Established in the aftermath of Blackmore's first departure from Deep Purple, they originally featured four members of the American rock 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.

Rainbow's early work primarily used mystical lyrics with a hard rock/heavy metal style, then went in a more pop-rock oriented direction following Dio's departure from the group.

[1] In 1979, Blackmore and Powell revamped the group, recruiting three new members—singer Graham Bonnet, keyboardist Don Airey and another then-former Deep Purple member, 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.

In 1993, after leaving Deep Purple for a second time, Blackmore reformed Rainbow with a new line-up, fronted by a then-unknown Doogie White, which recorded their eighth and last studio album to date Stranger in Us All (1995).

Over the years Rainbow went through many personnel changes, with each studio album recorded with a different line-up, leaving Blackmore as the band's only constant member.

[5] In 1973, Blackmore steered Deep Purple through a significant personnel change, with Ian Gillan and Roger Glover being replaced by David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes.

During the sessions for the 1974 album Stormbringer, Blackmore found his request to record the Steve Hammond-penned "Black Sheep of the Family" turned down by the band.

[6] On the subsequent tour, Deep Purple were supported by American band Elf, with Blackmore being especially impressed by their singer Ronnie James Dio.

[9] The style was partly inspired by classical music since Blackmore had started playing cello to help him construct interesting chord progressions,[10][11] and Dio's lyrics reflected medieval themes and imagery.

"[16] Following the positive experience of recording with Dio, Blackmore decided to leave Deep Purple, playing his last show with them in Paris in April 1975.

[21] Blackmore would continue to dictate personnel for the remainder of the band's lifetime, with drummer and former bandmate Ricky Munro remarking "he was very difficult to get on with because you never knew when he would turn around and say 'You're sacked'.

"[22] Blackmore recruited bassist Jimmy Bain, keyboard player Tony Carey and drummer Cozy Powell, who had previously worked with Jeff Beck and had some solo success.

The band added Deep Purple's "Mistreated" to their setlist, and song lengths were stretched to include improvisation, as displayed on the live album On Stage, released in the summer of 1977.

[25] Carey recalls rehearsing the material was fairly straightforward, saying "We didn't work anything out, except the structure, the ending ... very free-form, really progressive rock.

[27][28] In August 1976, following a gig at Newcastle City Hall, Blackmore decided to fire Carey, believing his playing style to be too complicated for the band.

Unable to find a suitable replacement on such short notice, Carey was quickly reinstated,[29] but as the world tour progressed on to Japan, he found himself regularly being the recipient of Blackmore's pranks and humour.

On keyboards, after auditioning several high-profile artists, including Vanilla Fudge's Mark Stein, Procol Harum's Matthew Fisher and ex-Curved Air and Roxy Music man Eddie Jobson, Blackmore finally selected Canadian David Stone, from the little-known band Symphonic Slam.

For a bass player, Blackmore initially chose Mark Clarke, formerly of Jon Hiseman's Colosseum and Uriah Heep, but once in the studio for the next album, Long Live Rock 'n' Roll, Blackmore disliked Clarke's fingerstyle method of playing so much that he fired him on the spot[31] and played bass himself on all but three songs: "Gates of Babylon", "Kill the King", and "Sensitive to Light".

After the release of Long Live Rock 'n' Roll and its extensive world tour in 1978, Blackmore decided that he wanted to take the band in a new, more mainstream direction, away from the "sword and sorcery" themes.

[36] The resulting album, Down to Earth, featured the band's first major singles chart successes, "All Night Long" and the Russ Ballard-penned "Since You Been Gone".

A date in San Antonio, Texas on this tour was filmed, and the resulting Live Between the Eyes also received repeated showings on MTV, and was released on home video.

During the early 1980s, Rainbow's management Thames Talent had co-ordinated attempts to reform Deep Purple Mark II.

[40] Many Rainbow songs have been performed live by former members of the band since the group's split in 1984 and then in 1997, particularly former frontmen Ronnie James Dio, Graham Bonnet, Joe Lynn Turner and Doogie White in recent years.

In 2009, Joe Lynn Turner, Bobby Rondinelli, Greg Smith and Tony Carey created the touring tribute band Over the Rainbow with Jürgen Blackmore (Ritchie's son) as the guitarist.

After the first tour, Tony Carey had to leave the band due to health concerns; he was replaced by another former Rainbow member, Paul Morris.

It featured Lords of Black singer Ronnie Romero, Stratovarius keyboardist Jens Johansson, Blackmore's Night drummer David Keith and bassist Bob Nouveau.

Rainbow released another single, "The Storm", in May 2019, which was "a rocked-up remake" of Blackmore's Night's 2001 song with the same title,[48] and the band resumed touring in Europe that summer.

"[51] In October 2023, Romero effectively confirmed his departure from the band by stating that Rainbow was "not his place anymore" while speaking positively of his time in the group.