In a recent interview with Barstools And Bandtalk, Ronnie Romero looked back on his time as the frontman for Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, performing with the band at various shows between 2016 and 2019.
He said fans have high expectations that can feel ‘unfair,’ but he understands the challenge. “They wanna hear the songs as close as the original, but at the same time, they don’t want a guy just copying the original singers,” the singer said. “It was always a fine line in between where I can actually do my performance. And it’s a little bit unfair, but I understand the task.”
He then named a song and explained why people might not like his way of singing: “If I go and I sing, for example, ‘Stargazer’ in my pretty own way, the people are not gonna like it because they remember Ronnie James Dio singing that song. But also I cannot copy exactly how Ronnie James Dio did, because the people are gonna say, ‘Oh, this guy’s just copying it.'”
In another chat with Classic Rock Podcast, the singer was asked if he would do another run of shows with Rainbow if Blackmore called him up again and wanted to do it one more time before he retires from the road.
“I don’t think that I wanna do it again,” he replied. “I mean, I really enjoyed it, as I told you, and it probably is the highlight of my professional life and Ritchie gave me the chance to be in the spot and to develop a career and I will be always grateful, but I don’t think that I wanna be there. I don’t think that’s my place anymore — with all due respect, obviously.”
“I think I really wanna face my career from now on in the way that I’m doing now, just putting my name on the front and try to do my own stuff,” Romero added.
Earlier this week, Ronnie Romero released a live version of his song ‘Castaway On The Moon,’ recorded at the Spanish Rock Imperium festival, along with a music video.
He is also preparing for his upcoming European headlining tour. It starts on March 6 in Wolverhampton, U.K., and ends on March 19 in Weert, Netherlands, with support from Absolva.
