Whitesnake
Whitesnake were an English rock band formed in London in 1978. The group were originally put together as the backing band for singer David Coverdale, who had recently left Deep Purple. Though the band quickly developed into their own entity, Coverdale was the only constant member throughout their history.
Following the Snakebite EP in 1978, Whitesnake released the albums Trouble and Lovehunter, which included the live staples "Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City" and "Walking in the Shadow of the Blues". Whitesnake soon began to make a name for themselves across the UK, Europe and Japan, with their subsequent albums Ready an' Willing, Live... in the Heart of the City, Come an' Get It and Saints & Sinners all reaching the top ten on the UK Albums Chart. By the mid-1980s, Coverdale had set his sights on North America, where Whitesnake remained largely unknown. With the backing of American label Geffen Records, Whitesnake released Slide It In in 1984, featuring the singles "Love Ain't No Stranger" and "Slow an' Easy", which furthered the band's exposure through heavy airplay on MTV. In 1987, Whitesnake released their eponymous album, titled 1987 in the UK, their biggest success to date, selling over eight million copies in the United States and spawning the hit singles "Here I Go Again", "Is This Love" and "Still of the Night". Whitesnake also adopted a more contemporary look, akin to the Los Angeles glam metal scene.
After releasing Slip of the Tongue in 1989, Coverdale decided to take a break from the music industry. Aside from a few short-lived reunions related to the release of Greatest Hits and Restless Heart, Whitesnake remained mostly inactive until 2003, when Coverdale put together a new line-up to celebrate the band's 25th anniversary. Since then Whitesnake released four more studio albums Good to Be Bad, Forevermore, The Purple Album, Flesh & Blood and toured extensively around the world. In 2022, the band embarked on a farewell tour that was cut short due to Coverdale and other band members' health issues. He later announced his retirement in 2025, effectively putting an end to Whitesnake.
Whitesnake's early sound has been characterised by critics as blues rock, but by the mid-1980s the band slowly began moving toward a more commercially accessible hard rock style. Topics such as love and sex are common in Whitesnake's lyrics, which make frequent use of sexual innuendos and double entendres. Whitesnake were nominated for several awards during their career, including Best British Group at the 1988 Brit Awards. They have also been featured on lists of the greatest hard rock bands of all time by several media outlets, while their songs and albums have appeared on many "best of" lists by outlets, such as VH1 and Rolling Stone.
History
Formation, ''Snakebite'' and ''Trouble'' (1976–1978)
In March 1976, singer David Coverdale left the English hard rock group Deep Purple; he had joined the band three years prior and recorded three successful albums with them. After leaving Deep Purple, Coverdale released his solo album White Snake in February 1977. His second solo album Northwinds was released in March 1978. Both combined elements of blues, soul and funk, as Coverdale had wanted to distance himself from the hard rock sound synonymous with Deep Purple. Both records featured former Snafu guitarist Micky Moody, whom Coverdale had known since the late 1960s. Moody was the first to join Coverdale's backing band, which he began assembling in London. As stated by Coverdale, "Whitesnake were actually formed to promote Northwinds on a one-off promotional tour". Moody suggested bringing in a second guitarist, with the spot ultimately going to Bernie Marsden, formerly of UFO and Paice Ashton Lord. With his help, the band were able to recruit bassist Neil Murray, who had played with Marsden in Cozy Powell's Hammer. The group's initial line-up was rounded out by drummer Dave "Duck" Dowle and keyboardist Brian Johnston, who had played together in Streetwalkers. Other early candidates for the band were drummers Cozy Powell and Dave Holland as well as guitarist Mel Galley.File:Whitesnake First Tour Poster.jpg|thumb|left|upright|A newspaper advert for Whitesnake's first UK tour, promoting David Coverdale's second solo album Northwinds
The band, dubbed David Coverdale's Whitesnake, played their first show at Lincoln Technical College on 3 March 1978. Their live debut had originally been scheduled for 23 February at the Sky Bird Club in Nottingham, but the show was cancelled. Coverdale had originally wanted the group to be simply called Whitesnake, but was forced to use his own name as it still carried some clout as the former lead singer of Deep Purple. In a 2009 interview with Metro, Coverdale jokingly stated that the name "Whitesnake" was a euphemism for his penis. In fact, it came from the song of the same name found on his first solo album.
After completing a small UK club tour, the band adjourned to a rehearsal place in London's West End to begin writing new songs. They soon caught the attention of EMI International's Robbie Dennis, who wanted to sign the group. According to Bernie Marsden, however, his higher-ups were not ready to commit to a full album. Thus, the band entered London's Central Recorders Studio in April 1978 to record an EP. By this point, original keyboardist Brian Johnston had been replaced by Pete Solley. Martin Birch, who had worked with Coverdale during his time in Deep Purple, was chosen to produce.
The resulting record, Snakebite, was released in June 1978. In Europe, the EP was combined with four tracks from Coverdale's Northwinds to make up a full-length album. Snakebite contained a slowed down cover of Bobby Bland's "Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City", which had originally been used by the band to audition bass players. While it was only included because the group were short on songs, the track would become a popular live staple at Whitesnake concerts, with Coverdale calling it "the national anthem of the Whitesnake choir", referring to the band's audience. When Snakebite reached number 61 on the UK Singles Chart, the band were duly signed to EMI proper.
On 5 July 1978, the band, introduced as simply Whitesnake, performed at the Paris Theatre for BBC Radio 1's In Concert programme alongside The Only Ones. They then entered Central Recorders in London to begin work on their first full-length studio album with Martin Birch once again producing. The recording and mixing only took ten days. Towards the end of the sessions, Pete Solley's keyboard parts were completely replaced by Coverdale's former Deep Purple bandmate Jon Lord, who agreed to join Whitesnake after much coaxing from Coverdale. Colin Towns and Tony Ashton had also been approached, having previously played with fellow Deep Purple offshoots the Ian Gillan Band and Paice Ashton Lord, respectively.
Whitesnake's debut album Trouble was released in October 1978, and it reached number 50 on the UK Albums Chart. In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Eduardo Rivadavia stated: "A few unexpected oddities throw the album off-balance here and there, but all things considered, it is easy to understand why Trouble turned out to be the first step in a long, and very successful career." The release of Trouble was followed by an 18-date UK tour, beginning on 26 October 1978. The final show at the Hammersmith Odeon in London was recorded and released in Japan as Live at Hammersmith. According to Coverdale, this was done to appease Japanese promoters who allegedly refused to book Whitesnake without some kind of a live recording.
''Lovehunter'' and ''Ready an' Willing'' (1979–1980)
Whitesnake embarked on their first continental European tour on 9 February 1979 in Germany. In April, they began recording their second album at Clearwell Castle in Gloucestershire, where Coverdale had previously worked with Deep Purple. Martin Birch returned to produce and the band employed the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio to record. Bernie Marsden later described the resulting record as a "transition album", where the band really began to "blossom" and find their footing. The album included the live staple "Walking in the Shadow of the Blues", which Coverdale felt "really summed up my musical approach of the time".Before the record's release, drummer Dave "Duck" Dowle was replaced by Ian Paice, Coverdale and Lord's former Deep Purple bandmate. There is some contention as to the nature of Dowle's departure; Coverdale has maintained that Dowle's lacking performance on the album and unwillingness to "take constructive criticism" led to his firing. Bernie Marsden, meanwhile, asserted that Dowle left because he didn't like being at Clearwell Castle and away from his family. The idea of Paice re-recording Dowle's drum parts was considered, but ultimately rejected by the band's management due to the supposed cost. Paice's addition also spurred speculation from the British music press about Coverdale mounting a Deep Purple reunion, which he denied. Coverdale later remarked how Paice joining the band felt like "truly the beginning of Whitesnake", where all the members were "performing at absolute best" and "inspiring the best out of each other".
Lovehunter, Whitesnake's second album, was released on 21 September 1979, and it reached number 29 on the UK Albums Chart. Sounds gave the record a positive review, while AllMusic's Eduardo Rivadavia was more mixed, commending many of the songs, but criticizing the band's studio performance as "strangely tame". The album's cover art, depicting a naked woman straddling a giant serpent, caused some controversy when the record was released. Whitesnake had already received criticism from the British music press for their alleged sexist lyrics. The cover art for Lovehunter, done by artist Chris Achilleos, was reportedly commissioned to "just piss off even more". In North America, a sticker was placed on the cover to hide the woman's buttocks, while in Argentina the cover art was modified so that the woman wore a chain-mail bikini. Nevertheless, Whitesnake began a supporting tour for Lovehunter on 11 October 1979 in the UK, followed by dates in Europe.
After completing the supporting tour for Lovehunter, Whitesnake promptly started work on their third album at Ridge Farm Studios with Martin Birch once again producing. The resulting record, Ready an' Willing, was released on 31 May 1980, and it reached number six on the UK Albums Chart. It also became the band's first album to chart in the US, where it reached number 90 on the Billboard 200 chart. Its success was helped by the lead single "Fool for Your Loving", which reached number 13 and number 53 in the UK and the US, respectively. Geoff Barton, writing for Sounds, gave Ready an' Willing a positive review, awarding it four stars out of five. Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic commended the band's growing consistency, but still described the production as "flat". Micky Moody and Bernie Marsden later named Ready an' Willing their favourite Whitesnake album. In the UK, the record was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry for sales of over 100,000 copies.
In support of Ready an' Willing, Whitesnake toured the US for the first time supporting Jethro Tull. Later that year, they supported AC/DC in Europe. With the benefit of a hit single, Whitesnake's audience in the UK began to grow. Thus, the band recorded and released the double live album Live... in the Heart of the City. The record combined new material recorded in June 1980 at the Hammersmith Odeon with the previously released Live at Hammersmith album. Live... in the Heart of the City proved to be an even bigger success than Ready an' Willing, reaching number five in the UK. It would later go platinum with sales of over 300,000 copies. In North America, the album was released as a single record version, excluding the live material from 1978.