Background

David was born on September 22, 1951, in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, North Yorkshire, England, David Coverdale developed a love for music at a young age.

Education

Born into a family of avid music fans, he first found interest in the guitar, soon switching over to vocals. Around 14 years old, he began performing professionally and developing his famous voice.

Career

In 1968, Coverdale was approached by local cover band The Skyliners, to join them as a vocalist. They played all over the area, from cabaret night clubs to local colleges, and opened for big names like Elkie Brooks and The Paper Dolls. Soon changing their name to The Government, the group enjoyed brief success but ultimately decided not to go professional. Soon Coverdale found a new gig with local group, The Fabulosa Brothers.

In 1972, Coverdale got his big break when he saw an ad in British music magazine, Melody Maker, looking for singers for the group Deep Purple. The band, which had been together since 1968, was auditioning for a new vocalist to replace former band member Ian Gillan. Coverdale was familiar with Deep Purple from his days with The Government, and decided to try out for the part. After sending in a tape of The Fabulosa Brothers, he was invited for an audition. The band was impressed with his voice and songwriting abilities, and he was soon welcomed as the new lead vocalist. On December 8, 1973, Coverdale fronted Deep Purple for the first time in Sweden.

Within his first year with the group, Coverdale had toured all over America, with shows at Madison Square Garden, the Nassau Coliseum and, most notably, the famous California Jam festival at the Ontario Motor Speedway. The telecasted show, which included famous groups like the Eagles and Earth, Wind & Fire, attracted more than 250,000 fans, exposing the band to a widespread audience.

In February of 1974, Deep Purple released its eighth studio album, Burn, the first with the new Coverdale line-up. The album proved to be a hit certifying Gold in the United States, and still ranks among the band's best efforts. The tracks, in which new recruits Coverdale and bassist and vocalist Glenn Hughes performed lead vocals, had a new, soulful sound. The closing track, "Mistreated," included a command solo performance from Coverdale. The passionate, bluesy song would remain his personal in-concert trademark, long after his days with Deep Purple.

In December 1974, the group released their next album, Stormbringer, which also ranked Gold in both the United States and United Kingdom. The funk and soul influence of Coverdale was even more prominent in this album. This ultimately led to the exit of guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, whose own personal musical interests varied from their new sound. After his departure, Coverdale persuaded the group to continue with new guitarist Tommy Bolin, with whom they released one more album, Come Taste the Band (1975). The album proved less successful than previous records, leading to the band’s demise the following year. Coverdale stated of his exit, "I was frightened to leave the band. Purple was my life, Purple gave me my break, but all the same, I wanted out."

Discouraged, but ready to move on with his career, Coverdale began work as a solo artist. Despite the era's growing punk movement, he stuck true to his bluesy, rock and roll roots. In February of 1977, he released his first album titled White Snake, with all songs written by both himself and guitarist Micky Moody. In 1978, he released his second solo album, Northwinds, with an even better reception than the previous. Both albums reflected Coverdale's growing confidence in a future career outside of Deep Purple.

Before his second album was even released, Coverdale had begun to form his new band, Whitesnake. Originally a touring band for Coverdale's first solo album, Whitesnake became a full-time rock group consisting of Coverdale, guitarists Bernie Marsden and Mick Moody, drummer David "Duck" Dowle, and keyboardist Brian Johnston. Their first official release, "Snakebite" (1978), proved to be a hit in the United Kingdom. Their debut album, Trouble (1978), was released in the fall of that year, peaking at No. 50 on the U.K. album charts. Next came Lovehunter (1979), which despite turning heads with a rather risqué album cover, made the Top 30 hit list in the U.K. The success of their first few albums helped Whitesnake develop a huge European following.

The band first initiated American interest in 1980 with the hit "Fool for Your Loving," off their third album, Ready an' Willing (1980). The track reached No. 53 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The band soon crossed the Atlantic to serve as an opening act for hit groups AC/DC and Jethro Tull - a big adjustment, as the band was used to having American celebrities open for their shows. Whitesnake continued its success with its next three records, Live in the Heart of the City, Come An' Get It and Saints & Sinners, all of which landed a spot on the British Top 10 hit list.

Whitesnake took a new direction in 1982, with the emergence of several new members, including drummer Cozy Powell and bassist Colin Hodgkinson. In 1985, the band's self-titled album marked the their first mainstream success in the U.S. The album continued to sell throughout 1987 and 1988, and peaked at No. 2 on the U.S. album charts. The albums biggest hits included the ballad "Is This Love" and the No. 1 hit single, "Here I Go Again." After years of success, Coverdale took a break from music in 1997 and folded the band, returning for a reunion tour in 2002. In 2008, the band released Good to Be Bad, its first studio album in more than ten years.

In 2009, Whitesnake toured with Judas Priest on the British Steel 30th Anniversary Tour. On 11 August 2009, Whitesnake was playing a show at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado, when Coverdale suffered some kind of vocal injury. After seeing a specialist, it was announced on 12 August 2009 that Coverdale had been suffering from severe vocal fold edema and a left vocal fold vascular lesion. The remainder of the tour with Judas Priest was cancelled so that this injury would not worsen.

n early February 2010, David Coverdale announced that his voice had seemed to have fully recovered from the trauma that sidelined him and the band on the Priest tour. He stated he had been recording new demos, aiming for a new Whitesnake album, and that on tape his voice was sounding full and strong. The studio album Forevermore was released on 25 March 2011, with Aldrich and Beach on board.

In May 2015 the band released The Purple Album with cover versions of the songs that Coverdale had originally performed with Deep Purple . It was followed by a tour. In 2016 Whitesnake will embark on the "Great Hits" tour in selected cities in North America and Europe.

Achievements

• Coverdale is known in particular for his powerful blues-tinged voice. In 2016, Coverdale was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Deep Purple, giving one of the band's induction speeches.

Works

More photos

• music

  • Burn 1974
  • Stormbringer 1974
  • Come Taste The Band 1975
  • White Snake 1977
  • Northwinds 1978
  • Lovehunter 1979
  • Ready an' Willing 1980
  • Come an' Get It 1981
  • Saints & Sinners 1982
  • Slide It In 1984
  • Whitesnake 1987
  • Slip Of The Tongue 1989
  • Coverdale / Page 1993
  • Restless Heart 1997
  • Into The Light 2000
  • Still Good to Be Bad 2008
  • Forevermore 2011
  • The Purple Album 2015

Religion

Answering a question about whether he believes in God, Coverdale said: "Absolutely. A supreme being. Always have, though I never knew how to articulate it."

I’m on an incredibly exciting spiritual journey, and in the last 15 years it’s been clearer, since I started to meditate. If there’s anything I recommend to people for their kids, it’s to give them the tools to meditate. It’s an astonishing accessory which helps you start the day in a focused, balanced way, particularly in this industry, which is basically a three-ringed circus with all the acts playing at once."

Views

Quotations: "You know, all my songs are relatives, brothers, sisters, cousins."

"What anybody else thinks about you is really of no consequence. It's what you think of yourself. "

"I think we have two very important missions in life. One is to find out who we really are and the other one is to taste as much of life and experience as much of life as we can."

"In the last couple of years I've been facing down a lot of the demons of the past and trying to find out, who I am, It's something I think I'll be doing for the rest of my life."

"I've always loved music, very simply, as a vehicle to express myself and that hasn't changed."

"The audience will make you feel like a demigod. But when you leave the stage, get back to being human."

"I probably listen to Burn more than any of them, because it was so new me, so novel. To see my name on an actual record was such an incredible feeling."

"I don't avoid confrontation, people should know that."

"I stand by every decision I've made throughout my career and my life, good or bad, up or down."

"The critics love to get out their knives and dine on Coverdale. But the worse the criticism gets, the more successful I become."

"Not necessarily, a lot of my songs are firmly tongue in cheek."

"I saw what Purple meant to people and I still hear it now when I'm in Europe. I'm always shocked that I'm still asked about Purple because it was such a long time ago."

"All my vocals were recorded at home, which was great for me. You can actually have a studio in a computer program called ProTools. I did half the record with ProTools."

"Hard rock may have faded from the media for a time, but I've always been able to make a living, if not in America, then in the rest of the world."

"With Whitesnake it would have been inappropriate for me to have played Deep Purple songs, although I did at the beginning because I didn't have enough Whitesnake songs."

"Amateurs in professional situations make me very impatient."

"When I was very, very young, seven years old, I heard there was school where you could go to learn to draw. That was my absolute driven passion, to become an artist or a painter. So the romantic realist in me, I studied to be a graphic design artist and an art teacher."

"When certain bootleg companies started off and they would take maybe ten per cent of whatever they got and help fuel new bands, which I'm cool with, I think that's a good idea. Most of the record companies are not doing that."

"I've never been uncomfortable putting my heart on display, my feelings on display, certainly with an audience."

"Most of the albums that have taken long have been related to illness and fatigue or producer problems."

Personality

Entrepreneurial and progressive, David Coverdale is ever-striving, heading for the top, and enjoying an enterprising, ambitious and determined personality to do things well, and an unyielding dedication to his plan until the goals are achieved.

Connections

Coverdale was married in 1974 to Julia Borkowski from Germany, and their daughter Jessica was born in 1978. Coverdale's second marriage was to former model and actress Tawny Kitaen, from 17 February 1989 until they divorced two years later, in April 1991. Kitaen was known for her provocative appearances in Whitesnake's music videos for "Here I Go Again", "Is This Love" and "Still of the Night." Since 1997, he has lived with his third wife, Cindy, an author (The Food That Rocks); they have one son named Jasper.

Wife:

Julia Borkowski

Wife:

Tawny Kitaen

Wife:

Cindy Coverdale

Daughter:

Jessica Coverdale

Son:

Jasper Coverdale

Friend:

Jimmy Page

References

• Sail Away: Whitesnake's Fantastic Voyage
• Guitar World - May 1993: Jimmy Page, David Coverdale, Van Halen, Jeff Beck, and More!
• David Coverdale & Whitesnake Le Roman d'un ex-Purple (French Edition) eBook: Christophe Moussé: Books