Whitesnake

Whitesnake were a British rock band formed in London in 1978. The group originated as the backing band for singer David Coverdale, who had recently left Deep Purple. Though the band quickly developed their own entity, Coverdale was the only constant member throughout their history.Following the Snakebite EP in 1978, Whitesnake released the albums Trouble (1978) and Lovehunter (1979), which included the live staples "Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City" and "Walking in the Shadow of the Blues". Whitesnake achieved commercial access across UK, Europe and Japan, with their subsequent albums Ready an' Willing (1980), Live... in the Heart of the City (1980), Come an' Get It (1981) and Saints & Sinners (1982) all reaching the top ten on the UK Albums Chart. By the mid-1980s, Coverdale decided to focus on the US market where Whitesnake was 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 exposed the band 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 took a break from the music industry. Aside from a few short-lived reunions related to the release of Greatest Hits (1994) and Restless Heart (1997), 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 (2008), Forevermore (2011), The Purple Album (2015), Flesh & Blood (2019) 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 by several media outlets, while their songs and albums have appeared on many "best of" lists by outlets such as VH1 and Rolling Stone.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.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.