Whitesnake

Were a hard rock band formed in the North East of England by Lead singer David Coverdale following his exit from Deep Purple. They formed in the 1970s and went onto huge success in the 1980s in the UK and America.

They released an album in 1979 called 'Lovehunter' which broke into the top 30 and a single 'Long way from Home' barely dented the top 60 in the UK singles chart.

It wasn't until the 1980s that success started to arrive, they released the album 'Ready an willing' reaching number 6 in the UK album charts and the lead single 'Fool for your loving' peaked at number 13 in the UK. More importantly the album and single was starting to get success in America and on particular the rock radio stations were starting to plug the band.

They were starting to get noticed on there live shows particularly at Reading in 1980 which got huge feedback and opened for the likes of Jethro Tull and AC/DC. They did release a live album showcasing all there work on 'In the heart of the city' and the album also broke into the top 10 in the UK. 1981 saw the release of the next album 'Come an' get it' and this was there best to date where the UK album charts saw this piece of work reach number 2 and produced two top 40 singles including 'Don't break my heart again' gaining top 20 success.

The following saw a few personnel changes but an album was released called 'Saints and Sinners' and this spawned the classic hit 'Here I go Again', the album reached top 10 status and the new line up found time to headline the Monsters of Rock concert at Donnington Castle that same year.

1984 saw the long awaited release of 'slide it in' reaching number 9 in the UK, it was then at this point the band signed a deal with American record label Geffen and the album was remixed for the American audience and this culminated in huge hit singles 'Slow and Easy' and 'Love ain't no stranger'. The American audiences were warming to Whitesnake and this led to a more musical direction change to please that sector of audience. Coverdale set to work on the new direction and album and the result was in 1987 the release of the self titled album Whitesnake.

This proved to be there most commercial album to date and shot the band into one of the most played bands in the world. The album was a top 10 in the UK and in America it reached number 2. The album also produced some successful singles with the classic power ballad 'Is this Love' top 10 both sides of the pond and a remake of 'Here I go again' top 10 in UK and number 1 in America. Further singles were released 'Still of the night' and 'Crying in the rain' proved huge success. However the success may have come partly to the heavy rotation play of the video promos which featured Tawny Kitaen who Coverdale would later marry.

The album wasn't without it's critics as many felt the band sold out for commercial gain but pleasing everyone is a hard job.

During the 1980s the band suffered various personnel changes but they managed to come together for the 1989 release 'Slip of the Tongue' the album again proved a worthy successor and produced 3 quality singles 'fool for your loving', 'the deeper the love' and now your gone', not as successful as the previous album singles but they were a hard act to follow.

A tour ensued including headlining Monsters of rock festival but by 1990 Coverdale decided the band should stop and a Hiatus for Coverdale was the result for a few years until he went back to work with Jimmy Page. During the 1980s the band released 6 studio albums all going top 10 in the UK and they released 18 singles in the UK with two top 10 hits 'Is this Love' and 'Here I go again' both stalling at number 9 in 1987.