Rainbow consists of Bobby Rondinelli (drums), David Rosenthal (keyboards), Joe Lynn (vocals), Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), Roger Glover (bass guitar).
For another band named rainbow, see Paul Stanley.
Rainbow was a British hard rock band formed by Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore in 1975. In addition to Blackmore, the band originally consisted of former Elf lead singer Ronnie James Dio, bassist Craig Gruber, drummer Gary Driscoll, and keyboardist Mickey Lee Soule.Rainbow had many band member changes, including the British keyboardist extraordinaire, Don Airey,currently touring with Deep Purple. The band's debut album, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, was released in 1975 and featured the minor hit "Man on the Silver Mountain".
The first real success came in 1976 with Rising which didn't yield any hit singles, but was a strong long-term seller. The album is regarded by many as one of the best of all 70s hard rock releases, and is seen as a milestone in heavy music. It contains the classic track "Stargazer" (which features the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra).
The Wizard of Oz was a considerable influence on Rainbow and on the Rising album, and Ritchie would lead the band in a few bars of " Somewhere Over The Rainbow" at the beginning of concerts.
1978 saw Rainbow's commercial breakthrough with Long Live Rock 'N' Roll, which had two hit singles. The band hit their sales peak over the next two years with the Down to Earth and Difficult to Cure, albums from which three top ten hits came. 1982 saw Straight Between the Eyes followed by the final release, Bent Out of Shape by which time the constant line-up changes were beginning to tell. Blackmore decided to call it quits in 1984 to reform Deep Purple.
Blackmore left Deep Purple in 1993 and formed a totally new Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, releasing the album Stranger in Us All in 1995, then embarking on a lengthy world tour. However, fed up with stadium rock, Ritchie turned his attention to Rennaisance and medieval music, a longstanding interest of his. Rainbow was put on hold and played its final gig in Esbjerg, Denmark in 1997. Blackmore, together with his partner Candice Night as vocalist, then formed the renaissance-influenced Blackmore's Night.
