OCTOBER 5, 2008 – former Deep Purple and Rainbow guitarist/songwriter Ritchie Blackmore (b. April 14, 1945 in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England) and singer/songwriter/musician Candice Night (b. May 8, 1971 in Hauppauge, Long Island, New York) finally tied the knot after 17 years living as a couple. Night and Blackmore were brought together through a shared love of Renaissance music and in 1997 formed the band Blackmore’s Night, which enjoys nominal success as a British traditional acoustic folk Renaissance music project.
In May 1964, Blackmore had married Margit Volkmar (b. 1945) from Germany. They lived in Hamburg during the late 1960s. Their son, Jürgen (b. 1964), played guitar in touring tribute band Over the Rainbow. Following their divorce, Blackmore married Bärbel, a former dancer from Germany, in September 1969 until their divorce in early 1970s. As a result, he speaks German fluently, and has aquired a collection of about 2,000 CDs of Renaissance music.
For tax reasons, he moved to the USA in 1974. Initially he lived in Oxnard, California, with opera singer Shoshana Feinstein for one year. She provided backing vocals for two songs on Rainbow’s first album. During this period, he listened to early European classical music and light music a lot, for about three-quarters of his private time. Blackmore once said, “It’s hard to relate that to rock. I listen very carefully to the patterns that Bach plays. I like direct, dramatic music.” After having an affair with another woman, Christine, Blackmore met Amy Rothman in 1978, and moved to Connecticut. He married Rothman in 1981, but they divorced in 1983. Following the marriage’s conclusion, he began a relationship with Tammi Williams. In early 1984 Blackmore met Williams in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where she was working as a hotel employee. In the same year, he purchased his first car, having learned to drive at age 39.
Born as Candice Lauren Isralow, the future Mrs. Blackmore took piano lessons for a couple few years. She began modeling as “Loren” at 12 years of age. She appeared in everything from commercials to print ads, and promoted products at trade shows until her 20s. Night also had her own radio show on a rock music radio station on Long Island, and attended New York Institute of Technology where she studied communications.
As a Rainbow fan, Candice first met Blackmore when she asked him for an autograph in 1989. They talked about ghosts, music, travel, history, and philosophy, gradually became friends, and then lived together from 1991. She later provided humming backing vocals on the instrumental track “Difficult to Cure” during Deep Purple’s 1993 European tour. She also briefly provided humming (and sung) backing vocals on “Ariel” and “Hall of the Mountain King” for Rainbow’s “Stranger in Us All” album. Despite her being inexperienced as a professional lead singer, Blackmore encouraged her to become his musical partner. She then wrote lyrics for most of the songs on the first Blackmore’s Night album, 1997’s “Shadow of the Moon” where she supplied lead vocals. Those songs were written with her voice in his mind.
In 2006 Candice sang on Helloween’s “Light the Universe” song from their “Keeper of the Seven Keys – The Legacy” album, and she also appeared In Helloween’s music video for that track. She also played the part of Oria in the rock opera “Story of Aina,” with Sass Jordan and Glenn Hughes. She sang three songs on the Beto Vázquez album “Infinity” with Tarja Turunen from Nightwish and “Sabine Edelsbacher” from Edenbridge.
The couple’s daughter Autumn Esmerelda Blackmore was born in May 27, 2010, and was the inspiration for Blackmore’s Night’s album “Autumn Sky” which was released in September 2010. On February 7, 2012, Night gave birth to their second child, a son named Rory Dartanyan Blackmore.
She also appears on interactive video screens throughout the USA and Japan in the theme park Magiquest as both Princess Amora and Princess Candice. These parks now have a cooperation throughout the USA through Great Wolf Lodges as well as their home base in Myrtle Beach, SC. She was also the Faerie Queen for Faerie Magazine for two years, gracing the cover in Spring 2007, and making appearances and performing at the Faerie Festivals throughout the USA.
Night is also very well known for her charitable contributions towards animal welfare. Throughout the eleven years of the existence of Blackmore’s Night, the duo has donated enough funds for the World Wide Fund for Nature to plant 6,000 fruit trees in Borneo for the orangutan habitat; they have donated to the Save the Bats in Berlin; Save the Badgers in England; local animal charities throughout the USA including an annual invitation only charity show in which all proceeds go directly to Save A Pet, Little Shelter, Best Friends and North Shore Animal League. They have also donated portions of proceeds of CD sales to the Red Cross to aid the flood victims in Eastern Europe; donated to CO2OL to plant trees in Panama to undo the pollution which their concerts may generate; donated to UNICEF. Other charities with whom they have cooperated include People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Blackmore’s Night has released ten albums, and Candice released her first solo album “Reflections” in October 2011. All songs were written by Night and consist of mostly soft rock ballads.