Rainbow
In 1975, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore (b. 14 April 1945, Weston-Super-Mare, England; guitar) left Deep Purple, forming Rainbow the following year. His earlier involvement with American band Elf, led to his recruitment of Elf's Ronnie James Dio (vocals), Mickey Lee Soule, (keyboards), Craig Gruber on bass and Gary Driscoll as drummer. Their debut, RITCHIE BLACKMORE'S RAINBOW, was released in 1975, and was undeservedly seen by some as a poor imitation of Deep Purple. Rainbow was intended to go in a different musical direction to Deep Purple. The constant turnover of personnel was representative of Blackmore's quest for the ultimate line-up and sound. Dissatisfaction with the debut album led to a new line-up being assembled. Jimmy Bain took over from Gruber, and Cozy Powell replaced Driscoll. With Tony Carey on keyboards, RAINBOW RISING was released, an album far more confident than its predecessor. Shortly after this, Bain and Carey left, being replaced by Bob Daisley and David Stone respectively. It was when Rainbow moved to America that difficulties between Dio and Blackmore came to a head, resulting in Dio's departure from the band in 1978. His replacement was Graham Bonnet, whose only album with Rainbow, DOWN TO EARTH, saw the return as bassist of Roger Glover, the man Blackmore had forced out of Deep Purple in 1973. The album was a marked departure from the Dio days, and while it is often considered one of the weaker Rainbow albums, it did provide an enduring single, Since You've Been Gone, written and originally recorded by Russ Ballard. Bonnet and Powell soon became victims of another reorganization of Rainbow's line-up. New vocalist Joe Lynn Turner brought a much more American feel to the band, introducing a commercial sound to DIFFICULT TO CURE, the album which produced the big hit, I Surrender. Thereafter the band went into decline as their increasingly middle-of-the-road albums were ignored by the fans. In 1984 the Rainbow project was ended following the highly popular Deep Purple reunion. The compilation FINYL VINYL appeared in 1986, and featured several different incarnations of Rainbow and some unreleased recordings.