Deep Purple Reunite With Ritchie Blackmore For The First Time In 33 Years

Way back in 1966, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore co-founded the British rock band Deep Purple. Singer Ian Gillan joined up in 1969, and the band went on a hugely influential and commercially successful run. Hits like "Smoke On The Water" and "Highway Star" helped establish the blueprint for hard rock and heavy metal. Deep Purple's lineup was never stable, and Blackmore left in 1975. In recent years, he's been feuding with the current lineup of the band, which once again includes Ian Gillan, who has left and come back many times. On Wednesday night, Blackmore rejoined Deep Purple onstage for the first time since 1993.After leaving Deep Purple, Ritchie Blackmore founded a new band, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, that included singer Ronnie James Dio. (After breaking up several times over the years, one Rainbow lineup reunited for a German festival in 2016, and they toured for a few more years.) Blackmore rejoined Deep Purple in the '80s, but he left again in 1993. Since the '90s, Blackmore and his wife Candice Night have been making folk-rock as the duo Blackmore's Night.Today, Ritchie Blackmore is 81 years old and living on Long Island, and he's suffering from a number of health problems...