Ritchie Blackmore Reflects On Relationship With Jon Lord In Rare Interview

(MS) Legendary guitarist Ritchie Blackmore of Rainbow, Deep Purple, and Blackmore's Night joined Mark Strigl on SiriusXM's Ozzy's Boneyard for a rare and wide-ranging interview recorded in New York. Blackmore was joined by his wife and musical partner Candice Night.

The conversation covered a variety of topics, including working with William Shatner, memories of the late Ozzy Osbourne, the current status of Blackmore's Night and three new songs already written for the next album, Candice Night's solo album Sea Glass (which Blackmore performed on), the new Temple of the King: Rainbow 1975-1976 box set, and Blackmore's preference for performing live over recording in the studio.

Blackmore also reflected on his longtime bandmate Jon Lord: "I said to Jon Lord of Deep Purple, when we got together, it was Jon and I that got together. We were the first two to put it together and then I got Ian Paice, blah, blah, blah. I remember saying to Jon, 'who the hell are you?' and Jon said, 'well, I'm the keyboard player,' and I said, 'well, then play something,' and as soon as he started playing, I felt honored to play with him. He is like the typical gentleman. He should have been in those films... he is like a George Sanders of the rock and roll world. Whenever you ask him, 'Jon, how are you doing?' he'd go, 'absolutely wonderful!' I would be at the other... ya know... people would say to me, 'how are you doing?' and I would say, 'I'm in various stages of deterioration,' so Jon and I clicked. He got it. A wonderful man to go out to dinner with until he had more than 3 martinis, and then we would be talking about other subjects. I wrote the song 'Carry On Jon' about Jon, and I couldn't even play it on stage. It brought tears to my eyes..."

Mark Strigl can be heard weekdays during the day on SiriusXM's Ozzy's Boneyard, delivering hard and heavy classic rock and speaking with legendary performers such as Ritchie Blackmore, Zakk Wylde, Rob Halford, and more. SiriusXM subscribers in North America can stream the interview here

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