Ritchie Blackmore, the guitarist who wrote Deep Purple’s greatest riffs, has demanded £750,000 in unpaid royalties and costs from two management companies over the music he made with the legendary rock group.

The Mail on Sunday reports that Blackmore has initiated a claim against Deep Purple (Overseas) for £607,797, saying the firm charged too much, failed to report income received and used an incorrect exchange rate. He is also suing HEC Enterprises, set up in 1967 by Deep Purple’s original investors, for £102,318, saying it made incorrect adjustments, failed to report some publishing income and applied charges in excess of agreed limits. In addition, he is claiming £43,4999 for the costs of an audit covering accounting by the two firms between 2007 and 2013.

Blackmore is following in the footsteps of his former bandmates in the “mark II” lineup of Deep Purple by taking legal action over unpaid royalties. In 2003, the other members – Ian Gillan, Jon Lord, Ian Paice and Roger Glover – sued the two companies without Blackmore’s involvement, reaching a settlement. Now Blackmore is arguing their settlement should have involved him, demanding one fifth of up to 85% of the income from 14 albums.

Blackmore was a member of Deep Purple from 1968 to 1975, during which time he became known as one of rock’s most flamboyant guitarists, writing the riffs to classic Purple songs such as Smoke on the Water and Black Night. He was also famed for an uncompromising attitude towards his colleagues, seemingly being willing to dispense with other band members as he pleased. That tendency was magnified in his post-Purple group, Rainbow, who never managed to record consecutive studio albums with the same lineup.

In 1984, he joined a reunited Deep Purple, leaving in 1993. In 1997, he and his wife Candice Night formed the medieval-inspired folk group, Blackmore’s Night, where lineup changes have continued. According to Wikipedia, the group has employed 26 members.

