Due to numerous articles, books, and documentaries over the years, it certainly seems like Ritchie Blackmore is an unpredictable fellow and not all that easy to work with. Heck, just take a gander at the seemingly infinite number of band members that came and went through the Deep Purple and Rainbow ranks while he was a member of each band.
But during a recent interview with The Metal Voice Podcast, Rainbow’s most recent singer, Ronnie Romero, shed some light on what it is like to work alongside Blackmore. When asked, “What’s the difference between being in the circle and not being in the circle,” Romero replied (transcribed by Ultimate Guitar):
“It is a huge difference. And that, for me, was probably the most enjoyable thing of working with Ritchie. Because in the end, you are on the stage and you play songs, and you are in the ‘Rainbow band’ and all this stuff, and that’s great. And there were another 7-8 singers who did the same thing before – counting the Rainbow singers, Deep Purple, and all this stuff. There were a lot of singers working with him.”
But the Chilean vocalist – who has also sung in the Michael Schenker Group and Elegant Weapons (the latter of which includes Judas Priest’s Richie Faulkner) – also mentioned noticing a more “regular guy” side to Blackmore.
“To be with him having a beer after dinner and talking about UFOs or whatever that was the topic that night — until 3:00 in the morning. And sometimes, he’s taking the guitar, and we’re just singing whatever — from The Beatles, Queen, Deep Purple, Rainbow, whatever it comes to that moment. And that was probably the most enjoyable thing. It is great.”
Also, Romero compared Blackmore’s public “character” to the one in his personal life. “Obviously, all of this ‘character’ that people know from Ritchie – like he’s a tough guy and he’s a difficult person and all that stuff – is how you see him outside the circle. And in my opinion, there’s a character, and he behaved that way to keep the people away. Which is very understandable in the way that there is a lot of people trying to get in the circle. So, it’s totally understandable. But when you are ‘in,’ he is a very nice guy, is very loyal, is very cool. He treats you really well.”
And despite quite a few of Blackmore’s former bandmates having less than stellar memories of working with the guitar great, Romero is an exception. “If I think about it, I have nothing to say bad about Ritchie Blackmore during the 5-6 years we worked together. Even with my family, they were all nice. All the people — they were great, and they would treat me very good.”
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