Blackmore's Night
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Blackmore's Night is a British-American neo-medieval
folk rock Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...
band formed in 1997, consisting mainly of
Ritchie Blackmore Richard Hugh Blackmore (born 14 April 1945) is an English lead guitarist. He was a founding member and the guitarist of Deep Purple, one of the pioneering bands of hard rock. After leaving Deep Purple in 1975, Blackmore formed the band Rainbow ...
(
acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...
, hurdy gurdy,
mandola The mandola (US and Canada) or tenor mandola (Ireland and UK) is a fretted, stringed musical instrument. It is to the mandolin what the viola is to the violin: the four double courses of strings tuned in fifths to the same pitches as the viola ...
,
mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...
,
nyckelharpa ''Nyckelharpa'' (, roughly "keyed fiddle" in Swedish language, Swedish, , plural: ) is a "keyed" Bowed string instrument, bowed chordophone, primarily originating from Sweden in its modern form, but with its historical roots scattered across med ...
, and
electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...
) and Candice Night (lead vocals, lyricist, and woodwinds). Their lineup has seen many changes over the years; Blackmore and Night have been the only two constant members. They have released eleven studio albums. Their early releases were mostly acoustic and imitated
early music Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750) or Ancient music (before 500 AD). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad Dates of classical ...
, but eventually Blackmore's Night started using more electric guitars and other modern instruments, as well as performing folk-rearranged cover versions of pop and rock songs.


History


Early

Candice Night was a
Rainbow A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...
fan, and first encountered Ritchie Blackmore to ask him for an autograph in 1989, while she was working for a local New York radio station. The two started living together in 1991, and discovered they both had a passionate interest in
Renaissance music Renaissance music is traditionally understood to cover European music of the 15th and 16th centuries, later than the Renaissance era as it is understood in other disciplines. Rather than starting from the early 14th-century ''ars nova'', the mus ...
. During the reformed Rainbow's recording of the album '' Stranger in Us All'' in 1995, on which Night contributed some of the lyrics and backing harmony vocals, the duo were already gearing up their debut album. In 1997, the project started as being a
pun A pun, also known as a paronomasia in the context of linguistics, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from t ...
of their own names, which would consist of themselves plus session musicians.


1997 to 2005

Their debut album '' Shadow of the Moon'' was a musical success and featured
Ian Anderson Ian Scott Anderson (born 10 August 1947) is a British musician best known for being the chief vocalist, Flute, flautist, and acoustic guitarist of the British rock band Jethro Tull (band), Jethro Tull. He is a multi-instrumentalist who also p ...
of Jethro Tull on flute for the song "Play Minstrel Play". In subsequent albums, particularly '' Fires at Midnight'', there was an increased incorporation of rock guitar into the music, while maintaining a folk rock direction. Over time, Night has increasingly participated instrumentally as well as singing the vocals, and is competent on a wide variety of Renaissance instruments. The group performs at Renaissance fairs and Renaissance festivals, as well as in stand-alone concert tours in appropriate venues including "castle tours" of Europe, where they perform in historic surroundings for an audience dressed largely in period costume. The duo has been successful enough to inspire a number of international tribute bands including: ''Renaissance Night'', the Italian ''Morning Star,'' The ''Midnight'' and ''Elflore''. They have also performed the music for MagiQuest, a live simulation game.


2006–present

In 2006, Night performed a duet with
Andi Deris Andreas "Andi" Deris (born 18 August 1964) is a German singer, best known as one of the three co-lead vocalists of the power metal band Helloween, and co-founder and former lead singer of the metal band Pink Cream 69. Singing style Deris has ...
on
Helloween Helloween is a German power metal band founded in 1984 in Hamburg by members of bands Iron Fist, Gentry, Second Hell and Powerfool. The band has at times been called one of the most influential European heavy metal bands of the 1980s. Its first ...
's "Light the Universe", which was released as a single in certain countries and is available on their album '' Keeper of the Seven Keys: The Legacy'', released in the same year. On 27 June 2008, the duo released its seventh studio album called '' Secret Voyage'', a mix of medieval-sounding tracks and some contemporary ones. In addition to some covers of some traditional folk music (“Locked Within the Crystal Ball" is from the fourteenth century) and some originals, Blackmore's Night also performed a cover of a
Rainbow A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...
song (“Rainbow Eyes”) and an
Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...
cover (" Can't Help Falling in Love"). A new album titled '' Autumn Sky'' was released at the end of 2010 in Europe and in 2011 in the U.S. This was followed by '' Dancer and the Moon'', in 2013, an album featuring covers of songs by
Randy Newman Randall Stuart Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an American singer, songwriter, arranger, pianist, composer, conductor and orchestrator. He is known for his non-rhotic Southern American English, Southern-accented singing style, early America ...
(" I Think It's Going to Rain Today"), Uriah Heep (" Lady in Black") and another Rainbow song (“Temple Of The King”, originally from the album '' Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow''). Their album, ''All Our Yesterdays'', was released on 18 September 2015. Their latest studio album, ''Nature's Light'' was released worldwide on 12 March 2021. In 2022, Night was featured on the single "We're Gonna Be Drinking" with the German folkrock band dArtagnan from their album ''Felsenfest'' (2022). Blackmore's Night had previously made a version of the song on their 2003 album '' Ghost of a Rose'' called "All for One". A live version can be found on the DVD '' Castles And Dreams''.


Blackmore and Night

On 5 October 2008, Night and Blackmore were married after 19 years together. This is the fourth marriage for Blackmore and first for Night. Their daughter Autumn Esmerelda Blackmore was born on 27 May 2010 and their son Rory Dartanyan was born on 7 February 2012.


Personnel


Members

*
Ritchie Blackmore Richard Hugh Blackmore (born 14 April 1945) is an English lead guitarist. He was a founding member and the guitarist of Deep Purple, one of the pioneering bands of hard rock. After leaving Deep Purple in 1975, Blackmore formed the band Rainbow ...
acoustic and
electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...
,
mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...
,
mandola The mandola (US and Canada) or tenor mandola (Ireland and UK) is a fretted, stringed musical instrument. It is to the mandolin what the viola is to the violin: the four double courses of strings tuned in fifths to the same pitches as the viola ...
, domra,
hurdy-gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-turned crank, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin (or nyckelharpa) bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar ...
,
nyckelharpa ''Nyckelharpa'' (, roughly "keyed fiddle" in Swedish language, Swedish, , plural: ) is a "keyed" Bowed string instrument, bowed chordophone, primarily originating from Sweden in its modern form, but with its historical roots scattered across med ...
* Candice Night – vocals, chanter, cornamuse,
shawm The shawm () is a Bore (wind instruments)#Conical bore, conical bore, double-reed woodwind instrument made in Europe from the 13th or possibly 12th century to the present day. It achieved its peak of popularity during the medieval and Renaissanc ...
, rauschpfeife,
tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, thoug ...
, woodwinds


Additional personnel

;Current additional personnel * Jessie Haynes – guitars, recorder, backing vocals (Jul 1997–Oct 1998, May 2022–present) * Bard David of Larchmont (David Baranowski) – keyboards, backing vocals (May 2003–present) * Earl Grey of Chimay (Mike Clemente) – bass, mandolin, rhythm guitar (Feb 2008–present) * Troubadour of Aberdeen ( David Keith) – drums, percussion (2012–present) * Scarlet Fiddler (Claire Smith) – violin (2012–present) ;Former additional personnel * Scott Hazell – harmony & backing vocals (Jan 1997–Mar 2001) * Mick Cervino – bass (Jul 1997-Aug 2000) * Joseph James – keyboards (Jul 1997–Dec 1997) * John O'Reilly – drums, percussion (Jul 1997–Dec 1997) * Sue Goehringer – backing vocals (1998Mar 2001) * Rachel Birkin – violin (Sep 1998–Oct 1998) * Alex Alexander – drums, percussion (Sep 1998–Jan 2000) * Adam Forgione – keyboards (Sep 1998–Jan 2000) * Jim Hurley – violin (Jun 1999-May 2000) * Marci Geller – keyboards, backing vocals (Jun 1999–May 2001) * Carmine Giglio – keyboards, backing vocals (Apr 2000–Aug 2002) * Mike Sorrentino – percussion (Apr 2000–Aug 2001) * Chris Devine – violin, flute, guitar (Jul 2000–May 2002) * Sir Robert of Normandie ( Robert Curiano) – bass, guitars, backing vocals (Oct 2000–2007) * Vita Gasparro (Lady Vita) – guitar, vocals (Jul 2001–Dec 2001) * Squire Malcolm of Lumley (Malcolm Dick) – drums, percussion (Aug 2001–2011) * Lady Rraine (Lorraine Ferro) – harmony vocals (Apr 2002–May 2002, Oct 2007) * Lord Marnen of Wolfhurst (Marnen Laibow-Koser) – violin, flute, recorder (Jul 2002–Dec 2003) * Lady Nancy (Nancy Posner) – backing vocals (Jul 2002–2007) * Lady Madeline (Madeline Posner) – backing vocals (Jul 2002–2007) * Tudor Rose (Tina Chancey) – violin, flute (May 2004–2007) * Baron St James (Barry Waller) – bass (Apr 2007–Mar 2008) * Gypsy Rose (Elizabeth Cary) – violin, backing vocals (Oct 2007–2011) * Lady Kelly De Winter (Kelly Morris) – French horn, harmony vocals (2012–Nov 2013) * The Minstrel Albert (Albert Dannenmann) – Bagpipes, Renaissance wind instruments, backing vocals * Lady Lynn (Christina Lynn Skleros) – harmony vocals, shawm, flute, and recorder (2014–2022) ;Studio musicians * Pat Regan – various string instruments, keyboards (1997–2008) * Kevin Dunne – drums (1998–1999)


Timeline


Discography

* '' Shadow of the Moon'' (1997) * '' Under a Violet Moon'' (1999) * '' Fires at Midnight'' (2001) * '' Ghost of a Rose'' (2003) * '' The Village Lanterne'' (2006) * '' Winter Carols'' (2006) * '' Secret Voyage'' (2008) * '' Autumn Sky'' (2010) * '' Dancer and the Moon'' (2013) * '' All Our Yesterdays'' (2015) * '' Nature's Light'' (2021)


References

* *


External links


Blackmore's Night official website
{{authority control, additional=auto Medieval folk rock groups Renaissance fair performers Musical groups established in 1997 Musical groups from Long Island British folk rock groups Folk rock duos Married couples AFM Records artists Frontiers Records artists SPV GmbH artists Spinefarm Records artists Ariola Records artists British musical duos Male–female musical duos