Bernie Marsden

Blues rock guitarist Bernie Marsden supplied the fiery guitar lines that propelled Whitesnake’s early rise, appearing on the band’s first eight studio and live albums while co-authoring several of its signature numbers. As a teenager he took up the instrument after hearing the classic blues of Howling Wolf and Sonny Boy Williamson, later absorbing the styles of 1960s white blues players such as Peter Green, Eric Clapton, and Jeff Beck. In the early 1970s he briefly belonged to Juicy Lucy and UFO, departing both before either outfit completed a full-length record; he also played in Hammer, the short-lived project assembled by drummer Cozy Powell. By the middle of the decade Marsden had joined British prog rockers Babe Ruth, contributing to the 1975 album Stealin' Home and its 1976 follow-up Kid's Stuff before that group dissolved. He reportedly declined an invitation to work with Paul McCartney and instead accepted an offer from former Deep Purple singer David Coverdale to join Whitesnake.

In its formative years the band favored a blues-rooted hard-rock approach rather than the pop-metal direction that later brought greater commercial triumph; Marsden performed on Snakebite and Trouble (both 1978), Love Hunter and Live at Hammersmith (both 1979), Ready an' Willing (1980), Live in the Heart of the City (1981), Come an' Get It (1982), and Saints and Sinners (1983). Although Whitesnake enjoyed strong European success, Coverdale sought a broader mainstream style aimed at the American market, prompting Marsden’s departure shortly afterward. Two Marsden-Coverdale songs, “Here I Go Again” and “Fool for Your Loving,” were later revived and re-recorded by Whitesnake in the late 1980s, each becoming major international hits.

During his Whitesnake period Marsden still found time to release solo albums And About Time, Too! (1979) and Look at Me Now (1981). Rather than launch a full-time solo career after leaving the group, he formed Alaska, which issued Heart of the Storm (1984) and The Pack (1985) before disbanding. After a period of relative inactivity through the rest of the 1980s, Marsden re-emerged in the 1990s, appearing on recordings by Forcefield and Walter Trout and forming the Moody Marsden Band with former Whitesnake guitarist Mick Moody. The duo concentrated on classic Whitesnake material in concert and released Never Turn Our Back on Blues (1992), Live in Hell: Unplugged (1994), Real Faith, The Night the Guitars Came to Play (both issued around 2000), and Ozone Friendly, a slightly altered reissue of Real Faith. In the early 2000s bassist Neil Murray, another ex-Whitesnake member, joined the pair to create Company of Snakes, whose first two albums were the live set Here They Go Again: Live (2001) and Burst the Bubble (2002).

Marsden continued to issue occasional solo projects, among them The Friday Rock Show Sessions (1992) and the Peter Green tribute Green and Blues (1995). Outside music he took an acting role in the German television film Frankie and contributed to film soundtracks in both Germany and the United States; he also served as art director, producer, and author of the three-part television series The Delta Blues 1926 - Urban Blues 1960. Bernie Marsden died on August 24, 2023, at the age of 72.