Songfacts®:

• "Black Masquerade," Track 7 on the 1995 Stranger In Us All album, might be said to be the song that launched the musical career of Candice Night. Although she had studied piano as a girl, in 1995 the youthful Candice was known only as the girlfriend of the much older, three-times-married-and-divorced Ritchie Blackmore, but it soon became clear that she was a lot more than either a prospective future Mrs. Blackmore or an occasional backing singer.
  
  In an extensive interview with the legendary guitarist on August 14, 2014, with Candice at his side, Mr. and now Mrs. Blackmore explained how "Black Masquerade" came about. Writing and recording the album on the East Coast, Ritchie was not pleased with the lyrical content, and contemplated flying in a lyricist from the UK, at great expense. First though he asked Candice to listen to a backing track and see what she could come up with. It took her an hour and 15 minutes - a ferry ride - for her to come up with 14 verses "from a guy's perspective."
  
  Producer Pat Regan picked out the verses he wanted, and the song was recorded. "Black Masquerade" runs to four minutes 16 seconds on the album, and is credited to Ritchie, Candice, and then vocalist Doogie White.
• Ronnie James Dio was the first vocalist with Rainbow. In the band's biography Rainbow Rising he is quoted thus on Ritchie's then fledgling project Blackmore's Night: "It's so idiotic for this man who has set himself up as being this god of hard rock. If you want my opinion, he's being led around by the nose by his missus. It's all about getting her a career."
  
  Dio died in 2010, which means he lived long enough to eat his words.
• This a line in this song, "The full moon unmasks the stranger in us all," provided the title for the album. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Alexander Baron - London, England, for above 3