31 Facts About David Coverdale

David Coverdale was born on 22 September 1951 and is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the founder and lead singer of the hard rock band Whitesnake.

David Coverdale was the lead singer of Deep Purple, from 1973 to 1976, after which he released two solo studio albums, White Snake and Northwinds, before forming Whitesnake in 1978.

In 2000, David Coverdale released his third studio album Into the Light.

In 2016, David Coverdale was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a member of Deep Purple.

David Coverdale is known, in particular, for his powerful, blues-tinged voice.

David Coverdale has sold a cumulative 40 million copies, throughout his career.

David Coverdale was initiated into music at his maternal grandmother's place and school, at an early age started learning to play guitar and piano, but drawing was his primary medium of expression.

David Coverdale started his career performing with local bands Vintage 67, The Government, and Fabulosa Brothers.

Rather than disbanding, David Coverdale was instrumental in persuading the band to continue with American guitarist Tommy Bolin.

In March 1976, at the end of the final show of the tour, David Coverdale reportedly walked off in tears and handed in his resignation, to which he was told there was no band left to quit.

David Coverdale released his first solo studio album in February 1977, titled White Snake.

David Coverdale put Whitesnake on hold in early 1982, to make time for the treatment and care of his sick daughter.

Also in 1982, David Coverdale was considered for the vocalist position of Black Sabbath following the departure of Ronnie James Dio, but he declined, due to him wanting to continue with Whitesnake.

In time for the US release of Slide It In, David Coverdale made a calculated attempt at updating Whitesnake's sound and look by recruiting guitarist John Sykes from the remnants of Thin Lizzy.

In 1985, Sykes and David Coverdale started working on new songs for the next album, but David Coverdale soon contracted a serious sinus infection that made recording close to impossible for much of 1986 and which had doctors thinking he might never sing again.

In many period interviews, David Coverdale stated that the next album was a make-or-break album for Whitesnake, and if not successful he would disband Whitesnake altogether.

In 1989, David Coverdale recruited Vandenberg to record a new album, Slip of the Tongue.

In 1990, David Coverdale sang and co-wrote the song "The Last Note of Freedom" for the Tony Scott film Days of Thunder.

On 26 September 1990, after the last show on the Slip of the Tongue tour in Tokyo, David Coverdale disbanded Whitesnake indefinitely.

Tired of the business in general, the rigors of touring and troubled by his separation and later divorce from Tawny Kitaen, David Coverdale wanted to find other values in life and took "private time to reflect" and re-assess his career direction.

At that point David Coverdale had grown uncomfortable with the entity he believed Whitesnake had become, and admitted that he got "caught up in it".

In 1994, David Coverdale assembled a new line-up of Whitesnake to tour in support of the release of Whitesnake's Greatest Hits album.

In 1997 David Coverdale returned and released Restless Heart.

In 2000, David Coverdale released his first solo studio album in 22 years, titled Into The Light, with the songs "Love is Blind" and "Slave", released as singles.

In January 2003, David Coverdale re-reformed Whitesnake for an American tour with the Scorpions in early 2003, with Tommy Aldridge on drums, Marco Mendoza, Doug Aldrich, Reb Beach and keyboardist Timothy Drury.

On 11 August 2009 Whitesnake played a show at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado when David Coverdale suffered a vocal injury.

In May 2015, the band released their 12th The Purple Album, featuring cover versions of the songs that David Coverdale had originally sang on with Deep Purple.

In 2015, Dave Everley of Classic Rock considered that "Whitesnake are one of the great British bands of the past 40 years, and David Coverdale is one of the finest blue-eyed soul singers, full-stop".

In 2016, David Coverdale was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a member of Deep Purple.

David Coverdale married Julia Borkowski from Poland, in 1974 and their daughter was born in 1978.

On 1 March 2007, David Coverdale became a US citizen, in a ceremony in Reno, Nevada, and now holds dual UK citizenship and US.