Bernie Marsden, the beloved (former) guitarist of hard rock giants Whitesnake, who also made a name for himself with a string of highly acclaimed solo albums, has died at the age of 72.
The news was confirmed in a special statement by Marsden’s official representative.
The sad news had actually already spread earlier, thanks to Marsden’s former employer and Whitesnake frontman David Coverdale, who tweeted: “I’d just gotten up when I was hit by the terrible news that my old friend and fellow former ‘Snake’ Bernie Marsden has passed away. My heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and fans at this time. He was a brilliantly funny and talented man, and it was an honor to know him and to share stages with him.”
Marsden was best known for his work with Whitesnake. Together with Coverdale and Micky Moody, he co-founded Whitesnake in 1978. He was with the band for the release of classics like “Come An’ Get It”, “Saints & Sinners” and “Live… In The Heart Of The City”, among others. Marsden is also credited as co-writer of the band’s biggest international hit, Here I Go Again, which topped the US charts in 1987, five years after Marsden left the band.
He once told Classic Rock about Here I Go Again: “It took me two hours at most to write the song at my house and get it down on an old Revox tape machine.”
“What pulled me in was the opening sequence of the song, the first three chords of the intro. I had the melody in my head, and when I played the music to Jon Lord, he watched me with a very particular look in his eyes. He told me to play it again and then said: ‘You’re a little exiled rascal, aren’t you? Grab this.'”
Marsden was born in 1951 in Buckingham, England, and started his career in the late sixties, inspired, like many of his peers, by the blues ‘explosion’.
As a kid, Marsden was hooked on Hank Marvin and his Shadows, but later Eric Clapton became the guitarist he truly started to worship and follow. He also counted George Harrison and Peter Green among his heroes. He caught countless Fleetwood Mac shows, too.
In 1972 Marsden joined UFO, but he didn’t stay there very long. He joined Wild Turkey, played for Cozy Powell’s Hammer and recorded the album “Malice In Wonderland” with the short-lived Paice Ashton Lord. Then came 1978 and a very special invitation. From David Coverdale.
“All Coverdale knew about Marsden up to that point was that he was a session guitarist who had recorded albums with all sorts of people. Bernie recalled that during one of their rehearsals, Coverdale pulled Marsden aside during a break and asked if he could have a word with him. “I never dreamed you could play like that,” Coverdale told him. And that’s how Marsden’s time with Whitesnake began.
After leaving Whitesnake (a good while before they became stars with the hit Here I Go Again, which Bernie co-wrote), Marsden played in a variety of outfits, including Bernie Marsden’s SOS, Alaska and the Moody Marsden Band, and then he decided to go solo and released a string of highly acclaimed studio albums. His work always kept a big following among the faithful, and Marsden stayed busy in the studio throughout. Not long ago he put out three albums, “Kings”, “Chess” and “Trios”, paying tribute to the musicians and the music he grew up with.
Skromni velikan, RIP. Whitesnake so bili vse do Saint An’ Sinners pravi band, že ne Slide It In pa so zaradi Coverdale-ovih komercialnih ambicij začeli razpadati, od 1987 naprej pa so pravzaprav postali Coverdalova spremljevalna skupina. 1987 je bil sicer izjemen album, a je bil obenem tudi labodji spev, saj kasneje niso več posneli ničesar, kar bi se po kakovosti lahko primerjalo z zgodnjimi leti, po moji oceni je Slip Of The Tongue celo njihov najšibkejši album.
Imam kar nekaj Marsdenove glasbe, sploh Alaska so mi hudo všeč. Smo ga pa imeli priložnosti videti v živo pred 21 leti tudi v Sloveniji, ko so The Company Of Snakes bili headlinerji žal hitro umrlega fesivala v Izoli.