After joining a local outfit Maddogs,  Ad wrote all the songs for the only album by the band by then known as Teaser. This eponymous work recorded for Phonogram’s Vertigo label in 1978 was re-issued in 1997 by Pseudonym in CD only form.

Out of the ashes of Teaser came the band Vandenberg, who released three albums for Atlantic.  The self-titled debut released in 1982 spawned the US hit Burning Heart. Heading For A Storm followed in 1983, with the final release Alibi appearing in 1985. The band’s lifespan was almost cut short in 1983 when David Coverdale invited Ad, who worked under the Anglicised name Adrian Vandenberg,  to join Whitesnake as the replacement for departed guitarist Micky Moody. At that point Vandenberg the band were enjoying considerable commercial success in Europe, Japan and the USA, where they had toured as support to Kiss. This prompted Ad’s decision to continue with his own vehicle.

In 1986 the story was different. David Coverdale’s renewed request to the Dutch guitarist to join him during the recording of the album which came to be know as the multi-million selling Whitesnake 1987 resulted in Adrian’s first recorded work with Whitesnake – the guitar solo for the re-worked Here I Go Again.  Ad then appeared in the promotional videos for the album – although he still hadn’t made a firm decision about joining the band. He was known to be uncomfortable with the idea of being one of two guitarists in the band, but was eventually persuaded.

It was to Adrian that David Coverdale turned for the co-writing of a follow up album. Although the co-writer of all but one of the tracks on the band’s next album, Adrian was unable to play on any of the album tracks due to his well-documented wrist injury – the culmination of physical tension caused by his playing posture over the years (although antagonised by a series of  wrist 'flapping' exercises he had taken to doing). Enter Steve Vai, who was recruited to fulfil all guitar duties on this album. During an interview with a european magazine Metal Hammer to discuss his injury, Adrian made a DC-style prediction about the forthcoming album’s title: “No, we do not have an album title yet. Contrary to what Jodi Summers said, it’s not Slip Of The Tongue. The working title is Liquor and Poker.”

During David Coverdale’s collaboration with Jimmy Page, Adrian put together Manic Eden who released a self-titled, blues rock oriented album in 1994. The band featured former ‘Snakes Rudy Sarzo on bass and Tommy Aldridge on drums. Little Caeser’s Ron Young provided vocals on the album after an earlier incarnation of the band with James Christian, better known for his work with AOR pomp rockers House of Lords, failed to function. Later that year, Vandenberg and Sarzo returned to the Whitesnake fold when initial plans for a one-off concert in Russia became a full scale European tour in support of the Greatest Hits album.

1997 saw the release of the first Whitesnake album during more than ten years of his involvement with the band to feature Adrian’s guitar work on every track. The often forgotten Restless Heart saw a return to a more back-to-basics playing style by Adrian, with the ensuing tour supposedly to be the band’s swan song(DC was to unsuccessfully attempt a solo career).

Adrian also appears on the CD Starkers in Tokyo, capturing the acoustic set performed in front of an invited audience in Japan – to date this is his final official recorded performance under the Whitesnake moniker.

Adrian Vandenberg is now his own boss again, concentrating on his other main passion as an artist.

WHITESNAKE DISCOGRAPHY:
Whitesnake (lead guitar solo on UK version of Here I Go Again), 1987.
Slip Of The Tongue (although unable to play through injury he co-wrote nine of the songs on this album), 1989.
Greatest Hits (Ad only appears in a song-writing capacity), 1994.
Restless Heart, 1997.
Starkers In Tokyo, 1997.

This biography was written by Mandii Parton