Ritchie Blackmore Confirms Glenn Hughes Almost In New Rainbow

Ritchie Blackmore has confirmed that he approached former Deep Purple bass player and vocalist Glenn Hughes to be part of his newly established version of Rainbow.

Blackmore spoke to Billboard about the new Rainbow live package and was asked about Hughes' claims of being acted to be part of the group and revealed the idea broke down when Hughes learned he would only be playing bass in the band.

Ritchie explained, "Through a mutual friend, a conversation came up saying it would be good to have him in the band. I said, 'Would he be up for being just the bass player and we would have another singer singing?' My mutual friend said 'Of course! I've spoken to him and he's up for it.' I said, 'Fine -- as long as he knows he isn't the singer, that's great.'

"Fast forward to day before rehearsals and we contacted Glenn to see when he was going to fly in, and he wasn't aware that he wasn't going to be the lead singer at all. So I understood his situation and I told him we would have to get someone else, and he was fine. We ended it amicably before it even started."

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