"Is This Love" is a song by British-American rock band

Whitesnake Whitesnake are an English hard rock band formed in London in 1978. The group was originally put together as the backing band for singer David Coverdale, who had recently left Deep Purple. Though the band quickly developed into their own entit ...

. It was released in 1987 as the second single from their self-titled album. The single was a hit for Whitesnake, reaching number nine in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, and number two on the US ''

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

'' singles chart where it was barred from the top spot by

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the MTV generation and is one of the best-selling musici ...

's smash hit "

Faith Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as "belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". Religious people often ...

", making it their second-biggest US hit after "

Here I Go Again "Here I Go Again" is a song by British rock band Whitesnake. Originally released on their 1982 album, '' Saints & Sinners'', the power ballad was re-recorded for their 1987 self-titled album. The song was re-recorded again the same year in a ...

", which topped the charts. The single was reissued in 1994 to promote '' Whitesnake's Greatest Hits''. This version reached number 25 on the UK Singles Chart. "Is This Love" has been a mainstay in Whitesnake's live shows since 1987. As such, it is featured on several of their live albums, including '' Live: In the Shadow of the Blues'' (2006) and ''

Live at Donington 1990 ''Live at Donington 1990'' is a live album by English hard rock band Whitesnake. It was recorded at Castle Donington on 18 August 1990 during the Monsters of Rock festival, which the band headlined. It was released on 20 May 2011 in Japan, ...

'' (2011). John Sykes played it live in 2004 (''

Bad Boy Live! ''Bad Boy Live!'' is a live album by John Sykes, released in 2004. The album was recorded during a Japanese tour in April 2004. The record features material from Sykes' solo career, as well as his time with Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake and Blue Murder ...

''). In 2015, ''

Classic Rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...

'' magazine ranked it as 7th on their Top 40 greatest

power ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. M. C ...

s list.

Background and writing

The power ballad was written by vocalist

David Coverdale David Coverdale (born 22 September 1951) is an English singer who is best known as the lead vocalist of Whitesnake, a hard rock band he founded in 1978. Before Whitesnake, Coverdale was the lead singer of Deep Purple from 1973 to 1976, after wh ...

and guitarist

John Sykes John James Sykes (born 29 July 1959) is an English guitarist, best known as a member of Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy and Tygers of Pan Tang. He has also fronted the hard rock group Blue Murder and released several solo albums. Following a stint in ...

during the album's early writing process (which took place in the south of France), but it was long rumoured that the song had originally been written for

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer o ...

. Coverdale confirmed these rumours in the booklet of ''Whitesnake''s 20th anniversary edition, by saying.

''Before I'd left or the south of Francea friend at
EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...
had asked me for any ideas that would work for Tina Turner. So that was where the original idea for "Is This Love" came from.''

However, according to Coverdale, when

David Geffen David Lawrence Geffen (born February 21, 1943) is an American business magnate, producer and film studio executive. He co-created Asylum Records in 1971 with Elliot Roberts, Geffen Records in 1980, DGC Records in 1990, and DreamWorks SKG in 199 ...

heard it he was told to keep it and so kept it for Whitesnake.

Music video

A music video was also made, featuring Coverdale's then-girlfriend actress

Tawny Kitaen Julie Ellen "Tawny" Kitaen (August 5, 1961 – May 7, 2021) was an American actress, model, and media personality. She began her career as a television actress, appearing in the television films ''Malibu (film), Malibu'' (1983) and ''California ...

. The music video, which was directed by

Marty Callner Marty Callner (born 1950 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American television director, who has made music videos, comedy specials, concert specials, and television shows, in a career spanning from 1977 to present day. He is the creator of HBO's '' Ha ...

, depicts the band playing the song on a misty stage, intercut with scenes of Coverdale singing, Kitaen dancing and the two of them together. Due to Coverdale firing the other members of the band before the album was released, he is the only Whitesnake member present on both the recording and in the music video; this was the case for all music videos released for songs from the 1987 album (except for "Here I Go Again", Vandenberg performed the guitar solo on the recording and later appeared in the music video as well).

Commercial performance

"Is This Love" reached number 13 on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

''s

Mainstream Rock Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada. Format background Mainstream rock stations represent the middle ground between classic rock and active rock ...

chart. It also peaked at number 38 on the

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

chart in the US; despite this, in the years since, "

", which did not chart on the AC chart at the time of its release, gets more airplay on adult contemporary stations, most notably

iHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast and radio streaming Computing platform, platform owned by iHeartMedia. It was founded in August 2008. , iHeartRadio was functioning as the national umbr ...

-owned stations.

Track listings

All songs were written by David Coverdale and John Sykes, except where noted. UK (EMI) single # "Is This Love" – 4:48 # "Standing in the Shadow" – 3:53 (Coverdale)* # "

Need Your Love So Bad "Need Your Love So Bad", sometimes known as "I Need Your Love So Bad", is a song first recorded by Little Willie John in 1955. Called a "unique amalgam of gospel, blues and rhythm & blues", it was John's second single as well as his second reco ...

" – 3:21 (Little Willie John)* US (Geffen) single # "Is This Love" – 4:48 # "Bad Boys" – 4:09 *The B-sides that appeared on EMI editions of the single were new 1987 re-recordings of earlier tracks by the band, although they were not advertised as such on the packaging. Both re-recorded versions would later feature on the '' 1987 Versions'' EP.

Personnel

– lead vocals *

– guitar, backing vocals * Neil Murray – bass guitar *

Aynsley Dunbar Aynsley Thomas Dunbar (born 10 January 1946) is an English drummer. He has worked with John Mayall, Frank Zappa, Jeff Beck, Journey, Jefferson Starship, Nils Lofgren, Eric Burdon, Shuggie Otis, Ian Hunter, Lou Reed, David Bowie, Mick R ...

– drums *

Don Airey Donald Smith Airey (born 21 June 1948) is an English musician who has been the keyboardist in the rock band Deep Purple since 2002, after the retirement of Jon Lord. He has had a long and productive career, playing with such acts as Gary Moore ...

– keyboards

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

Is This Love 2018 Official Video Remix
at official YouTube channel WhitesnakeTV
Is This Love 2020 HD
at official YouTube channel WhitesnakeTV {{Authority control 1980s ballads 1987 singles Whitesnake songs Songs written by David Coverdale Song recordings produced by Keith Olsen Songs written by John Sykes Song recordings produced by Mike Stone (record producer) Geffen Records singles EMI Records singles Glam metal ballads Music videos directed by Marty Callner British soft rock songs