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 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 en ...

during their successful late 1980s period and the band Vandenberg which he started in 1981. In 2013, Adrian formed a new band, Vandenberg's MoonKings, and recorded a new studio album which was released in early 2014.

Early years

Born in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

in the Netherlands, Adrian van den Berg was originally the lead guitarist for the Dutch band Teaser, a band that released a self-titled album in 1978. This band should not be confused with the American band Teaser, which featured American guitarist

Jake E. Lee Jake E. Lee (born Jakey Lou Williams, February 15, 1957) is an American musician best known as lead guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne between 1982 and 1987 and later as a member of the band Badlands with Ray Gillen. He formed the band Red Dragon Car ...

. He then started his own band, simply named Vandenberg, who released three albums in the 1980s, '' Vandenberg'', '' Heading for a Storm'' and ''

Alibi An alibi (from the Latin, '' alibī'', meaning "somewhere else") is a statement by a person, who is a possible perpetrator of a crime, of where they were at the time a particular offence was committed, which is somewhere other than where the crim ...

''. They are arguably best known for the ballad "Burning Heart," a song that features complementing guitar layers and harmonies, and "Friday Night", from the '' Heading for a Storm'' album. They toured extensively, including a support slot to the

Michael Schenker Group The Michael Schenker Group (often abbreviated as MSG) are a guitar-oriented hard rock band, formed in London in 1979 by former Scorpions and UFO guitarist Michael Schenker. In 1986, Schenker and vocalist Robin McAuley formed the McAuley Sche ...

in the UK in late 1982, and Kiss in 1983.

Career

Whitesnake

Adrian van den Berg was originally approached to join

in the early 1980s, having impressed David Coverdale with not only his guitar skills, but also with his songwriting talent and his ability as a band leader. He initially declined, due to the success of his own band Vandenberg and their Top 40 hit, "Burning Heart." By 1986, however, with pressure from the record company to become more and more commercial and their success hitting a plateau, he relented and finally disbanded Vandenberg, agreeing to join Coverdale in Whitesnake. Initially he was hired as a session musician, helping to complete their eponymous album ''

'' (known as ''1987'' in Europe) after a mass-firing of the original band members by Coverdale. He contributed the solo to their No. 1 hit "

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 ...

," but 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 ...

played all of the other lead and rhythm guitar on the album. After an extremely successful world tour and extensive airplay for their 3 videos on MTV, van den Berg co-wrote all of the music to the follow-up 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 ...

''. Injury prevented him from recording for the album, so Coverdale enlisted

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 f ...

to record both lead and rhythm guitar. Van den Berg was sufficiently healed to play with the band, in a dual-guitar role alongside Vai, for the tour supporting the album. After Whitesnake was disbanded in 1990, he returned as part of other Whitesnake incarnations such as the 1994 '' Whitesnake's Greatest Hits'' reunion/tour. He once again co-wrote the songs for the 1997 album ''

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 J ...

'' with Coverdale. This time, he played all of the guitars on this stripped-down, bluesy album, turning away from his well-known rock/metal neo-classical chops and towards his original main influence, Jimi Hendrix. He also collaborated with Coverdale on the Whitesnake unplugged acoustic album, '' Starkers in Tokyo''. After Whitesnake, he played in the band Manic Eden, which also featured former Little Caesar singer Ron Young, and Adrian's former Whitesnake bandmates bassist

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 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, Whitesna ...

. The band split up when Adrian took part in Whitesnake's 1994 Greatest Hits reunion/tour. He has since returned to painting and is an accomplished airbrush artist, having created the cover art for both the ''Heading for a Storm'' and ''Alibi'' albums. When Whitesnake played in van den Berg's home country, the Netherlands, he made a "surprise guest appearance," doing so at the June 2008

Arrow Rock Festival Arrow Rock Festival was a rock festival that took place on a yearly basis since 2003 in the Netherlands. This festival presented mostly classic rock bands. The original location for the festival was Lichtenvoorde; until 2007 when the venue changed ...

in Nijmegen, where he joined the current line-up for a performance of "Here I Go Again". He also played with them on the Sweden Rock Festival in 2011 along with

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 Lovin ...

2011–2013

As of 2011, Adrian van den Berg has written and recorded a song called "A Number One" for Dutch football team FC Twente from his hometown in Enschede. Controversy would soon ensue, resulting from the fact that he released the single under the moniker "Vandenberg". Other (former) members of his eponymous band in the 1980s did not approve of Adrian using the name "Vandenberg" without his first name, which resulted in a lawsuit. In court, Adrian won, with the final decision declaring that he has all the rights to use the name "Vandenberg."Adrian Vandenberg has the rights to use the bandname Vandenberg
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MoonKings

Vandenberg formed Vandenberg's MoonKings in late 2013. The band consists of Vandenberg (guitar), Jan Hoving (vocals), Mart Nijen-Es (drums) and Sem Christoffel (bass). On 21 February 2014 Vandenberg's MoonKings released their debut album ''MoonKings'' on Mascot Records.

Discography

;Guest appearances * 1990 –

– ''

Passion and Warfare ''Passion and Warfare'' is the second studio album by guitarist Steve Vai, released on May 22, 1990 through Relativity and Epic Records. It has been certified Gold by the RIAA. Background ''Passion and Warfare'' was written based on a series ...

'' (backing vocals) * 2022 –

Star One Star One was an Indian pay television network based in Mumbai. It was launched on 1 November 2004 and was it owned by Star TV and distributed worldwide by Fox International Channels. In November 2006, Star One was launched in the UK on Sky. ...

- '' Revel in Time'' (guitar solo on "Revel in Time")

References

External link

Vandenberg Art

Vandenberg's Moonkings
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vandenberg, Adrian 1954 births Album-cover and concert-poster artists Living people Dutch guitarists Dutch rock guitarists Dutch heavy metal guitarists Dutch male guitarists Whitesnake members People from Enschede Lead guitarists