R.I.P. Bernie Marsden, founding Whitesnake guitarist
Marsden played with the band in the late '70s and early '80s, and co-wrote hits like "Here I Go Again" and "Fool For Your Loving"
Music News Whitesnake
Bernie Marsden—English guitarist and founding member of the band Whitesnake—has died. The news comes via Whitesnake frontman David Coverdale, who posted a tribute to his former songwriting partner on X. “I’ve just woken up to the awful news that my old friend & former Snake Bernie Marsden has passed,” he wrote. “My sincere thoughts & prayers to his beloved family, friends & fans. A genuinely funny, gifted man, whom I was honored to know & share a stage with.” Marsden was 72, per Deadline.
Marsden grew up in Birmingham, England and spent the first few years of his career bouncing between a number of bands including UFO, Wild Turkey, Cozy Powell’s Hammer, and Babe Ruth.
In late 1977, Marsden auditioned for and helped found the band Whitesnake—initially called David Coverdale’s Whitesnake—with Coverdale, formerly of Deep Purple, and guitarist Micky Moody. “There was an instant rapport between us,” Marsden said of his relationship with Coverdale in a 2020 interview with Louder Sound. “He was like a surrogate brother to me.”
Individually or with Coverdale (and occasionally Moody), Marsden wrote many of the group’s recognizable tracks, including “Fool For Your Loving,” “Walking In The Shadow Of The Blues,” “She’s A Woman,” “Lovehunter,” “Trouble,” “Child of Babylon,” “Rough and Ready,” and the iconic power ballad “Here I Go Again,” which has received numerous “best song” list nods from outlets like Q Magazine, VH1, and Rolling Stone.
“It took maybe two hours,” Marsden said of writing the song in the same Louder Sound interview. “It was the opening sequence that grabbed me, the three opening chords. I had the melody in my head, and when I played it to Jon Lord he had a certain look in his eye. He made me play it again and then said: “You’re a clever little sod, aren’t you? That’s the hook. I’ll do the intro.”
In total, Marsden played on one EP, five albums, and one live album for the band, before leaving to pursue a number of solo projects shortly after the release of 1982's Saints And Sinners. He also released an autobiography called Where’s My Guitar in 2017.
19 Comments
We’re saying that he was responsible for certain “self discovery events” occurring among Gen X teens that watched this video?
Yes, those Jaguars are gorgeous.We are talking about cars, right?
Those poor cars with the heel dents in their hoods?
Super sexy heel dents.
Now why am I reading that in Homer Simpson’s voice?
They’re called speed holes, Marge.
The pre-glam days of Whitesnake are always a favorite. Having two of Purple’s best players, Paice and Lord, certainly didn’t hurt. Live…in the Heart of the City is where to start if you want an album showcasing his and Moody’s playing.
First thing I think of when I hear Whitesnake is that bar fire.The second thing I think of is wait, that was Great White.
Tawny Kitaen dry humping a few Jags. I don’t even remember there being music.
“Here I go again on my own…”
Wait. Shit.
Your memory has been once bitten, twice shy.
Great White Snake?
yep, sounds about white
Are you sure it wasn’t White Lion?
My friend died in that fire, so I’ll never forget. Fuck Great White forever.In other news, Still of the Night still rules.
I grow so weary of people crapping all over Whitesnake. I love them and always will. But then again ‘80s music was totally my jam and it’s pretty much all I still listen to. The Snake, Def Leppard, Poison… If anyone is interested there is a whole slew of new bands out of Finland and Sweden that have the ‘80s sound. Unbelievable actually. Young kids that have embraced it. It’s like I have all these new albums to listen to now! Reckless Love is one of those bands and they are freaking awesome! R. I. P. Bernie!!!
“and the iconic power ballad “Here I Go Again,” which has received numerous nods from AV Club slideshows like ‘The Best Songs of the ‘80’s”, “The Most Powerful Power-Ballads of the ‘80’s”, “The Most Ballad-y Power Rock Anthems of the ‘80’s” or even “Songs We’ve Lost So Far In 2023″!”
Bernie grew up in Buckingham not Birmingham