Sail Away: Whitesnake's Fantastic Voyage

Book excerpt: In the first ever full biography of Whitesnake, top music writer Martin Popoff tells the tale of rock legend David Coverdale from his Deep Purple roots to the two distinct incarnations of his ὔber-creation. Whitesnake began life as a UK based blues rock outfit, until the lad from England’s chilly east coast upped sticks to America’s sunny west coast in search of fame, fortune, big videos and even bigger hair. He found them all, and 1987’s self-titled album went platinum eight times in the US alone, before their bright star waned in the face of dowdy grunge. In his 45th book, Martin has interviewed 30 major characters – including Coverdale – to piece together the band’s convoluted history. He traces the hirings and firings, the splits and reunions, the image changes which evolved over time enabling Coverdale and co. to stay ahead of the pack for over five decades. If you’ve rocked out to anthems such as “Here I Go Again”, “Fool For Your Loving”, “Still Of The Night”, or The Heart Of The City”, you’ll want to read about the man and the band that created them.