Adrian Vandenberg recently recalled in a chat with Alma Hard why he turned down multiple offers to join Whitesnake before finally agreeing.
Vandenberg shared that David Coverdale first approached him in the early ’80s, when his own band was starting to gain recognition. The guitarist rejected him to focus on that until the production of Whitesnake’s self-titled 1987 album.
“It was great. It was exciting. The timing was finally right,” Vandenberg said. “David had been approaching me when the first Vandenberg album came out; he already asked me to join Whitesnake, but I told him, ‘Man I would love to’ — because I’m a big David Coverdale fan, and still am. But the timing wasn’t right, because I just signed the contract with Atlantic, and the first album was about to come out. It wasn’t even out, you know?”
He continued, “So, the second time was when Whitesnake was headlining the Donington Festival. David invited me backstage and said, ‘So, have you changed your mind yet?’ I said, ‘Well, bad timing again’ because I was again in Jimmy Page’s studio to record the second Vandenberg album. I said, ‘Man, I can’t do it because I’m recording the second album.’ And he said, ‘Okay, let’s stay in touch.’”
“So, we did stay in touch. Every year or so, I got a message from him or from his manager. So, at the end of 1986, my manager and I got rid of the Vandenberg contract with Atlantic, because of the situation with a German A&R manager who tried to push me into a Duran Duran direction. And we did so, I got approached by the A&R manager at Geffen, and he was involved Whitesnake, Bon Jovi, Guns N’ Roses…”
Vandenberg’s time with Whitesnake was brief though he had enough time to re-record John Sykes’ guitar solo in ‘Here I Go Again.’
The guitarist already had a worldwide reputation back then, having toured with Michael Schenker, Ozzy Osbourne, and KISS, but his career was put on hold after his departure from Whitesnake.
Vandenberg returned to the music scene with new albums, ‘2020’ and ‘Sin,’ released in August 2023. He and his band will embark on a tour next May in Wakefield.