Deep Purple were rendered speechless when, in a Munich hotel in March 1975, Ritchie Blackmore announced he was leaving the band he'd co-founded seven years earlier. In retrospect, it made sense that ...
In 1968, Blackmore co-founded Deep Purple with keyboardist Jon Lord, drummer Ian Paice, singer Rod Evans, and bassist Nick Simper. The group was initially heavily influenced by psychedelia and ...