Candice Night (born May 8, 1971)[1] is an American singer and musician. She has been the vocalist/lyricist and multi-instrumentalist for the traditional folk rock project Blackmore's Night since its origins in 1997 with her husband, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. She is also the backing vocalist for Rainbow from 1994 to 1997 and 2015–present, again with Blackmore. Her first solo album, Reflections, was released in 2011.
Born in Hauppauge, Long Island, New York, as Candice Lauren Isralow, she took piano lessons for a couple of years.[1][2] She began modeling as "Candice Loren" at 12 years of age.[3] She appeared in everything from commercials to print ads, and promoted products at trade shows until her 20s.[2] Night also had her own radio show on a rock music radio station on Long Island, and attended New York Institute of Technology where she studied communications.[1] She is Jewish.[4]
She was once a Rainbow fan,[5] and met Ritchie Blackmore to ask him for an autograph in 1989.[3] They talked about ghosts, music, travel, history, and philosophy, gradually became friends, and then lived together from 1991.[6] She provided backing vocals on the instrumental track "Difficult to Cure" in 1993's European tour of Deep Purple.[7] She also provided singing backing vocals on "Ariel", "Black Masquerade", "Wolf to the Moon" and "Hall of the Mountain King" for Stranger in Us All, the CD by Rainbow, as well as writing lyrics for the four songs on the aforementioned album. Despite her being inexperienced as a professional lead singer, Blackmore encouraged her to become his musical partner. She then wrote lyrics for most of the songs on the first Blackmore's Night album, Shadow of the Moon where she supplied lead vocals. Those songs were written with her voice in his mind.[8]
Night has also composed some full songs, including "Now and Then" on Under a Violet Moon (1999) and "3 Black Crows" and "Ivory Tower" on Ghost of a Rose (2003). She continues to write all the lyrics for the Blackmore's Night songs and plays nine renaissance and medieval instruments.
Since then, she has been awarded gold albums and other awards for the music of Blackmore's Night, and has charted internationally with the group's music. Their 2008 release, Secret Voyage, entered at No.1 on the new-age Billboard Charts and stayed there for four weeks, and then held on in the top 10 for an additional 14 weeks. She continues to be involved in music, performing both on CDs and in concert, writing lyrics, singing, and playing medieval instruments: shawm, cornamuse, rauschpfeife, pennywhistle, and chanters.
She also appears on interactive video screens throughout the US and Japan in the theme park MagiQuest as both Princess Amora and Princess Candice. These parks now have a cooperation throughout the US. She was also the Faerie Queen for Faerie Magazine for two years, appearing on the cover in spring 2007, and making appearances and performing at the Faerie Festivals throughout the US.
In New York, 2012
After being engaged for nearly fifteen years, Night and Blackmore married in October 2008.[9]
Their daughter, Autumn, was born on May 27, 2010, and was the inspiration for Blackmore's Night's album, Autumn Sky,[10] which was released in September 2010.[11] On February 7, 2012, Night gave birth to their second child, a son named Rory Dartanyan.
She made her first solo album Reflections, which was released in October 2011. All songs were written by Night and consist of mostly soft rock ballads. Her latest solo release is "Starlight, Starbright". Inspired by the birth of her children, this collection of songs are covers of classic favorites as well as new composition meant to bring the listener to the land of dreams.[12]
Blackmore's Night is a British-American neo-medieval folk rock band formed in 1997, consisting mainly of Ritchie Blackmore and Candice Night. Their lineup has seen many changes over the years; Blackmore and Night have been the only two constant members. They have released eleven studio albums. Their early releases were mostly acoustic and imitated early music, but eventually Blackmore's Night started using more electric guitars and other modern instruments, as well as performing folk-rearranged cover versions of pop and rock songs.
Rainbow are a British-American rock band formed in London and Los Angeles in 1975 by guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. Established in the aftermath of Blackmore's first departure from Deep Purple, they originally featured four members of the band Elf, including their singer Ronnie James Dio, but after their self-titled debut album, Blackmore fired these members, except Dio, recruiting drummer Cozy Powell, bassist Jimmy Bain and keyboardist Tony Carey. This line-up recorded the band's second album Rising (1976), while Long Live Rock 'n' Roll (1978) saw Bob Daisley and David Stone replace Bain and Carey, respectively. Long Live Rock 'n' Roll was also the last album with Dio before he left the band to join Black Sabbath in 1979.
Avantasia is a German supergroup metal opera project created by Tobias Sammet, vocalist of the band Edguy. It has been characterized as a rock opera, as it features the contributions of various vocalists and musicians and it consists of concept albums. The name is a blend of the words Avalon and fantasia ('fantasy') and describes "a world beyond human imagination".
The Metal Opera is the first full-length album by Tobias Sammet's German supergroup project, Avantasia. It is a concept album and a metal opera. The album is followed by the sequel The Metal Opera Part II. Both were written over the course of a year, starting in the last quarter of 1998, and both were produced from October 1999 to June 2000, with the works being interrupted for some weeks so Sammet could produce The Savage Poetry with his other band Edguy.
Kai Michael Hansen is a German musician who is the founder, lead guitarist and vocalist of power metal band Gamma Ray. He is also one of the co-founders of another power metal band Helloween, which he was a part of from 1983 to 1989 and rejoined in 2016. He is a prominent figure in power metal and has sold millions of albums worldwide. He is regarded as "the godfather of power metal", having founded two seminal bands in the genre. In 2011, he joined the band Unisonic featuring former Helloween vocalist Michael Kiske. Hansen and Kiske reunited with Helloween in 2017 for a world tour with all current members, celebrating the 30-year anniversary of release of the albums Keeper of the Seven Keys Parts I and II.
Shadow of the Moon is the debut studio album by the folk rock band Blackmore's Night, released June 2, 1997. The album stayed on the German charts for 17 weeks, and received gold certification in Japan for 100,000 albums shipped to stores.
Michael Kiske is a German singer who is the co-lead vocalist for the power metal band Helloween. Kiske has also released four solo albums, two albums with the hard rock band Unisonic, has participated on various metal and rock related projects such as Avantasia, Place Vendome and Kiske/Somerville, and has performed with numerous bands as a guest vocalist.
Tobias Sammet is a German musician, songwriter, and music producer. He is the singer and primary songwriter of the power metal band Edguy, and the founder of the metal opera project Avantasia.
Superheroes is an EP by the German power metal band Edguy, released in 2005. On this EP, the band has moved away from the sound they had developed on their previous album Hellfire Club. The songs on "Superheroes" are much less akin to the band's native style of power metal, but tends towards the direction of hard rock.
Stranger in Us All is the eighth studio album by the British hard rock band Rainbow, released on 21 August 1995 by RCA Records. This was the band's first studio album in twelve years, and originally intended to be a solo album by Blackmore, but due to pressures from BMG, it was billed as Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, which saw him putting together a new line-up featuring himself and four then-unknown musicians: vocalist Doogie White, bassist Greg Smith, keyboardist Paul Morris and drummer John O'Reilly.
Richard Hugh Blackmore is an English guitarist. He was a founding member and the lead guitarist of Deep Purple, playing jam-style hard rock music that mixed guitar riffs and organ sounds. He is prolific in creating guitar riffs and has been known for playing both classically influenced and blues-based solos.
The Metal Opera Pt. II is the second full-length album by Tobias Sammet's German supergroup project, Avantasia. It is a concept album and a metal opera. The songs carry on the story begun in The Metal Opera, with the same characters. Both albums were written over the course of a year, starting in the last quarter of 1998, and both were produced from October 1999 to June 2000, with the works being interrupted for some weeks so Sammet could produce The Savage Poetry with his other band Edguy.
Winter Carols is the sixth studio album by the group Blackmore's Night, released in the United Kingdom on October, 2006, and in the United States on November 7, 2006. It is a Christmas themed album. The cover artwork for this album, painted by Karsten Topelmann, is an adaptation of a street in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany, in line with the band's heavy Renaissance influence. The same street is portrayed in the cover of Blackmore's Night's second studio album, Under a Violet Moon. In the cover of "Winter Carols" the street is painted as winter time, whereas Under a Violet Moon's cover takes place on apparently a summer night. While the selection "Winter " is credited to Ritchie Blackmore as composer, the first phrase comes from Gaspar Sanz's "Espanoleta" though Blackmore quickly goes off on his own from there. The songs no longer under copyright are credited only as "trad.[itional]" even when the authors are known.
Amanda Somerville is an American singer-songwriter and vocal coach who resides in Wolfsburg, Germany. She is known primarily for her work with many European symphonic metal bands.
The Scarecrow is the third full-length album by Tobias Sammet's German metal opera project Avantasia, released on 25 January 2008 through Nuclear Blast Records. It is the first part of "The Wicked Trilogy" and it is followed by The Wicked Symphony and Angel of Babylon. Sammet explained in a 2016 interview that he managed to have Alice Cooper after drummer Eric Singer asked him. Cooper requested to have a listen to the song first and then accepted to be part of it.
Kiske/Somerville is a melodic heavy metal duet project, put together in late 2009 by Frontiers Records. The project features German singer Michael Kiske collaborating with American singer Amanda Somerville.
The Mystery of Time is the sixth full-length album by Tobias Sammet's german metal opera project Avantasia. The album was released on 26 April 2013. This is the first Avantasia release to feature the German Film Orchestra Babelsberg. The cover artwork was painted by Rodney Matthews.
Ghostlights is the seventh full-length album by Tobias Sammet's German metal opera project Avantasia. It was released on 29 January 2016. The opening track and first single "Mystery of a Blood Red Rose" was a candidate for the German representative at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016, along with nine other songs. The Digibook edition of the album included a bonus track and a bonus CD entitled Avantasia Live, which featured songs recorded mainly during Avantasia's 2014 performance at Wacken Open Air Festival.
Moonglow is the eighth full-length album by Tobias Sammet's German metal opera project Avantasia. It was released on 15 February 2019 through Nuclear Blast. As with previous Avantasia projects, the album features extensive collaborations with returning and new guest vocalists. It features 11 tracks and was supported by a world tour.
A Paranormal Evening with the Moonflower Society is the ninth studio album by Tobias Sammet's German metal opera project Avantasia. It was released on 21 October 2022, through Nuclear Blast.
↑ Night, Candice (July 2006). "Between Us – July 2006". Candice Night Official Website. Archived from the original on August 7, 2011. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
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