Whitesnake

English vocalist David Coverdale founded the hard rock band Whitesnake after his tenure in Deep Purple and the release of two solo albums in 1977. The band's history can generally be split into two eras—the bluesier early period of the late seventies and early eighties, and the melodic hard rock period of the rest of the eighties that resulted in an MTV heyday for Coverdale & Co.

Whitesnake scuffled at the start of the band's career, with their first track not landing on the charts until 1980 when "Fool for Your Loving" reached number 53 on the Billboard Top 100 charts. That song was originally written for B.B. King and came off the studio album Ready An' Willing.http://www.metalstorm.net/bands/discography.php?band_id=604&bandname=Whitesnakehttp://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:wifqxqr5ldfe~T51

The band started to make an impact in 1984 when they signed a major record deal with Geffen Records. Their release Slide It In ended up going double platinum, and featured heavy rotation tracks like Love Ain't No Stranger which peaked at number 34 on the charts in the United States, along with the title track and Slow n' Easy.http://www.metalstorm.net/bands/discography.php?band_id=604&bandname=Whitesnakehttp://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:wifqxqr5ldfe~T51

Their biggest commercial success came in 1987 when they released their signature self titled album which went eight times platinum and hit number two on the album charts in the United States. It featured smash hits like "Is This Love?" which went to number 2 on the charts, and Here I Go Again, which was the band's first and only track to hit number one. Ironically, Here I Go Again wasn't new material, but a re-release off the 1982 album Saints and Sinners.http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:wifqxqr5ldfe~T51http://www.metalstorm.net/bands/discography.php?band_id=604&bandname=Whitesnakehttp://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:wifqxqr5ldfe~T50

After the band released Slip of the Tongue in 1989, Coverdale put the band on hiatus in 1991 in order to release and album and tour with former Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page. That album failed to meet expectations, and the accompanying tour was canceled outside of Japan.

David Coverdale revived Whitesnake in 1997 releasing Restless Heart the same year. Adrian Vandenberg, who was the guitarist, was the only member left behind from the group's original lineup. Shockingly, the album was not even released in the United States. Coverdale and Vandenberg performed an "unplugged" appearance in Japan on the consequent tour, that was recorded and released the next year under the name Starkers in Tokyo.

Nonetheless, in the late 1990s Coverdale once more placed Whitesnake in a state of uncertainty, while he focused on recording his first single in almost 22 years. In September 2000, Coverdale's Into the Light was released that included Earl Slick, who was an artisan guitarist. After that, there were numerous "live" and "greatest hits" albums, and after a long break, the band came back in 2008 with the album Good to Be Bad.http://www.answers.com/topic/whitesnake-1

In February 2010, the band announced that they would not be touring at all in 2010 as they work on other projects, including a new album due out in 2011.http://celebrifi.com/gossip/Whitesnake-not-touring-working-on-2011-album-release-2082660.html On April 20, 2010, a deluxe edition of the band's self titled album was released in the United States.http://hardrockhideout.com/2010/04/20/deluxe-edition-of-whitesnakes-self-titled-album-released-in-u-s-a-today/