David Coverdale

David Coverdale (born September 22 1951 in Saltburn-By-The-Sea, Cleveland, England), found fame as a singer with UK hard rock stalwarts Deep Purple and Whitesnake. His tenure with Deep Purple lasted from 1973 until March 1976. Moving to Germany, he laid down a vocal track on a multi-artist project organised by Eddie Hardin, released by RCA Records as Wizard's Conventiuon. Unable to perform in England for contractual reasons, Coverdale then recorded vocals for both his solo albums in Germany while the backing tracks were laid down in London. The backing musicians who played on these albums were retained for touring purposes, and effectively became the original line-up of Whitesnake. Coverdale remained with Whitesnake thereafter until their dissolution in 1994 when Geffen Records elected not to renew the contract. At that time Coverdale worked with former Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page on the Coverdale Page project.

Inevitably, another Whitesnake re-formation was around the corner. Whitesnake's 1997 comeback album represented a return to Coverdale's R@B heritage. As he told the press on its release, he had tired of the more cartoonish elements of Whitesnake's image:

"I've had enough of the Tarzan impressions. I wanna sing. Less strain on the old Calvins."

This direction was also pursued on Coverdale's third solo album, Into the light, although there was also the occasional laps into hard rock bluster mode. Now settled in Lake Tahoe Nevada, Coverdale looks set to remain a ficture in rock's middle-aged hierarchy.