Ritchie Blackmore discussing the great Cozy Powell

Ritchie Blackmore and Cozy Powell were massive practical jokers . This is a brilliant story as told by Ritchie in a recollection of an event in France in 1977.

[francispower]

Cozy Powell played a practical joke on me once. It was two weeks after my 16th birthday, on the morning of Sunday 27th February 1977. I was hitch hiking from Wantage, at the foot of the Berkshire Downs in southern England (near the villiage of Harwell where Cozy lived at the time, not that I knew that) to visit with friends near Rowstock Corner, five miles down the rather tricky A417. First up was a Ford Granada. Looked like a sales rep and he wasn’t giving the time off day to anyone. Second was an Austin 1100 with an elderly couple out for a Sunday morning drive after church. They weren’t stopping either (or likely to exceed 40MPH). The third car was something else. It was roso red and had to have been the most beautiful automobile I had ever seen (I later discovered it was a 1977 Ferrari Dino). And it stopped! The driver had long black hair, Aviators, a white silk shirt, black leather trousers/pants and alligator skin boots. “Rowstock Corner” I asked optimistically? “Jump in”. And we were off!

The first thing was how it became apparent very quickly that this guy could drive. I mean really drive. The next thing was we came up behind the Austin 1100 on a stretch that it is impossible to overtake/pass on. Too bad I thought, having been enjoying the ride up to that point. At which point the driver dropped the car into second gear and sort of put this Austin behind us as if by sleight of hand. I didn’t know they invented a car that could do that? It was as if time had stopped for everything outside this exotic leather cocoon. Once I had recovered my sensibilities I became emboldened enough to ask “so are you in the music business”? “Yeah”. “Go on then, who are you”? “I’m Keith Richards”.

Shortly afterwards I told my friends “you won’t believe who just gave me a ride”! At which I told them and they said “correct. We don’t believe you” at which point someone turned on the radio to a news story about how Keith Richards had been arrested for heroine possession in Toronto earlier that day. It took me two years to find out who it really was! So that was it. Cozy Powell yet again giving some random kid the ride of his life (I still remember it 45 years later) but being sure to have a little fun for himself along the way. To be fair he and Kieth Richards did look a bit similar back then…

Rest in peace Cozy. I had a tire blow out on me once, at speed, and should never have lived to tell the tale. Yours was just bad luck. At the age of sixteen I knew you were a drummer and because of your generosity of spirit I had also discovered you could drive at least as well as you played your drums. Since then I have come to understand just how good at playing your drums you really were.

[RonNorman-quqz]

Rest in peace cozy Powell nice to hear Ritchie Blackmore talk about the past

[Dan-zqwt]

Drummers of the rock era were INSANE! 70s rock was the greatest period of music

[stavivanackerson]

Your a very blessed man Mr. Blackmore....

[danielfisch]

Cozy, „over the top“ as usual… My favourite drummer. RIP CP.

[ВсадникАпокалипсиса-яе]

what a brilliant storyteller Ritchie is ! wanna listen all day long those awesome r&r stories

[markbirchette]

Rock In Peace Ronnie, Jimmy and Cozy...🙏🙏🙏

[vlassisnikas]

"Rising", "On Stage", "Long Live Rock 'N' Roll" are pure gold. Cozy was one of the greatest drummers of all time. R.I.P.

[Schiedsrichter]

Cozy was such a great drummer, i saw him twice with the "Brian May Band" in Hamburg/Germany. He died far too young.

[shanecopner]

Cozy was great, that rainbow line up, down to earth, donnington, ritchie, cozy, roger, graham, don, was probably one of the greatest rock line ups of all time, phenomenal

[Katsem]

There are some really good stories out there about Richie's pranks, too. Cozy was an insanely good drummer.

[KevanRCraft]

You should do more of these and longer, Ritchie, great to hear you tell these stories.. Cheers.🎸

[adrianmorris]

Rest in heavenly peace Cozy Powell and so great to hear Ritchie Blackmore talk about his wonderful times together

[alessandrotorrescampos]

Great story. Thanks Ritchie for sharing.

[EuphratTigris]

To me, Cozy’s signature song will always be Stargazer.

[georgeisaaceuropean]

Very nice to hear from the wizard himself ! Please do more stories about lesser known singers, songwriters and musicians.

[thomasalderman]

Cozy Powell was an amazing drummer. He didn't really get the recognition he deserved. His double bass was BadAss. He really could play the hell of the drums.

[livemusicreportscustommusi]

Love these stories... Keep 'em coming'.

[jesse-lldh]

Cozy is a great Rock Star name. It's really a great name in general.

[grobbler]

Read a story, where Cozy climbed in a hotel window, thinking it was a crew member's room and sprayed the sleeping figure on the bed with a fire extinguisher. After escaping the way he'd came in, a short time later the police arrived and were questioning guests. It turned out the sleeping figure was actually a German tourist who had taken a bad turn after being sprayed with the contents of the extinguisher.