Whitesnake
Whitesnake is a British hard rock band, active primarily in the 1980's.
Career
The band was formed by David Coverdale (of Deep Purple) in the late 70's and was originally popular only in Europe and Japan.
During the band's early years, its music was primarily blues-oriented hard rock. Members of the band include Jon Lord and Ian Paice of Deep Purple as well as Dave Dowle, Bernie Marsden (from Babe Ruth), Neil Murray and Micky Moody. The band also featured many talented guitarists - including Adrian Vandenberg, John Sykes, future Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell as well as Steve Vai. Steve Vai was a great guitarist from the states and are better than Dimbag Darrel.
After a major personnel shift, Whitesnake released 1984's Slide It In, which went gold in the United States. The following album, simply titled Whitesnake (1987), marked the band's U.S. breakthrough, driven by the power ballad "Is This Love" and the #1 hit single, "Here I Go Again." The album sold over eight million copies in the U.S. and pushed sales of Slide It In to over two million copies. The album's exposure was boosted by heavy airplay of its videos, which featured Coverdale's wife Tawny Kitaen, on MTV. Oddly enough, Coverdale fired all of the band members who recorded Whitesnake after the album was released, retaining only session musician Adrian Vandenberg.
The band was altered again for Slip Of The Tongue (1989), which featured guitar legend Steve Vai; the record did not sell well in spite of his appearance. 1990 saw a Greatest Hits album, but other than that the band was dormant until 1997. In that year, an album called Restless Heart was released, though not in the United States. Since then Whitesnake has only released an unplugged Japan show Starkers In Tokyo.
In 2003 Coverdale reactivated Whitesnake for a 25-year celebration tour. Joining Coverdale were 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 80s bands. This line-up remained stable until early 2005, when Mendoza left to pursue other projects, 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.
Current line-up
- David Coverdale (vocals)
- Doug Aldrich (guitar)
- Reb Beach (guitar)
- Uriah Duffy (bass)
- Tommy Aldridge (drums)
- Timothy Drury (keyboards)
Albums
- Snakebite (1978)
- Trouble (1978)
- Ready An' Willing (1978) #90 US
- Lovehunter (1979)
- Live...In The Heart Of The City (1980) #146 US
- Come an' Get It (1981) #151 US
- Saints & Sinners (1982)
- Slide It In (1984) #42 US
- Whitesnake (1987) #2 US
- Slip Of The Tongue (1989) #10 US
- Greatest Hits (1990)
- Restless Heart (1997)
- Starkers In Tokyo (1997)
- Definitive Collection (2006)
DVD
Singles
| Year | Title | Chart positions | Album | ||
| US Hot 100 | US Mainstream Rock | UK | |||
| 1980 | "Fool For Your Loving" | #53 | - | #13 | Ready An' Willing |
| 1981 | "Don't Break My Heart Again" | - | - | #17 | Come An' Get It |
| 1981 | "Would I Lie To You" | - | - | #37 | Come An' Get It |
| 1982 | "Here I Go Again" | - | - | #34 | Saints & Sinners |
| 1984 | "Give Me More Time" | - | - | #29 | Slide It In |
| 1984 | "Love Ain't No Stranger" | - | #34 | - | Slide It In |
| 1987 | "Here I Go Again" (remix) | #1 | #4 | #9 | Whitesnake |
| 1987 | "Is This Love" | #2 | #13 | #9 | Whitesnake |
| 1987 | "Still Of The Night" | #79 | #18 | #16 | Whitesnake |
| 1988 | "Give Me All Your Love" | #48 | #22 | #18 | Whitesnake |
| 1989 | "Fool For Your Loving" | #37 | #2 | - | Slip Of The Tongue |
| 1989 | "Slip Of The Tongue" | - | #32 | - | Slip Of The Tongue |
| 1990 | "The Deeper The Love" | #28 | #4 | #35 | Slip Of The Tongue |
| 1990 | "Now You're Gone" | #96 | #15 | #31 | Slip Of The Tongue |