Whitesnake

Whitesnake

Whitesnake are an English hard rock band, founded in 1977 by David Coverdale (formerly of Deep Purple). They were active primarily in the 1980s, but still tour, albeit with an entirely new line-up (bar Coverdale and Aldridge), to this day.

Some of the most famous musicians who have joined the band for a time were: Jon Lord, Ian Paice, Cozy Powell, Neil Murray, Bernie Marsden, Micky Moody, Rudy Sarzo, John Sykes, Adrian Vandenberg, Vivian Campbell, Tommy Aldridge and Steve Vai.

Throughout its career, the band has been compared by critics to Deep Purple, not only because three past members of the band were once in Deep Purple, but also because of their sound and influences.

History

Pre-history/formation: David Coverdale's backing band (1976-1978)

David Coverdale officially founded Whitesnake in 1978; However the core lineup had been working as his backing band (he called them 'The White Snake Band' on the White Snake album tour, and they retained the title) on tour prior to Whitesnake's official founding. They toured with him in support for both of the solo albums he released between exiting Deep Purple and founding Whitesnake - White Snake (1977) and Northwinds (1978)

First Era (1978-1982)

During the band's early years, its music was primarily blues rock (although, Coverdale himself described Whitesnake's early style as, "progressive R&B") [2]. At this time, the band was made up of Coverdale, Bernie Marsden, Micky Moody and Neil Murray. The drummer and keyboard slot changed a few times.

Their first 7" EP, Snakebite (1978), includes the well known track, "Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City", a re-arrangement of Bobby "Blue" Bland's song, which was the first hit from the band and a classic from their gigs, even today. Subsequent reissues of this EP included four bonus tracks from Coverdale's second solo album Northwinds produced by Roger Glover. All four tracks from the original EP have been included in a 2006 reissue of Trouble. The album had varied success throughout the UK.

In August 1978, some months after the release of the EP, Jon Lord joined the group, and helped to record, Trouble. After Trouble was recorded, Whitesnake toured Europe to promote it. Their first live album, Live at Hammersmith (1979) was the result of this tour. Also in 1979, Ian Paice joined the band, helping to record Ready an' Willing.

As a result, the early recordings of the band were very successful in Europe, with singles "Fool for Your Loving" and "Don't Break My Heart Again" (B/W "Child of Babylon") entering the UK charts. Although popular with European fans, Whitesnake had yet to find commercial success in the US.

During 1982 Coverdale took time off to look after his sick daughter. He decided to break up the band, temporarily.

When David Coverdale returned to music he reformed Whitesnake a slightly changed man, with different musical preferences.. The first major change in the band's line-up occurred right after the recording of 1982's Saints & Sinners album, when most of the band (including lead guitarist, Bernie Marsden, drummer, Ian Paice, and bass player Neil Murray) were fired (or "quit" depending on who you ask). Marsden was replaced by Mel Galley (of Trapeze fame), Murray was replaced with Colin Hodgkinson while Cozy Powell became the new drummer. This line-up recorded and released the original European and Canadian release of the Slide It In album (released January 1984).

Reformation: Transformation to Glam metal (1982-1991)

Shift from blues to rock music

After another major personnel shift (including the firing of Moody and hiring of John Sykes and firing of Hodgkinson and re-hiring of Neil Murray) and a major recording deal with the Geffen Records label, Whitesnake released a partially re-recorded and fully remixed version of Slide It In (guitar parts redone by Sykes and bass parts by Murray) for the U.S. market in 1984 (released April 1984). Coverdale initially hated the new Geffen re-recording of Slide It In, as he had found nothing wrong with the original, famously declaring that it had "lost its British bollocks". Despite his misgivings, however, the album did manage to give Whitesnake some much-needed US exposure, and David soon altered his opinion. Slide It In later went double platinum in the US on the back of 1987. The Slide It In album spawned the American album-oriented rock hits, "Slow an' Easy", "Love Ain't No Stranger" as well as the album's title track – although in Europe the band had a run with other songs, "Guilty of Love" and "Give Me More Time". While touring the first few months in support of the album, Mel Galley was forced to leave in the spring of 1984 due to an accident involving a broken arm, leaving John Sykes solely handling the guitars for the rest of the dates. A few weeks after Galley's departure, the next to leave was Jon Lord, who left to reform Deep Purple MKII. Keyboard duty was then handled by an off-stage keyboardist, Richard Bailey.

From rock to glam

At the end of the tour, after their last gig in Rio, Cozy Powell left to join Emerson, Lake & Powell. Veteran drummer Aynsley Dunbar (of Journey & Jefferson Starship fame) was brought in for the rehearsals and recordings of the 1987 Whitesnake album.

Their next album, Whitesnake (entitled 1987 in Europe and Serpens Albus in Japan) marked the band's first mainstream success in the U.S. Thanks to the guidance of A&R guru John Kalodner, the album sold over eight million copies in the U.S. and also pushed sales of Slide It In from its RIAA certified gold status to over two million copies. The band's style was now quite different from that of their earlier years and was now more similar to glam metal.

The album's biggest hits were the power ballad, "Is This Love" and the #1 hit single, "Here I Go Again" (a re-recording of a song on Saints & Sinners in 1982). Other hit singles from the album were "Still of the Night" and "Give Me All Your Love".

The album's exposure was boosted by heavy airplay of its videos on MTV, which featured actress Tawny Kitaen, whom Coverdale later married. None of the band members who played on the album appeared in these videos, as Coverdale had fired all of the band members (John Sykes, Neil Murray and Aynsley Dunbar) prior to the album's release, except session musician Adrian Vandenberg, who had been hired to complete the album after the others were dismissed. Vandenberg's only work on the album was the solo on "Here I Go Again" though he became a full time member of the band shortly afterwards.

The resulting music videos from Whitesnake featured new band members Rudy Sarzo, Tommy Aldridge, and Vivian Campbell.

The band's line-up changed yet again for the 1989 album Slip of the Tongue, when Vivian Campbell left in late 1988 (he later joined Def Leppard). While preparing for the recording of the album, Adrian Vandenberg suffered a debilitating hand injury related to isometric exercises and was unable to participate in the sessions. With all of the foundation tracks completed, guitarist Steve Vai was called in to record all the guitar parts. The resulting album sold a disappointing three million copies.

Hiatus (1991-2003)

After a period of inactivity, Whitesnake officially went on hiatus in 1991. Coverdale decided to try working with Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page on their Coverdale-Page project in 1992. His voice and style had in the past been compared to Robert Plant (also of Led Zeppelin), which may have inspired this. The album became a #5 platinum record upon release in 1993.

Despite the album's success, the Coverdale-Page tour failed to attract ticket sales outside of Japan. Due to the collapse of Coverdale-Page, Page decided to tour as Page and Plant with Robert Plant, Coverdale revived Whitesnake. The initial success of Page and Plant made Coverdale very conscious of his own lack of success, and just as Page brought back his best known musical partner (Robert Plant), Coverdale brought back the name that brought him to his greatest fame: Whitesnake.

First revival - Greatest Hits tour (1994)

In 1994, "Whitesnake: Greatest Hits" was released. As well as the release of the compilation, a new incarnation of the band went on a short tour in Europe (to help support poor sales), with former Ratt guitarist Warren DeMartini playing lead guitar and Denny Carmassi on drums. Adrian Vandenberg, one of Whitesnake's guitarists during the 1987-1991 period, also returned to the fold. Following this the band returned to hiatus upon losing their recording contract.

Second revival - Starkers in Tokyo and Restless Heart (1997-1998)

In 1997, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Whitesnake's popular self-titled album, Coverdale and Vandenberg released an unplugged-style show recorded in Japan entitled Starkers in Tokyo. This reunion inspired them to then work together on a new album - Restless Heart. This was originally to be a solo album for Coverdale, but record company pressures made him release it under the Whitesnake name (similar to the case of Seventh Star by Black Sabbath, originally a Tony Iommi solo project). However, despite a release in both Japan and Europe, it was never available officially in the United States. The album marked a return to the band's earlier R&B stylings.

25th Anniversary Reformation (2002-present)

In December 2002, Coverdale reunited Whitesnake for a 25 year anniversary tour. By the time of the anniversary in 2003, the band was ready. Joining Coverdale was; Doug Aldrich (guitar), Reb Beach (guitar), Marco Mendoza (bass), Tommy Aldridge (drums), and Timothy Drury (keyboards). That same year, they headlined the "Rock Never Stops Tour", with other popular 1980s rock bands. This line-up remained stable until early 2005, when Mendoza left to pursue the Soul SirkUS project and was replaced by Uriah Duffy.

In February 2006, Whitesnake released a live DVD titled, Live... In The Still of the Night, and announced a Spring/Summer tour taking in Japan and Europe.

In June 2006, it was announced Coverdale had signed Whitesnake to a new record deal, with Steamhammer/SPV records, to release a double live album entitled, Live: In The Shadow Of The Blues, on November 27, 2006 (November 24th in Germany, Switzerland and Austria). It was made up of recordings from tours since the reformation in 2003. It also included four new studio tracks (the first new studio recordings since 1997's Restless Heart): "Ready to Rock", "If You Want Me (I'll Come Running)", "All I Want Is You" and "Dog". These songs have been described by Coverdale as "three balls-to-the-walls rockers and a ballad". [3]

Recent events

In June 2007 the band released a dual CD / DVD titled "1987 20th Anniversary Collector's Edition" to mark the 20th anniversary of the mega-selling album '1987'. The album was remastered along with a host of bonus material like four live tracks from the recent Shadow Of The Blues Live set. It also includes the four promo videos for the album on the DVD.[4]

The band is reportedly working on a new studio album, to be called Good to Be Bad. In popular culture

In the Venture Bros episode Fallen Arches, Dr Venture tries to teach his son Dean Venture about relationships and sex in an awkward montage that ends with Dr Venture making pelvic thrusts in the air and semi-hysterically asking Dean, "And there she was, writhing on top of the car! What was David Coverdale to do?" The scene was a reference to Whitesnake's Here I Go Again video.

They are the favorite band of Family Guy character Lois Griffin.

In Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby Susan imitates how Tawny Kitaen climbs on the table in a Whitesnake video when making out with Ricky Bobby.

They are mentioned in the lyrics of "1985" by the Texan pop-punk band Bowling for Soup.

When Lois Lane's character joined the Smallville ensemble references were made early on to her extensive Whitesnake music collection. In the episode "Crimson" (Season 6) Lois gives Clark a mix CD of Whitesnake power ballads while temporarily under the influence of a "love lipstick" - When she comes out of the love spell Clark gives her back the CD and she remarks that if she had given him a Whitesnake love collection she must have really liked him.