Ritchie Blackmore is being sued by his record label over allegedly failing to promote his most recent album.
Italian label Frontiers Records claims that the guitar icon failed to carry out contracted duties in relation to the promotion of 2015 Blackmore’s Night album All Our Yesterdays.
According to the New York Post, Frontiers is seeking $150,000 in compensation, claiming in a lawsuit that it paid Blackmore a $220,000 advance and in return expected he make “reasonable best efforts” to support the release.
Lawyers for the label say in paperwork filed at Manhattan Federal Court that Blackmore turned his back on dozens of media appearances, including six German TV interviews and appointments with up to 30 other media outlets.
A lawyer for Blackmore told the paper that the accusations were “ludicrous.”
The former Rainbow and Deep Purple guitarist is making his long-awaited return to rock this year with a handful of show’s lined up under the banner of Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow.