David Coverdale was born September 22, 1951 in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, North Yorkshire. Coverdale is an English rock singer most famous for working with Deep Purple, Whitesnake and Jimmy Page.
Coverdale w/ Deep Purple 1974 'Mistreated'
In 1973, Coverdale was working in a clothes shop and heard the band Deep Purple was looking for a vocalist, after Ian Gillan's departure. He sent them his demo tape and the band was impressed with his skills. He was then asked to join, but would be required to share vocal duties with bassist / vocalist Glenn Hughes (Trapeze). Coverdale became a rock star with the albums "Burn", "Stormbringer", and "Come Taste the Band". However, in 1976 the band split up.
Whitesnake - "Fool for Your Lovin" - Early Version
After Deep Purple folded, Coverdale formed the band Whitesnake, which would eventually catapult him to
superstar status. During the late seventies and early eighties, the band had many different line-ups
and recorded several albums. Whitesnake was most popular in the UK, Europe, and Asia but were hardly known in the US. In 1982, Coverdale
was considered for the lead vocalist position in Black Sabbath (after Ronnie James Dio left), but declined the opportunity. In
1984, Coverdale recruited Thin Lizzy / Tygers of Pan Tang guitarist John Sykes to bring in a new style of music to the
group. The band recorded the album
"Slide it in" and with help from the songs like, "Slow & Easy" and "Love Ain't No Stranger", the record did
relatively well in the United States, selling over 500,000 copies (Gold Record) intially and eventually went on to go
double platinum (2 million records sold).
Whitesnake - "Slow & Easy" 1984
Soon after, David came down with sinus infection. He would later find out that his throat required surgery in order to fix the problem. The band had already been in the process of recording their next album, which Coverdale is said to have commented that the next album would make or break the band. As a result of Coverdale's surgery, the album had to be put on hold, however, once fully recovered, the band resumed the writing and recording process and eventually completed the record. After the album's completion, David knew that he had something great. His next step was to fire everyone in the band, with the idea of creating a supergroup to do the tour, videos and promotion. He hand-picked musicians who had already achieved some level of success. On drums he added Tommy Aldrige (Pat Travers Band, Ozzy Osbourne, Gary Moore, Thin Lizzy, Black Oak Arkansas), on bass was Rudy Sarzo (Ozzy Osbourne, Quiet Riot, Dio), and instead of one guitarist, he added two, Vivian Campbell (Dio, Def Leppard) and guitar hero Adrian Vandenberg (Vandenberg).
Whitesnake 1987 album was huge. To date, it has sold over eight million copies in the United States alone. With the success of the self-titled album, Geffen released all the previous Whitesnake albums to cash in on the current stream of success.
After the tour, guitarist Vivian Campbell was said to have been fired because of a "bad attitude" and he was replaced by guitar god
Steve Vai (David Lee Roth, Frank Zappa). Although Coverdale had some of the greatest musicians
of the time, it could not make up for the fact that they were not great songwriters. The next album was
entitled, "Slip of the Tongue" and off the previous albums momentum, went
platinum immediately and then sales stalled. After the "Slip of the Tongue" tour, Coverdale dissolved the band indefinitely, claiming he
needed a break from the industry.
Coverdale Page 1993
His career hiatus did not last very long though, in early spring of 1991, legendary guitarist
Jimmy Page and Coverdale teamed up to write an album. In March of 1993, the two released the Coverdale-Page
album, and attempted to follow up with a tour. The tour was eventually cancelled, in the United States, because of
slow ticket sales.
Whitesnake w/ Warren DeMartini 1994
In 1994, Whitesnake was back on the road to support their 'Greatest Hits' album. Although Whitesnake initially had a
more classic rock foundation, once they released the 1987 album, they took on a more "hair band" approach and, in turn, were
lumped in with the rest of the "hair bands" of the eighties. With the emergence of Grunge, all the successful "hair bands" of
the eighties were considered dinosaurs by this point and Whitesnake was part of the mass extinction. Their 'Greatest Hits' album sold poorly
and, as a result, Geffen Records did not renew the band's contract. Once again, Whitesnake was put on the back burner.
In 2002, David reformed Whitesnake with a new line-up featuring Tommy Aldridge on drums, Marco
Mendoza (Blue Murder, Thin Lizzy, Ted Nugent) on bass, Doug Aldrich (Lion, Dio) on guitar, Reb Beach (Winger) on
guitar, and Timothy Drury (Don Henley, Stevie Nicks) on keyboards.
Recently, Whitesnake was touring with metal legends Judas Priest and during a concert at Red Rocks in Colorado, Coverdale's
voice went out and the band had to cancel their remaining tour dates.
David was also married to Tawny Kitaen briefly in the late 80's and very early 90's. Tawny starred in
many of the classic Whitesnake videos. He is now happily married to Cindy Coverdale who authored the
book, "A Food that Rocks". Coverdale has two children, one from a previous marriage in the 70's and one
with his current wife. The couple live with their child in Lake Tahoe.
Discography
Deep Purple
Burn (1974) Gold
Stormbringer (1974) Gold
Come Taste the Band
Whitesnake
Snakebite (1978)
Trouble (1978)
Lovehunter (1979)
Live at Hammersmith (1980)
Ready an' Willing (1980)
Live...In the Heart of the City (1980)
Come an' Get It (1981)
Saints & Sinners (1982)
Slide It In (1984) 2X Platinum
Whitesnake (1987) 8X Platinum
Slip of the Tongue (1989) 1X Platinum
Whitesnake's Greatest Hits (1994) 1X Platinum
Restless Heart (1997)
Starkers in Tokyo (1998)
Best of Whitesnake (2003)
The Early Years (2004)
Silver Anniversary Collection (2003)
Live In the Still of the Night (2006)
Live...In The Shadow Of The Blues (2006)
Good To Be Bad (2008)
30th Anniversary Collection (2008)
Slide It In 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (2009)
Slip Of The Tongue 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (2009)
Coverdale/Page
Coverdale/Page (1993) US Platinum 1X Platinum
Solo
White Snake (1977)
Northwinds (1978)
Into the Light (2000)
