Music like Rainbow

Rainbow (also known as Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow or Blackmore's Rainbow) are a British rock supergroup, formed in London and Los Angeles in 1975 by guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. They were originally established with half of the members of frontman Ronnie James Dio's previous band Elf, but after their self-titled debut album, Blackmore fired the backing members and continued with Dio. Dio recorded two more studio albums with Rainbow—Rising (1976) and Long Live Rock 'n' Roll (1978)—before he left the band to join Black Sabbath in 1979.

Rainbow's early work primarily featured mystical lyrics with a neoclassical metal style, then went in a more pop-rock oriented direction following Dio's departure from the group. Three British musicians joined in 1979—singer Graham Bonnet, keyboardist Don Airey and then-former Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover—and this line-up gave the band their commercial breakthrough with the single "Since You Been Gone" from their fourth studio album Down to Earth. With Joe Lynn Turner, who replaced Bonnet in 1980, Rainbow recorded three more albums—Difficult to Cure (1981), Straight Between the Eyes (1982) and Bent Out of Shape (1983)—that had commercial success similar to the band's previous albums. After breaking up in 1984, Blackmore reformed Rainbow in 1993 with a new lineup, fronted by a then-unknown Doogie White, which recorded their eighth and last studio album to date Stranger in Us All (1995). Blackmore's change in direction, from rock to Renaissance and medieval-influenced music, led to Rainbow's second dissolution in 1997. He revived the band once again in 2015, and they performed live occasionally within the next few years.