November 1, 2024
RITCHIE BLACKMORE
Ritchie Blackmore spoke with Jungleroom.com this afternoon sharing details and some very kind words about recruiting Jimi Jamison to sing for Deep Purple in 1989:
"I had seen Jimi in Survivor and was very impressed. I remember going down to Tennessee to meet him and I really liked him as a person. He then came up to try out with Deep Purple.
We did 1 song, I think it was "Going Down" and he was so good I immediately stopped playing and just said "Youre in!" He said "Dont you want to do more songs?" I said "No, You are so damn good, I know that you are perfect for the job." We went out and celebrated at a restaurant. I was full of ideas due to his melodic soulful voice and he could improvise much better than a lot of singers I knew so he had every aspect I was looking for in a singer. Very, very nice guy. Very humble.
Unfortunately, 2 weeks later, we were told he couldn't join the band. We never found out why. I think it had something to do with the management. I was surprised and saddened by what happened and it was a mystery to me what had gone down. It was a bad moment for me. I rated him as one of the top singers in the country."
—Ritchie Blackmore