Richard Hugh Blackmore (born 14 April 1945) is an English guitarist. He was a founding member and the lead guitarist of Deep Purple, playing jam-style hard rockmusic that mixed guitar riffs and organ sounds. After leaving Deep Purple in 1975, Blackmore formed the hard rock band Rainbow, which fused baroque musicinfluences and elements of hard rock. Rainbow steadily moved to catchy pop-style mainstream rock. Rainbow broke up in 1984 with Blackmore re-joining Deep Purple until 1993. In 1997, he formed the traditional folk rock project Blackmore’s Night along with his current wife Candice Night, shifting to vocalist-centred sounds.

He is prolific in creating guitar riffs and has been known for playing both classically influenced and blues-based solos. As a member of Deep Purple, Blackmore was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2016. He is cited by publications such as Guitar World and Rolling Stone as one of the greatest and most influential guitar players of all time.