In 1973, one of the biggest rock bands in the world took a huge gamble by replacing their lead singer with a complete unknown.
The band was Deep Purple. The outgoing singer was Ian Gillan. And the raw 22 year-old who stepped into Gillan’s big shoes was David Coverdale.
Born in Saltburn-by-the-Sea in Yorkshire, Coverdale had only limited experience of singing in a couple of local groups when he was offered an audition with Purple.
It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity but also a daunting challenge – not least because of the fearsome reputation of Purple’s moody guitar hero Ritchie Blackmore.
“I think I was the only singer they auditioned,” Coverdale recalled in an interview with Outlaw magazine.
“First, they asked me to go into the Purple office at 25 Newman Street in London to be grilled by the managers, who of course wanted to know if I had a criminal record, a drug bust or anything that could have caused any potential issues.”
Blackmore was famously difficult to read. Keyboard player Jon Lord, by contrast, was known for his charm, and welcomed Coverdale with open arms.
“Ritchie was standoffish,” Coverdale said. “But Jon was just great. During my audition, Jon calmed me down – and Bell’s whisky also helped.
“Apparently they decided that night that I was in, but they didn’t tell me for a week. I was already making excuses why I didn’t want the gig, but once I was actually confirmed as the new singer I was told to get the train down to London, where I was driven to Ritchie’s house in Surrey, called Blockhütte.
“That was the big test. Sitting in Ritchie’s crazy German-style bar, listening to his amazing demos on a Revox tape machine, we realised we had a very solid connection for writing together… and drinking, of course! We did like a drink or four.
“I was with this fucking amazing guitar player who was already a global superstar, and actually writing with him! It could have so easily been a royal fuck up, but, thankfully, it wasn’t. It was the beginning of a journey for me.”
Asked if he found Blackmore intimidating, Coverdale laughingly replied: “Who didn’t?”
He went on: “Once I started getting more and more ‘in’ with the band I could see they were all intimidated by him. Ritchie took me under his wing initially and I was his willing disciple. I learned so much from him and most certainly from Jon Lord, who was another amazing mentor for me, and much more sociable than Ritchie.”
Coverdale had three good years with Deep Purple in which they made three studio albums – Burn, Stormbringer and Come Taste The Band. The latter was recorded with American guitarist Tommy Bolin in place of Blackmore, who quit to launch a new group, Rainbow.
After Purple broke up in 1976, Coverdale also became leader of a new band, Whitesnake, in which he was reunited with Jon Lord and Purple’s drummer Ian Paice.
In the interview with Outlaw, Coverdale named his favourite songs from his years with Deep Purple.
“I love the songs I wrote early on with Ritchie – Mistreated, Sail Away, and definitely Soldier Of Fortune.
"I still wonder what my muse was up to," Coverdale said, "feeding me such a mature lyric on Soldier Of Fortune.”
Coverdale also paid heartfelt tribute to Jon Lord, who died in 2010.
“I miss Jon immensely,” he said. “But I feel his presence a lot in my life. A certain piece of music will come on – Mozart, or Vaughan Williams’ A Lark Ascending – and he’s with me.”
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