, bassist Jimmy Bain, and keyboardist Tony Carey. This line-up recorded the band's second album Rising (1976), while Long Live Rock 'n' Roll (1978) saw Bob Daisley and David Stone replace Bain and Carey, respectively. Long Live Rock 'n' Roll was also the last album with Dio before he left the band to join Black Sabbath in 1979.Rainbow's early work primarily used mystical lyrics in a hard rock/heavy metal style, then moved in a more pop-rock direction following Dio's departure from the group. In 1979, Blackmore and Powell revamped the group, recruiting three new members—singer Graham Bonnet, keyboardist Don Airey and another then-former Deep Purple member, bassist Roger Glover—and this line-up gave the band their commercial breakthrough with the single "Since You Been Gone" from their fourth studio album Down to Earth. With Joe Lynn Turner, who replaced Bonnet in 1980, Rainbow recorded three more albums—Difficult to Cure (1981), Straight Between the Eyes (1982), and Bent Out of Shape (1983)—that had commercial success similar to the band's previous albums. Other members of the band during this period were drummers Bobby Rondinelli and Chuck Burgi and keyboardist David Rosenthal. The band split in 1984, when Blackmore and Glover re-joined Deep Purple.In 1993, after quitting Deep Purple for good, Blackmore reformed Rainbow with a new line-up, fronted by Doogie White, which recorded their eighth studio album Stranger in Us All (1995). In 1997, Blackmore broke up the band again to start fresh with Blackmore's Night, a collaboration with his wife, Candice Night, on vocals. Blackmore revived the band once again in 2016,, and they performed tours in Europe over the next few years. Rainbow thought about continuing to play live, but those plans were scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving the band on hiatus since their last tour in 2019.Over the years Rainbow went through many personnel changes, with each studio album recorded with a different line-up, leaving Blackmore as the band's only constant member. Their longest serving line-up—which featured Blackmore on guitar, Blackmore's wife Candice Night on backing vocals, Ronnie Romero on lead vocals, Bob Nouveau on bass, David Keith on drums and Jens Johansson on keyboards—lasted from 2015 to 2019. Rainbow were ranked No. 90 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. The band has sold over 28 million records worldwide.In 1973, Blackmore steered Deep Purple through a significant personnel change, with Ian Gillan and Roger Glover being replaced by David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes. However, the new members were keen to add their own musical influences into the band's sound, some of which were not to Blackmore's taste. During the sessions for the 1974 album Stormbringer, Blackmore found his request to record the Steve Hammond-penned "Black Sheep of the Family" turned down by the band. On the subsequent tour, Deep Purple were supported by American band Elf, with Blackmore being especially impressed by their singer Ronnie James Dio. Still wishing to put his interpretation of "Black Sheep of the Family" to record, he decided to record the song as a single, accompanied by four members of Elf, Dio, bassist Craig Gruber, drummer Gary Driscoll, and keyboardist Mickey Lee Soule. The sessions went so well that a full album began to take shape, with Blackmore and Dio collaborating on original songs. The album, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, was recorded between February and March 1975 at Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany. The band name was inspired by the Rainbow Bar and Grill in West Hollywood, California.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.