Whitesnake's David Coverdale recalls being against re-recording 'Here I Go Again' in 1987

Whitesnake’s David Coverdale says he “wasn’t impressed” when his US record label Geffen tried to convince him to re-record ‘Here I Go Again’ in 1987.

The 70-year-old Saltburn-by-the-Sea rocker co-wrote ‘Here I Go Again’ with guitarist Bernie Marsden for Whitesnake’s fifth album ‘Saints & Sinners’ in 1982 and it became a Top 40 hit on these shores.

Although Whitesnake had scored four consecutive Top 10 albums in the UK between 1980 and 1984, the band failed to replicate this chart success on the other side of the pond.

However, with rock music dominating MTV and the US airwaves in the mid-80s, Geffen bosses David Geffen and Al Coury asked David to re-record ‘Here I Go Again’ and ‘Crying in the Rain’ for Whitesnake’s eponymous seventh album in 1987 in an attempt to break the US market.

In a new interview with The Independent, David says he was dead against Geffen’s idea to revisit ‘Here I Go Again’ with his latest Whitesnake line-up.

“I wasn’t impressed, but it worked out,” David said. “It was Geffen who convinced me, and thank God they did because that does help with the mortgage!”

‘Here I Go Again ‘87’ reached Number 1 on the Billboard 200 and the ‘Whitesnake’ album went on to sell more than 8 million copies in the US.

Elsewhere in his Independent interview, David Coverdale paid tribute to the late Tawny Kitten who starred in four Whitesnake music videos in the 80s - ‘Still of the Night’, ‘Is This Love’, ‘The Deeper the Love’ and, of course, the ubiquitous ‘Here I Go Again’ video.

“There was delicious eye candy in there, but we put Tawny in stylish environments and never utilised her as other rock bands were doing with ripped stockings and what have you,” David said.

“Music television 24/7? It spread over the world to the point that whichever hotel suite I walked into and turned the TV on, nine times out of 10 it was on MTV and seven times out of 10 Tawny was doing cartwheels across two Jags. It just went absolutely nuts, and it continues to be.”

Commenting on ‘Here I Go Again’ hitting Number 1 on US rock charts in the wake of Tawny’s death In May, David said: “People tend to forget but it’s been 30 years since we spoke.

“I’ve been involved with my wife and raised a son. I was very sad, and I sent my condolences to her family. I was under no illusions. It wasn’t like: ‘Oh my God, we’ve got another hit.’ It was: ‘Thank you, Tawn. That was a nice parting gift.’”

Whitesnake’s farewell UK tour, featuring co-headliners Foreigner and special guests Europe, takes place in May 2022. Tickets are on sale from Planet Rock Tickets now.

See Whitesnake at the following shows:

MAY 2022

Glasgow The SSE Hydro – Thu 12th

Newcastle Utilita Arena – Sat 14th

London The O2 – Mon 16th

Manchester AO Arena – Wed 18th

Nottingham Motorpoint Arena – Fri 20th

Birmingham Utilita Arena – Sun 22nd

Cardiff Motorpoint Arena – Wed 25th

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