Whitesnake ( B5 )

 

The self-titled album and success in the US (1985–1988)

Coverdale (left) and John Sykes (right) co-wrote the 1987 album together

Starting in 1985, Coverdale and Sykes began writing the material for a follow-up studio album. The approach was more modern, adding a slick Eighties studio polish to a band that up until Slide It In (1984) had a bluesier sound rooted in the Seventies. Sykes would play the rhythm and lead guitars for almost the entire album. Cozy Powell had left to join Emerson, Lake & Powell. Two musicians from the north of England were brought in for the recording of the album: drummer Aynsley Dunbar, and keyboardist Don Airey from the Ozzy Osbourne band and Rainbow. The album was put on hold for much of 1986, when Coverdale contracted a serious sinus infection that put his singing career in jeopardy. He eventually recovered, and the Whitesnake album was finished in 1987. But shortly before the album's release, Coverdale had dismissed Sykes. Adrian Vandenberg and Vivian Campbell mimed Sykes' guitar parts in the videos and played in subsequent live shows.

The album was titled 1987 in Europe and Serpens Albus in Japan and marked the band's biggest mainstream success in the US. With the guidance of A&R guru John Kalodner, it has sold 8x platinum in the US. The success of Whitesnake (1987) also pushed sales of Slide It In (1984) from its RIAA certified gold status to platinum status, and made the band a bona fide arena headliner for the first time in North America. The album continued to sell throughout 1987 and 1988, peaking at No. 2 in the US, and No. 8 in the UK. The album was their most commercially successful, and in 1988, they were nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Group.

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