10 Musicians Who Have Joined Multiple Bands

In the late 1960's, Ritchie Blackmore had built up quite the impressive pop rock rap sheet in his native England, where he performed with such luminaries as Screaming Lord Sutch and the Tornadoes. However, it wasn't until he started to collaborate with Deep Purple that Blackmore truly started to make hard rock history.

With the help of fellow geniuses like Ian Gillan and Jon Lord, Blackmore made history by bringing a professionalism into hard rock by playing more sophisticated harmonies inspired by Eastern and classical music within the confines of the hard rock song. After years of hard work, Blackmore had finally had enough of Purple after the lineup began to transition to more R&B-centric material. Calling for more hard rock music, Blackmore's first solo outfit became what is now known as Rainbow, whose mythic imagery and elaborate scale structures set the template for modern metal.

In addition to playing with the more Renaissance-inspired Blackmore's Night, Ritchie still finds time for session work as he has collaborated with bands such as the Sweet as well as remakes of his classic material from the Deep Purple glory days. Given Blackmore's unending mix of influences, it's only fair that he spreads his artistic wings evenly across his career.