In a recent chat with The Metal Voice, singer Ronnie Romero opened up about working with Ritchie Blackmore in Rainbow back in the day. When asked how it’s different to be a part of the guitarist’s circle, Ronnie said:
“It is a huge difference. That probably was for me the most enjoyable thing working with Ritchie [Blackmore]. Because at the end, yeah you’re on the stage you play songs and you’re in the Rainbow band and all this stuff and that’s great. There were 7 or 8 other singers who did the same thing before, counting Rainbow and Deep Purple. There were a lot of singers working with him.”
Although there were several musicians who had the chance to work with Blackmore, the singer shared why he considered himself lucky. He added:
“But as you mentioned, to be with him, having a beer after dinner and talking about UFO’s or whatever was the topic that night until three in the morning… Sometimes he would play the guitar, and we would sing whatever from The Beatles, Queen, and Deep Purple, Rainbow whatever came in that moment, that was probably the most enjoyable thing.”
Ronnie also pointed out that the character that Blackmore portrayed was his face for people outside of the circle. He shared the guitarist’s tactic to ‘keep people away.’ Romero explained:
“Obviously, the character that people know about Ritchie, that he is a tough guy and a difficult person and all that stuff, is how you see him outside the circle. In my opinion there is a character and that behaviour to keep the people away which is very understandable in the way that there are a lot of people trying to get in the circle.”
Although the singer was happy to be a part of Rainbow, the social media comments did get to him. He told Blabbermouth what his experience was like at the top of the year. Ronnie expressed:
“It was really bad for me. Honestly, you have a guy, a South American guy, who moved to Europe to have a chance in life…Suddenly, you are in the spotlight, and you have a lot of people talking about you in a good way but also in a bad way. I was paying a lot of attention. It gave me a lot of stress and frustration.”
You can watch Ronnie Romero’s interview with The Metal Voice below.
