JOE LYNN TURNER Says He Will Reunite With Ex-RAINBOW Bandmate RITCHIE BLACKMORE Later This Year

Joe Lynn Turner claims that his long-awaited reunion with RAINBOW leader Ritchie Blackmore will finally take place this year — even though previous attempts to bring the two back together were unsuccessful.

Joe was the singer of RAINBOW between 1980 and 1984 and he sang on the album "Difficult To Cure", which featured the band's most successful U.K. single, "I Surrender".

During Turner's time with RAINBOW, the band had its first USA chart success and recorded songs that helped define the melodic rock genre.

Speaking after his solo show in London last night, the singer told Classic Rock magazine: "[Ritchie is] itching to do some rocking, and we're going to get together in the fall.

"Ritchie is really, really ready to rock. He still has the chops, too."

He continued: "I'm not sure if it's going to be a RAINBOW reunion, or a bunch of remakes — which I detest, because you can't improve on perfection. But that's what's happening."

As confident as Joe is that Ritchie will finally agree to return to his rock roots, Turner acknowledged that Blackmore, who is known for being moody and unpredictable, could back out at any time.

"It's Ritchie, man," he said. Turner also expressed concern that Blackmore's "wife or mother-in-law" could "get in the way," adding, "She drives me fucking crazy."

According to Turner, previous attempts to put RAINBOW back together fell apart because Blackmore wanted to focus on his band BLACKMORE'S NIGHT, which is fronted by the guitarist's wife, Candice Night.

"We had multi-million dollar deals set up with Live Nation," Joe recalled. "A 60-day tour to start with, HD 3D movie, everything — and then he had to finish [a BLACKMORE'S NIGHT] album."

Despite this, Turner seems convinced that things will turn out differently this time on the RAINBOW reunion front. "It could happen," he said. "It's probable."

After Blackmore's final departure from DEEP PURPLE in 1993, he resurrected RAINBOW before focusing exclusively on BLACKMORE'S NIGHT.

Asked in a 2005 interview if he could ever see himself returning to the hard rock world, either with a RAINBOW lineup, or with a new project, Ritchie said: "I'm enjoying myself so much with this band [BLACKMORE'S NIGHT] that it's hard to see that happening. I might think about doing one or two shows with DEEP PURPLE, but their management couldn't be involved. It wouldn't be for recording — just for the fans for nostalgia. But we do play some rock in this band so it's not like I've abandoned that genre completely. It's just that it's not all we play."