Former Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore recently opened up about a memorable incident when Christopher Cross stepped in to replace him during a show. He shared details about what led to his absence in an interview with Ultimate Classic Rock.
Blackmore explained the circumstances that forced him to miss the performance. He described his physical and emotional state at the time.
“I must have had a virus or something, because I had a canker sore in my mouth under my tongue. So I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t speak. I was miserable about that and I wasn’t happy about being on tour in America,” Blackmore said. “I loved Europe, [but] America, it was so far apart in the places we played in. I had no idea where I was. I wasn’t in my comfort zone and I kind of missed England.”
The guitarist then described the moment when his condition worsened during the tour.
“I remember being very miserable and I was walking down the corridor with Jon Lord to go to the show and then I felt very dizzy,” he continued. “I grabbed hold of Jon, and he kept me walking. Then I fell down and they took me to the hospital. They didn’t know what it was. I think it was just pure misery. And they kept giving me shots in the hospital.”
Blackmore also shared an interesting detail about his hospital stay. He noted a coincidental celebrity encounter.
“The doctors would say, Where’s the pain? What do you feel? I go, I just don’t know. I’m just so miserable. It was interesting, they said the week before, apparently they’d had Keith Richards in for a similar kind of experience, which I kind of wondered about,” he said.
The guitarist concluded by explaining how the band managed to continue the show without him.
“I just stayed in the hotel being miserable and [Deep Purple] went on and did the show with, I think his name is Christopher Cross or something. [It] was some other guitarist and luckily, they played, because it’s a terrible feeling when you’re sick on the road and you let everybody down,” he said. “You’re letting the audience down, the crew down and the band down. Nobody wants to be sick on the road. But it does happen a lot.”
The incident Blackmore recalled dates back to Deep Purple’s early-1980s touring cycle, a period when the band was navigating lineup changes and the physical toll of constant international travel. While Christopher Cross is best known for his soft rock hits like “Ride Like the Wind,” he is also an accomplished guitarist, which made him a capable last-minute stand-in under difficult circumstances.
Health issues, exhaustion, and disorientation from relentless touring schedules have affected countless artists over the years, often forcing bands to improvise in real time. Blackmore’s story offers a candid reminder of the human side of rock stardom—where even legendary performers can be sidelined, and where the show must go on with whoever is able to step in.
