Whitesnake are a British hard rock supergroup formed in 1978. "Here I Go Again" and "Fool for Your Loving" are among their best known hits.
Whitesnake was the baby of Deep Purple frontman David Coverdale. He originally gathered the members together to support his solo projects, and it was under this arrangement they released White Snake and Northwinds. They took the name Whitesnake for 1978's Snakebite EP, which included "Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City" - a hit which has remained popular with fans.
In 1978 they released Trouble and toured Europe to support it. Another Purple stalwart Jon Lord had joined the band prior to the album and for the next, Ready an' Willing, they were joined by yet another Purple man, Ian Paice. The sterling credentials of the band helped to make the band extremely successful in Europe but their fame failed to spread to the US.
After a short break in 1982, Coverdale returned to Whitesnake with a vengeance, sacking almost the entire band after the recording of the Saints & Sinners album. Slide It In was released in 1984 with an almost completely new line-up - but this album was the one that broke the band in America, going double platinum. The next album Whitesnake (released as 1987 in the UK) consolidated their American success. The sound was much more polished and spawned the hit singles "Is This Love?" and "Here I Go Again". Once again Coverdale culled the band members after the release of the album. He did the same after the next release 1989's Slip of the Tongue but, despite the fact that Steve Vai joined him for this album, the sales were disappointing.
Whitesnake went on hiatus in 1991, before Coverdale released Coverdale/Page (1993) with Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page. It sold 5x platinum, but when the album failed to turn into a terrifically successful tour he returned to Whitesnake.
In 1994 Whitesnake: Greatest Hits was released, and the band were revived to tour in its support, but poor sales resulted in them being dropped by their record label. A second revival happened in 1997, when Restless Heart was released (though not in the US). A further reformation was for the 25th Anniversary of the band, though no new tracks were released until four tracks appeared on Live: In The Shadow of The Blues in 2006.
Good to Be Bad was their most recent release, in April 2008.
