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Ex-WHITESNAKE Guitarist STEVE VAI Pays Tribute To DAVID COVERDALE Following Retirement Announcement: 'You're A Class Act'
The iconic guitarist, who had a brief tenure in WHITESNAKE more than three decades ago, having played on the band's 1989 album "Slip Of The Tongue", took to his social media earlier today (Wednesday, November 19) to write: "I want to take a moment and congratulate Father Snake himself, David Coverdale, on 60 years of delivering pure, royal-grade rock 'n' roll brilliance.
"David has shaken the earth for over half a century with a voice that could level a mountain. With impeccable instincts for song, melody, swagger, and attitude, his music always gave the rest of us something to feel gloriously cool about.
"I was fortunate enough to tour and record ('Slip Of The Tongue') with WHITESNAKE in '89–'90 alongside Adrian Vandenberg, Rudy Sarzo, and Tommy Aldridge. That band was absolutely smokin', and sharing the stage with that kind of power was one of the true highlights of my career. And on every single one of those 119 shows of the 'Slip Of The Tongue' tour, David took the stage and delivered like a boss. Never complained, always a gentleman, always performing like a house on fire. It was a magical time in the music business, and I'm endlessly appreciative for that WHITESNAKE experience.
"On June 23, 2022, I played Hellfest with my band in France. WHITESNAKE went on after us, and David was kind enough to invite me up for the last song of the night, 'Still Of The Night'. I've always loved playing that tune… and to be back on stage with David, unleashing that historic monster of a track with the band, was an honor. Who could have guessed it would be the band's final performance — and that I'd get to play that last song with them? There's something beautifully poetic (and outrageously cool) about that.
"So, Brother David… After my own 50 years of being a professional musician, here's one thing I know for sure: the success is great, the stages are fun, the riffs are loud — but it's the people you meet along the way, and the friendships you forge, that end up meaning the most. And for our friendship, I'm deeply grateful. And friendship aside… your golden pipes remain this guy's all-time favorite rock voice to ever grace the planet.
"You're a class act. You came, you conquered, and you delivered, and we are all grateful."
Back in August 2020, Vai, Coverdale, Vandenberg, Sarzo and Aldridge reunited — virtually — for the first time since they finished WHITESNAKE's "Slip Of The Tongue" world tour for a question-and-answer session prior to a live stream of the band's legendary "Live At Donington" concert.
WHITESNAKE scored the band's third consecutive platinum record with its eighth studio album, "Slip Of The Tongue". Originally released in November 1989, it peaked at No. 10 on the U.K. and U.S. album charts thanks largely to its two Top 40 hits — "Fool For Your Loving" and "The Deeper The Love". The fan favorite turned 30 in 2019 and Rhino celebrated with several new versions, including a colossal seven-disc boxed set.
Following the eight-times-platinum success of its eponymous album in 1987, WHITESNAKE returned two years later with "Slip Of The Tongue". At the time, the band included Coverdale, Sarzo, Aldridge, Vandenberg and Vai. Vandenberg and Coverdale co-wrote all but one song on the album, but Vandenberg couldn't record them in the studio at the time due to a hand injury. To fill the void, Vai joined the band for the album and tour.
"When I had joined WHITESNAKE, the tracks were already recorded and Adrian had laid down guide rhythm tracks," Vai told Guitar World. "What had happened was Adrian developed this situation with his wrist that persisted throughout the tour. I'm not sure what caused it, but he'd have to soak his wrist after every show.
"Adrian's such a great player, but the injury made it so he couldn't really sustain for too long because of the pain. I've stayed pretty close with Adrian over the years and I see him whenever I'm in Holland, and when I spoke to him a couple of years ago, he was still having that wrist problem — but they located the source of it to his neck.
"So Adrian had made these guide tracks and that were basically chords and structures, and I obviously copped a lot of the riffs from those, but I put my spin on them because it was all like one track of guitar. I went in with 20 tracks on some songs; it's a very dense guitar record and I definitely did my best to decorate it. It was a departure for what WHITESNAKE was normally known for in the guitar department."
Asked if he had any reservations about not staying wholly true to WHITESNAKE's old signature sound, Vai said: "You have to find a balance between what's expected of you from the band, what the fans are expecting, what the song requires and is telling you to do — and also being true to your own voice. I had no choice but to express my own voice because that's all I know.
"If I had tried to sound like Yngwie [Malmsteen] when I had joined ALCATRAZZ, it just wouldn't have worked because I'm very satisfied with the way I play, but I also can't play like Yngwie. It was the same thing when I was playing with Dave [David Lee] Roth; I needed to deliver in a rock context — which was very natural to me — but I'm not going to compete with Edward Van Halen.
"There's no way those records would've been accepted if I didn't have some kind of rock integrity, but I knew what the songs needed and I knew what the audience was expecting and there's a side of me that I knew could deliver that. It was the same thing with WHITESNAKE.
"The foundation of WHITESNAKE's sound was rooted in rock blues, and there's a whole culture that emanated from Europe in that traditional solid rock blues guitar playing that had a real authenticity to it.
"Michael Schenker, Uli Jon Roth, Adrian Vandenberg, Ritchie Blackmore, Jimmy Page — that was the sound all WHITESNAKE records had been built upon. But WHITESNAKE had gone through different permutations of guitar sounds throughout the years, and the previous one to me was John Sykes, and he absolutely had his own sound.
"Sykes didn't sound like any other previous WHITESNAKE guitarist, but his thumbprint is an indelible part of the WHITESNAKE record he did. The fatness of that record and the rock integrity it had was all Sykes. So I knew I wasn't going to sound like Sykes and I wasn't going to try to.
"You cheat yourself when you try to do that and play like someone else. And the audience is a lot smarter than you think; they're very intuitive and perceptive and if you try to pull anything over on them — like biting someone else's thing — you'll get beat up for it."
On November 13, the 74-year-old David said in a video message before a remake of WHITESNAKE's 2011 song "Fare Thee Well": "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, brothers and sisters of the 'SNAKE, a special announcement for you.
"The last few years has been very evident to me that it's time really for me to hang up my rock and roll platform shoes and my skin-tight jeans. And as you can see, we've taken care of the lion's wig. But it's time for me to call it a day."
Coverdale expressed his gratitude to his loved ones and fans, who have supported him as the frontman for both WHITESNAKE and DEEP PURPLE, but said it was time for him to enjoy his retirement.
"I love you dearly. I thank everyone who's assisted and supported me on this incredible journey. All the musicians, the crew, the fans, the family. It's amazing."
Coverdale raised a glass as he delivered his parting message, "Fare thee well," referencing WHITESNAKE's song of the same name.
On June 28, 2022, WHITESNAKE scrapped three shows on its spring/summer European tour due to Coverdale's infection of the sinus and trachea. Three days later, the rest of the trek was also called off. At the time, David blamed the decision on "continuing health challenges, doctor's orders, and our concern for everyone's health and safety."
David was not the first member of WHITESNAKE to fall ill during the group's spring/summer 2022 European tour. Guitarist Reb Beach missed several shows on the trek in June 2022 after being "under the weather." On June 25, 2022, WHITESNAKE canceled its show at the Rock Imperium festival in Spain due to the fact that drummer Tommy Aldridge "went down" and "was bad enough at the time to have missed the first show ever in his career," according to Coverdale.
In April 2023, Coverdale told "Rock Of Nations With Dave Kinchen And Shane McEachern" regarding the possibility of WHITESNAKE resuming its farewell tour in 2024: "It's not really a professional decision. It's literally a health decision.
"[In 2022] it took me seven months to get rid of a sinus infection that went so deep into my body… And then we discovered a secondary one, which is why I had to cancel the U.S. tour," he explained. "So all of that appalling antibiotics I had for three months, all the damage it did to my system, was a waste of time because this other infection was canceling it out. So I had to go on to heavier medications and steroids, and at the same time ignoring a torn rotator cuff.
"When I was onstage with Steve Vai at Hellfest [in France in June 2022], which turned out to be the last WHITESNAKE show — hopefully not the last WHITESNAKE show [ever] — underneath my shirt, my shoulder was taped up like I was going into the arena to face another gladiator," Coverdale revealed. "And you couldn't really tell. And thank God I could still fling the mic stand around. But as soon as I got signed off back in January, the infection had gone, I realized that we had to sort out the shoulder, 'cause that had been of secondary importance — minor compared to this, 'Am I ever gonna be able to sing again?' That's a big deal. It's something you wake up and almost take for granted.
"So, I'm getting a lot of approaches [regarding Las] Vegas residencies. I'm not quite sure about that. I feel I owe Japan. I feel I owe the U.S. I feel I owe South America. 'Cause I've been pretty successful for 50 years, and you can't buy that. It's people who've supported you to be in this position. It was a personal choice. I didn't wanna do a video going, 'Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, brothers and sisters of the 'SNAKE, thank you for 50 years. I'm done.' I wanted to be there.
"I wanted to retire in 2020," David added. "I thought the appropriate age for the singer of WHITESNAKE to step down was 69. But, of course, bloody COVID came [and ruined those plans].
"We have three to five years of projects here at my studio. So I'm certainly not finished with music. But my health will dictate whether I can take on [a full tour]. 'Cause it's incredibly physically demanding for me. I don't wanna do a half-assed [tour], standing-there stuff. I love telling my stories and moving and working."
Also in April 2023, Coverdale told Ultimate Classic Rock that the illness that forced him off the road in 2022 was "the worst sinus infection I've ever had in my life. And as a singer, I know them like fucking relatives of mine," Coverdale said. "This was one of the ugliest illnesses I think I've [ever] had. For seven months, I was taking ever-increasingly strong antibiotics and horrifying prednisone steroids."
WHITESNAKE launched its farewell tour on May 10, 2022 at Dublin, Ireland's 3Arena. The band's 14-song set, which was part of a European tour with special guests EUROPE and co-headliners FOREIGNER, marked WHITESNAKE's inaugural performance with the group's two latest two additions, keyboardist, guitarist and backing vocalist Dino Jelusick and bassist Tanya O'Callaghan.
Coverdale had both his knees replaced with titanium in 2017 after suffering from degenerative arthritis. He later explained that he was in so much pain with arthritis in his knees that it hampered his ability to perform live.
Prior to the pandemic, WHITESNAKE had been touring in support of its latest album, "Flesh & Blood", which was released in May 2019 via Frontiers Music Srl.
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A post shared by Steve Vai (@stevevaihimself)
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