HISTORY
WHITESNAKE MARK I
Coverdale (vocals)    Moody (guitar)    Marsden (guitar)    Murray (bass)    Johnston (keyboards)    Dowle (drums)
In January 1978, following two solo records,  former Deep Purple singer David Coverdale decided to form a band around the musicians who had played on his Northwinds album. Taking the name from his debut solo outing the band Whitesnake were born. The line-up consisted of David Coverdale (Vocals, born 22-09-51), Micky Moody (Guitar, born 30-08-50), Bernie Marsden (Guitar, born 07-05-51), Neil Murray (Bass Guitar, born 27-08-50), David 'Duck' Dowle (Drums, born 20-10-53), and Brian Johnston (Keyboards). Billed at venues as David Coverdale's Whitesnake this version of the band lasted just one tour with the ill-fitting Johnston being asked to leave after the show at Plymouth's Castaways Club on March 29th.

WHITESNAKE MARK II
Coverdale (v)    Moody (g)    Marsden (g)    Murray (b)    Solley (k)    Dowle (d)
The end of April 1978 saw the recording of a four track E.P. with veteran keyboard player Pete Solley in the ranks and subsequently more live appearances by the band. The white vinyl E.P. entitled Snakebite was released in early June under the monicker of David Coverdale's Whitesnake. A film was made for the E.P. but, with MTV not even in existence and rock music being somewhat out of vogue in the UK(deja vu?), it was never shown on TV. Indeed, the only way you could get to see it was by going to the cinema where it supported the soft porn movie Bilitus. May and June saw the band recording their debut album but not long after it's completion Pete Solley was replaced by DC's former Deep Purple colleague Jon Lord (Keyboards, born 09-07-41).

WHITESNAKE MARK III
Coverdale (v)    Moody (g)    Marsden (g)    Lord (k)    Murray (b)    Dowle (d)
Despite approaches from Rainbow and Bad Company Jon Lord opted to join Whitesnake having been impressed by the four track E.P. Snakebite. Lord's first job was to overdub Pete Solley's keyboard parts on the forthcoming Trouble album released in October '78. Supported by Magnum, the band performed a headline tour of the UK billed simply as Whitesnake. Despite no radio airplay, and a British music press more concerned with Punk Rock, the shows were a success. The band performed well and some shows were taped (one show at Hammersmith ending up on the Live... In The Heart Of The City album two years later).
The beginning of 1979 saw the band recording overdubs onto  the Hammersmith live tapes. In March, following a disappointing tour in Germany supporting Scottish rockers Nazereth, the band was back in the UK to perform at a concert in aid of the Gunnar Nilsson Cancer Charity. By this time former Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice had started to attend Whitesnake shows. By May thoughts had turned towards a new album but David Dowle was not fitting in very well with the rest of the group. With the album practically recorded the band performed a few poorly attended German shows in June. Dowle performed rather half heartedly as he became increasingly unhappy. The band were none too happy either and discussions began on who should replace him. Narrowed down to Tommy Aldridge (Pat Travers' Band), Cozy Powell (Rainbow), and Ian Paice the band approached Powell but were turned down. Ian Paice became the Whitesnake drummer when David Dowle was asked to leave in July.
The addition of Paice meant the band had an even larger Deep Purple connection. This gave manager John Coletta the perfect opportunity to try and get a Purple reunion and he spent much of his time trying to sell such an event to anyone who had the money. The band played down such rumours but it didn't stop the UK press from making cheap jibes despite the obvious musical differences between the two groups.
In the late summer of 1979 the band played the Reading Rock & Blues Festival headlined by former Genesis vocalist Peter Gabriel and September saw the release of the Lovehunter album. The new album retained the drum parts of David Dowle despite his July exit from the band.

WHITESNAKE MARK IV
Coverdale (v)    Moody (g)    Marsden (g)    Lord (k)    Murray (b)    Paice (d)
Under construction....

WHITESNAKE MARK V
Coverdale (v)    Moody (g)    Galley (g)    Lord (k)    Hodgkinson (b)    Powell (d)
Under construction....

WHITESNAKE MARK VI
Coverdale (v)    Galley (g)    Sykes (g)    Lord (k)    Murray (b)    Powell (d)
Under construction....

WHITESNAKE MARK VII
Coverdale (v)    Sykes (g)    Murray (b)    Powell (d)    Bailey (k)
Under construction....

WHITESNAKE MARK VIII
Coverdale (v)    Sykes (g)    Murray (b)    Dunbar (d)
Under construction....

WHITESNAKE MARK IX
Coverdale (v)    Vandenberg (g)    Campbell (g)    Sarzo (b)    Aldridge (d)
Under construction....

WHITESNAKE MARK X
Coverdale (v)    Vandenberg (g)    Vai (g)    Sarzo (b)    Aldridge (d)

Under construction....

COVERDALE - PAGE
Coverdale  (v)  Page (g)    Tuggle (k)    Pratt (b)    Carmassi (d)
Under construction....

WHITESNAKE MARK XI
Coverdale  (v)  Vandenberg (g)    DeMartini (g)    Sarzo (b)    Mirkovich (k)    Carmassi (d)

Under construction....

WHITESNAKE MARK XII
Coverdale (v)   Vandenberg (g)    Tuggle (k)    Pratt (b)    Carmassi (d)
Under construction....

WHITESNAKE MARK XIII
Coverdale (v)   Vandenberg (g)    Farris (g)    Hilland (k)    Franklin (b)    Carmassi (d)

Under construction....

This page is under construction - pop back in a couple of weeks....
 
 



This article was written by Phillip Hackney.

Copyright © 1999 P Hackney.