Ritchie Blackmore revealed in a short clip from his upcoming video on YouTube that he was asked to join the Beatles but declined.
“I did play with George Harrison. He wanted me to join the band called the Beatles,” the guitarist recalled. “I never heard them and I knew they were going nowhere. So I said no. Absolutely not.”
Blackmore has praised the Beatles many times and mentioned how important they are. Ritchie talked to Melbourne Radio in 1976 and before sharing his thoughts on the Beatles, he said he admired Paul McCartney and said, “The Beatles were excellent. Probably the best band ever lived, without a doubt, along with Hendrix and Jethro Tull.”
The rocker also revealed, “I admire Paul McCartney and Ian Anderson. Especially Ian Anderson, his songs are just beyond me.”
In a 2018 interview with Eclipsed magazine, Blackmore explained that the Beatles was the reference for everything. He noted, “When I started making music in the sixties, the beat wave was still in full swing. The Beatles were the measure of all things.”
He added, “Tommy Steele, a British rock’n’roller, was my first youth idol. But then the Beatles got more sophisticated and other bands like Procol Harum knocked me down.”
Blackmore left Deep Purple in 1975 and formed Rainbow. He rejoined Deep Purple in 1984. During that time, George Harrison became friends with keyboardist Jon Lord and drummer Ian Paice, who lived nearby.
In the same year, Blackmore, bassist Roger Glover, and singer Ian Gillan rejoined the band while they were in Australia. Harrison was also there and went to see their concert. The band invited him on stage, and they played Little Richard’s ‘Lucille.’
In 1971, Ritchie listened to John Lennon’s song ‘Gimme Some Truth’ during an interview. He recognized it as a Lennon track and mentioned that he liked it and planned to buy the album. He thought most of the songs were good, especially one about McCartney.