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 ...

are a British-American

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

band originally from

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

. Formed in 1978, the group originally consisted of 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 ...

, guitarists

Micky Moody Michael Joseph "Micky" Moody (born 30 August 1950) is an English guitarist, and a former member of the rock bands Juicy Lucy and Whitesnake. He was also a founder-member of Snafu. Together with his former Whitesnake colleague Bernie Marsden h ...

and

Bernie Marsden Bernard John Marsden (born 7 May 1951) is an English rock and blues guitarist. He is primarily known for his work with Whitesnake, having written or co-written with David Coverdale many of the group's hit songs, such as "Fool for Your Loving", ...

, bassist Neil Murray, drummer

Dave Dowle David 'Duck' Dowle (born 20 October 1953 in London, England) is an English drummer who has played with the bands Brian Auger's Oblivion Express, Streetwalkers, Whitesnake, Runner, Midnight Flyer, Bernie Marsden. Biography Dave Dowle started ...

and keyboardist Brian Johnston. The current lineup of the band includes Coverdale, drummer

Tommy Aldridge Tommy Aldridge (born August 15, 1950) is an American heavy metal and hard rock drummer. He is noted for his work with numerous bands and artists since the 1970s, such as Black Oak Arkansas, Pat Travers Band, Ozzy Osbourne, Gary Moore, Whitesnak ...

(from 1987 to 1990, 2003 to 2007, and since 2013), guitarists

Reb Beach Richard Earl "Reb" Beach Jr. (born August 31, 1963) is an American rock guitarist. He is a member of the bands Winger and Whitesnake. Career After graduating from Fox Chapel Area High School and attending Berklee College of Music in the ear ...

and

Joel Hoekstra Joel Hoekstra (born December 13, 1970) is an American guitarist currently in the band Whitesnake. Hoekstra also tours as a guitarist for Trans-Siberian Orchestra. The son of classical musicians, he started out playing cello and piano at a youn ...

(since 2003 and 2014, respectively), keyboardist

Michele Luppi Michele Luppi (born 7 April 1974) is an Italian musician, producer, and vocal coach. Career 1990s In 1994, Luppi joined his first band Mr. Pig. Michele debuted as frontman singer. Became a famous live act in Italy, performing songs from Mr. Big ...

(since 2015), multi-instrumentalist

Dino Jelusick Dino Jelusić (born 4 June 1992), also known by his stage name Dino Jelusick, is a Croatian rock singer, musician, and songwriter. He is the founder, principal songwriter, and lead singer of progressive rock band Animal Drive, which was formed i ...

and bassist Tanya O'Callaghan (both since 2021).

History

1978–1986

Following the release and promotion of his debut solo album '' White Snake'' in 1977, vocalist

formed the band of the same name the following February, with the initial lineup including guitarists and backing vocalists

and

, bassist Neil Murray, drummer Dave "Duck" Dowle and touring keyboardist Brian Johnston. After their first few shows, the group replaced Johnston with

Peter Solley Peter Solley (born 19 October 1948, London) is an English musician and record producer. He has recorded with Eric Clapton, Al Stewart and Whitesnake as well as producing records for Ted Nugent, Oingo Boingo, Motörhead, The Romantics, Jo Jo Z ...

(although he was still credited as a "special guest", rather than a full member) and recorded their debut EP ''

Snakebite A snakebite is an injury caused by the bite of a snake, especially a venomous snake. A common sign of a bite from a venomous snake is the presence of two puncture wounds from the animal's fangs. Sometimes venom injection from the bite may occu ...

''. By August, Solley had also been replaced by

Jon Lord John Douglas Lord (9 June 194116 July 2012) was an English orchestral and rock composer, pianist, and Hammond organ player known for his pioneering work in fusing rock with classical or baroque forms, especially with the British rock band Deep ...

, Coverdale's former bandmate in

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Ori ...

, in time for the recording of their debut album ''

Trouble Trouble may refer to: Film and television * ''Trouble'' (1922 film), an American silent comedy-drama film directed by Albert Austin * ''Trouble'' (1933 film), a British comedy film * ''Trouble'' (1977 film), a Soviet drama film * ''Trouble'' ...

''. Dowle was replaced in July 1979 after the recording of ''

Lovehunter ''Lovehunter'' is the second studio album by British band Whitesnake, released in 1979. It charted at No. 29 on the UK Albums Chart. " Long Way from Home", the leading track on the album reached No. 55 on the UK charts. It was the group's las ...

'' by

Ian Paice Ian Anderson Paice (born 29 June 1948) is an English musician, best known as the drummer and last remaining original member of the rock band Deep Purple. He is often cited as one of the greatest drummers of all-time. He remains the only member ...

, another Deep Purple alumnus. After ''

Ready an' Willing ''Ready an' Willing'' is the third studio album by English hard rock band Whitesnake, released in May 1980. It was the group's first album to feature singer David Coverdale and keyboard player Jon Lord's former Deep Purple colleague Ian Paice o ...

'' and ''

Come an' Get It ''Come an' Get It'' is the fourth studio album by English hard rock band Whitesnake, released in 1981. It was, at the time, Whitesnake's highest-charting release in the UK, hitting No. 2 and being kept off the top spot by Adam and the Ants' ...

'', Whitesnake were placed on hiatus by Coverdale in early 1982, during which time Marsden, Murray and Paice all left the band for other projects. Coverdale reformed the group in October 1982, with Moody and Lord joined by new guitarist

Mel Galley Melville John Galley (8 March 1948 – 1 July 2008) was an English guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known for his work with Whitesnake, Trapeze, Finders Keepers and Phenomena. Galley was born in Cannock, Staffordshire, England. While a ...

, bassist

Colin Hodgkinson Colin Hodgkinson (born 14 October 1945, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England) is a British rock, jazz and blues bassist, who has been active since the 1960s. Career Hodgkinson played in several bands, but was even more prolific as a sessio ...

and drummer

Cozy Powell Cozy Powell (born Colin Trevor Flooks; 29 December 1947 – 5 April 1998) was an English rock drummer who made his name with major rock bands and artists such as The Jeff Beck Group, Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group, Gary Moore, Robert Plant, ...

. After the recording of ''

Slide It In ''Slide It In'' is the sixth studio album by British rock band Whitesnake, released in 1984. It was the first Whitesnake album to be released by Geffen Records in the US, but was remixed for the release. Because of this, two different editions ...

'', Moody and Hodgkinson left in December 1983, with

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 ...

and the returning Neil Murray taking their places. Both new members featured on the US reissue of the album, which featured re-recorded tracks. A few dates into the subsequent tour, Galley broke his arm and was forced to leave the band, who completed the shows as a five-piece. Lord also left in April to rejoin his former bandmates in reforming Deep Purple. Whitesnake subsequently continued performing as a four-piece, adding Richard Bailey as a touring keyboardist throughout the rest of the year. After two

Rock in Rio ''Rock in Rio'' is a recurring music festival originating in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It later branched into other locations such as Lisbon, Madrid and Las Vegas. Nine incarnations of the festival have been held in Rio de Janeiro, in 1985, 1991, ...

performances in January 1985, Powell then left to form

Emerson, Lake & Powell Emerson, Lake & Powell, sometimes abbreviated as ELP, were an English progressive rock band, considered by many as a variant lineup of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, that released one official studio album in 1986. The album's debut single was "Touc ...

. A few months later, the band started recording their self-titled album with new drummer

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 ...

and session keyboardist

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 ...

1987–1997

After it was completed the previous year, ''Whitesnake'' was released in 1987. Shortly before its release, Coverdale put together an all-new lineup which included former Dio guitarist

Vivian Campbell Vivian Patrick Campbell (born 25 August 1962) is a Northern Irish guitarist. He came to prominence in the early 1980s as a member of Dio (band), Dio, and has been a member of Def Leppard since 1992 (replacing Steve Clark after his death). Camp ...

, former Vandenberg guitarist

Adrian Vandenberg Adrian Vandenberg (born 31 January 1954 as Adriaan van den Berg) is a Dutch rock guitarist, best known for his tenure as one of the guitarists in Whitesnake during their successful late 1980s period and the band Vandenberg which he started in ...

, and former

Ozzy Osbourne John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which period he adop ...

bassist and drummer

Rudy Sarzo Rodolfo Maximiliano Sarzo Lavieille Grande Ruiz Payret y Chaumont (born November 18, 1950) is a Cuban American hard rock/ heavy metal bassist. He remains best known for his work with Quiet Riot, Ozzy Osbourne, and Whitesnake, and has also played ...

and

. After the end of the album's touring cycle, Campbell left the band. He was replaced the next April by

Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai (; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, composer, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a transcriptionist for ...

, formerly of

David Lee Roth David Lee Roth (born October 10, 1954) is an American rock singer. Best known for his wild, energetic stage persona, he was the original lead vocalist of the hard rock band Van Halen across three stints, from 1974 to 1985, in 1996 and again fro ...

's solo band. Vai performed all guitars on the group's next album ''

Slip of the Tongue ''Slip of the Tongue'' is the eighth studio album by the British band Whitesnake, released in 1989. The album peaked at number 10 on both the UK Album Chart and US ''Billboard'' 200. Three singles were released from the album: " Fool for Your ...

'', after Vandenberg suffered a wrist injury that prevented him from playing. For the album's touring cycle, Rick Seratte joined on live keyboards. At the end of the tour in September 1990, Coverdale chose to disband Whitesnake. In 1994, Coverdale revived Whitesnake following the breakup of Coverdale•Page, touring between June and October in promotion of ''

Greatest Hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...

''. The band's lineup included returning members Vandenberg and Sarzo, in addition to

Ratt Ratt is an American glam metal band formed in San Diego, California, in the 1970s, that had significant commercial success in the 1980s, with their albums having been certified as gold, platinum, and multi-platinum by the RIAA. The group is bes ...

guitarist

Warren DeMartini Warren Justin DeMartini (born April 10, 1963) is an American musician best known as the lead guitarist for glam metal band Ratt, which achieved international stardom in the 1980s. Early life DeMartini was born on April 10, 1963, in Chicago, ...

, former Coverdale•Page touring drummer

Denny Carmassi Denny Carmassi (born April 30, 1947) is an American drummer most notable for playing with many rock bands. Biography Carmassi was born into a family of drummers; his father, his uncle, and his brother each played the drums. Some of Denny's e ...

, and backup keyboardist

Paul Mirkovich Paul Mirkovich (born March 20, 1963) is an American musician from Los Angeles. He has been the band leader, keyboardist and duet singing partner for Cher for the last 16 years. He has also been the band director for Janet Jackson and Anastacia a ...

. At the end of the run, the group's contract with

Geffen Records Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint. Founded in 1980, Geffen Records has been a part of Interscope Geffen A&M since 1999 and h ...

expired and they disbanded again. A second reformation followed in 1997, when Coverdale, Vandenberg and Carmassi reunited alongside former Coverdale•Page touring members

Guy Pratt Guy Adam Pratt (born 3 January 1962) is a British musician. He is best known for his prolific work as a session bass player, working with artists including Pink Floyd (also David Gilmour and Nick Mason), Roxy Music (also Bryan Ferry), Gary M ...

(bass) and Brett Tuggle (keyboards) for ''

Restless Heart Restless Heart is an American country music band established in 1984. The band's members are Larry Stewart (lead vocals), John Dittrich (drums, vocals), Paul Gregg (bass guitar, vocals), Dave Innis (piano, keyboards, guitar, vocals), and Greg Je ...

''. The album was initially intended to be a Coverdale solo release, however due to pressure from his new label

EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company of the same name in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succ ...

it was branded a Whitesnake album. The tour, which ran from September to December 1997, featured Vandenberg and Carmassi, plus guitarist Steve Farris, bassist Tony Franklin and keyboardist Derek Hilland.

2003 onwards

After a five-year break, it was announced in December 2002 that Whitesnake would reformed for a tour the following year, with drummer

returning alongside new members

Doug Aldrich Doug Aldrich (born February 19, 1964) is an American hard rock guitarist. He founded the band Burning Rain with Keith St. John in 1998 and has played with Whitesnake, Dio, Lion, Hurricane, House of Lords, Bad Moon Rising and Revolution Saints ...

and

on guitars,

Marco Mendoza Marco Mendoza is an American rock musician who has worked in diverse genres. He became a professional rock musician in 1989 and debuted on Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward's solo album '' Along the Way''. He has performed on a number of nota ...

on bass, and

Timothy Drury Timothy Drury (born July 5, 1961) is an American composer, keyboardist, guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and visual artist. His big breakthrough came in 1989 when Don Henley invited him to join The End of the Innocence tour as his pianist, keybo ...

on keyboards. In April 2005, Mendoza left to pursue "other musical avenues", with

Uriah Duffy Uriah Duffy (31 July 1975, Wakefield, Rhode Island, United States) is an American bassist. He is best known as the former bassist of Whitesnake. He is currently the bassist of the California-based progressive rock band Points North. An internation ...

taking his place the following month. In December 2007, it was also announced that Aldridge had departed, with

Chris Frazier Chris Frazier (born September 7, 1967) is an American drummer. He is known in the professional ranks since he started recording and touring with guitarist Steve Vai from 1985 through 2001. Frazier was the touring drummer with classic rock singe ...

having taken his place to record drums for ''

Good to Be Bad ''Good to Be Bad'' is the tenth studio album by Whitesnake released in April 2008. It was the band's first album of new studio material in a decade, since 1997's ''Restless Heart'', not including the four new tracks recorded for the 2006 live a ...

'', the first Whitesnake studio album since 1997. Both Frazier and Duffy had left by June 2010, with

Brian Tichy Brian Tichy (born August 18, 1968) is an American musician, best known as having been the drummer for Whitesnake, Billy Idol, Foreigner (band), Foreigner, Sass Jordan, and Ozzy Osbourne. He was the drummer of Whitesnake from 2010 to 2013. His s ...

and Michael Devin taking their places, respectively. Drury left to pursue a solo career in September, with his place taken on the '' Forevermore'' touring cycle by Brian Ruedy. After two years of touring, Tichy left in January 2013 and was replaced by Aldridge a few weeks later. Aldrich later left in May 2014, citing a desire to start a solo career. Aldrich's place in the band was taken by

Night Ranger Night Ranger is an American hard rock band from San Francisco formed in 1979 that gained popularity during the 1980s with a series of albums and singles. Guitarist Brad Gillis and drummer Kelly Keagy have been the band's only constant members, ...

guitarist

in August 2014. The following year saw the release of '' The Purple Album'', a collection of recordings of tracks from Coverdale's time in

. Shortly after the album's release,

was enlisted as Whitesnake's new keyboardist. ''Flesh & Blood'' followed in 2019. In July 2021, Whitesnake recruited

for their 2022 farewell tour, turning Whitesnake into a

septet A septet is a formation containing exactly seven members. It is commonly associated with musical groups but can be applied to any situation where seven similar or related objects are considered a single unit, such as a seven-line stanza of poetry. ...

for the first time. Later that November, Michael Devin parted ways with the band. He was replaced by Tanya O'Callaghan.

Members

Current members

Former members

Session/touring musicians

Timeline

Lineups

References

External links

Whitesnake official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitesnake members * Lists of members by band