Early Years

 

Blackmore's Night is a British/American traditional Folk rock band formed in 1997, consisting mainly of Ritchie Blackmore (acoustic guitar, hurdy gurdy, mandola, mandolin, nyckelharpe and electric guitar) and Candice Night (lead vocals, lyricist and woodwinds). Their lineup has seen many changes over the years. To date, they have released eleven studio albums.

Candice was a Rainbow 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.

During the reformed Rainbow's recording of the album Stranger in Us All in 1995, on which Candice contributed some of the lyrics and backing harmony vocals, the duo were already gearing up their debut album. Candice's personality and singing ability made her the natural choice as frontwoman. In 1997 the project started as being a pun 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 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, whilst maintaining a Folk rock direction. Over time, Candice has increasingly participated instrumentally as well as singing the vocals, and is competent in a wide variety of Renaissance instruments.

In 1998 the album "Blackmore's Kingdom" was released by an unknown group of musicians, it contains both Blackmore's Night songs and songs by Steve Tilston. This album is most likely a renamed version of guitarist Greg Joy's album "Celtic Secrets." Several of the tracks on this CD also seem to imitate renditions of the same songs by the 1960s folk band Pentangle.

The group performs at Renaissance Faires 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 and the Midnight.

They have also performed the music for MagiQuest, a live simulation game.

2006–present

In 2006, Candice performed a duet with Andi Deris on Helloween's "Light the Universe (video)", 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 June 27, 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 song (“Rainbow Eyes”) original (video) and an Elvis Presley cover ("Can't Help Falling in Love"). (video)

The album 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 ("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.

Personal Life

On October 5, 2008, Richie and Candice were married after 19 years together. This is the fourth marriage for Richie.

Autumn Esmerelda Blackmore was born on May 27, 2010. The album titled Autumn Sky was released soon afterwards. Their son Rory Dartanyan was born on February 7, 2012.   

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