According to the UK’s Daily Mail, guitar legend Ritchie Blackmore says he is owed £750,000 for his part in creating a number of Deep Purple classics and is locked in a legal battle for royalties and legal costs.

In 2003, the surviving stalwarts from the band’s most successful line-up – Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord and Ian Paice – sued the two management companies, HEC Enterprises and Deep Purple (Overseas). They reached a settlement over royalties, but Blackmore was not involved.

Blackmore is now arguing that the agreement they reached should have included him. He says he is entitled to receive one fifth of up to 85 per cent of the income from 14 of the band’s albums, including 1972’s Machine Head which featured “Smoke On The Water”.

And he says that an audit by a specialist accountant covering the years between 2007 and 2013 showed ‘very substantial’ under-accounting by both management companies.

Read more at the Daily Mail.

Ultimate Classic Rock is reporting that Blackmore is considering stepping away from his enduring folk band Blackmore's Night, but only for a few days next year.

“Just for a few days, next June,” Blackmore allows, in a new talk with the French newspaper Le Parisien. “But for now, I’m not decided on the persons I want to work with. I’ve got a good idea about the ideal candidates, but it wouldn’t be fair to say anything now. I will know exactly in one month who I want to have in this band to play Deep Purple and Rainbow songs. We will probably play three or four shows in June; that’s all.”

On September 18th, Blackmore will be releasing the brand new studio album from Blackmore’s Night called All Our Yesterdays. The album will be released on CD and deluxe CD/DVD edition with a LP version coming later this year.

All fans of Ritchie Blackmore Official Site and Candice Night's previous Blackmore's Night albums will surely be more than happy with this latest addition to the band's stellar catalog.