Blackmore’s Night axed all upcoming shows

Deep Purple and Rainbow legend Ritchie Blackmore has shared a statement explaining why Blackmore’s Night had to postpone a series of US tour dates last week.

On Tuesday 18th November, Ritchie’s wife and band mate Candice Night told fans all upcoming Blackmore’s Night shows have been cancelled “due to medical reasons.”

No further details were revealed at the time, and it was unclear whether the person with medical issues was guitar hero Ritchie or another member of the band.

Six days on, Ritchie has now revealed that he took ill in his hotel room ahead of the band’s show in Newton, New Jersey, and he was taken to hospital by ambulance.

His full post reads: “Very quick history, for those who have nothing better to do: I have a long history of lumbar and neck herniated discs. Consequently, I would have back injections before a tour to help me over the pain. Recently, I have acquired debilitating migraines. They come and go very quickly. When I see the visual disturbance of these ocular migraines, I know they are coming.

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“When we did the long drive from Pennsylvania to Newton NJ we were booked into a hotel that had a wedding party going all night in the corridors. There was no heat in the room and the sheets were still damp. Which I assume culminated in me having a severe migraine attack. I couldn’t stop vomiting. The room wouldn’t stop spinning and I was extremely dizzy to the point of not being able to stand. Ambulance was called. I was taken to hospital and they gave me CAT scans and other tests. They were very gracious.

“The doctors came to the conclusion that my official diagnosis was severe vertigo. The results of this went on for days on end. I am now following up how serious these migraines are with various doctors.

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“When one tours, you have a lot of people who have to be healthy. Unfortunately, I was the one who got hit this time. Hope to see you all one day again when I’m healthy. All the best, Ritchie, a guitarist.”

Back in April, Candice confirmed that 80-year-old Ritchie suffered a heart attack in 2023 and underwent an operation to have six stents fitted.

Everyone at Planet Rock wishes Ritchie a full recovery.

Rock bands named after songs by other bands, including Deep Purple:

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British heavy metal legends Judas Priest took inspiration for their brilliant name from the Bob Dylan song ‘The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest’ from his 1967 album ‘John Wesley Harding.’ The moniker was the idea of early Judas Priest bassist Brian ‘Bruno’ Stapenhill who exited the band in 1970 before they had laid down any recordings.

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Initially called Roundabout, the rock legends initially toyed with band names including Orpheus, Concrete God and Sugarlump but eventually settled on Deep Purple; taken from the 1933 Peter DeRose piano composition. The song was a huge favourite of Ritchie Blackmore’s grandmother and she would often perform it on piano throughout Ritchie’s childhood.

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In 1988, Eric Martin, Billy Sheehan, Paul Gilbert and the late-great Pat Torpey named their new band after the Free song ‘Mr. Big’, which appeared on their breakthrough 1970 album ‘Fire and Water’. Mr. Big later covered ‘Mr. Big’ on their third studio album ‘Bump Ahead’ in 1993.

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After being dismissed from Hawkwind in 1975 following an arrest for drug possession in Canada, Lemmy started his own self-professed “fast and vicious” band and took the name Motörhead from the final song he had penned for Hawkwind just a few months earlier, ‘Motorhead’. Two years later, Motörhead re-recorded ‘Motorhead’ as the opening track on their eponymous debut album.

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Originally called Paris upon their formation in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania in 1983, singer Bret Michaels, guitarist Matt Smith, bassist Bobby Dall and drummer Rikki Rockett wisely ditched their tame sounding band name in favour of ‘Poison’; a nod to the 1981 track ‘Poison’ by glam metallers ‘Sinner’.

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The Scottish hard rock veterans were called the Shadettes upon their formation in the late 1960s but were unhappy with what they perceived to be a ‘lightweight’ name. They decided to hit a boozer to discuss a new name when ‘The Weight’ by The Band started playing through the bar’s soundsystem. Upon hearing the opening line “I pulled into Nazareth, was feelin’ about half past dead”, bassist Pete Agnew suggested ‘Nazareth’ and the band agreed. The rest, they say, is history.

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Danish rockers Volbeat took their name from the 1997 studio album ‘Vol.Beat’ by singer Michael Poulsen’s previous band, the death metal act Dominus.

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The Rolling Stones

Founder and original band leader Brian Jones gave The Rolling Stones their moniker after the 1950 Muddy Waters track ‘Rollin’ Stone’. The fledgling group played their first show as The Rolling Stones on 12th July 1962, at the famous Marquee Club in London.

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The idea of former guitarist, singer and co-founding band member Max Cavalera, the Brazilian metallers called themselves Sepultura, which is the Portuguese word for “grave”. Max took inspiration from one of his favourite songs, Motörhead’s ‘Dancing On Your Grave.’

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Founded in Oxford in mid-1980s, Radiohead were originally called On A Friday in reference to their music rehearsal day at Abingdon School. When they signed a six-album deal with EMI in 1991, the imprint implored them to change their name and they ultimately took their band name from the song ‘Radio Head’ from Talking Heads’ 1986 album ‘True Stories’.

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Washington DC punks Bad Brains named themselves after the Ramones track ‘Bad Brain’, which appears on their 1978 album ‘Road To Ruin’.

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Stefani Germanotta’s stage name is derived from the Queen classic ‘Radio Ga Ga’. Producer Rob Fusari claims to have been the person who coined ‘Lady Gaga’ in the mid-noughties when they worked together.

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Influential post-hardcore noisemakers At The Drive-In got their moniker from a line in Poison’s 1987 single ‘Talk Dirty To Me’ – “Cause baby we’ll be / At the drive-in / In the old man’s ford / Behind the bushes / Till I’m screamin’ for more.” The name was guitartist Jim Ward’s suggestion shortly after the band former in 1993.

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Formed in South Africa in 1999 as Saron Gas, the band ditched the name as their US label Wind-up Records noted its similarity to the toxic synthetic organophosphorus compound, sarin gas. Ultimately they settled on Seether after the 1994 Veruca Salt single ‘Seether’.