David Coverdale, frontman of English rock’n’roll outfit Whitesnake, has elaborated on the comment he recently made about 2021 being an “appropriate” year for him to retire.
Last week, Whitesnake’s famed frontman David Coverdale spoke with Detroit’s WRIF radio station saying that he was looking into retirement, stating with a chuckle: “I’ve always written songs that challenge me as a vocalist, and I’m 68 now. So I think 69 would be appropriate for Whitesnake’s lead singer [to retire], wouldn’t you?”
However, in a new interview with the podcast Appetite For Distortion, the 68-year-old vocalist elaborated, saying that he’s not sure he could go on performing into his 70s, but life has surprised him before. “I thought when I was writing ‘Here I Go Again’ as I was coming up to my 30th birthday,” he commented. “I thought the party was over. I was inconsolable.”
“And 38 years later, I’m releasing albums, making new deals with record companies. It’s mad — teetering on my 69th birthday. So whether or not I can go in and do ‘Still Of The Night’ when I’m in my seventies, I’m not so sure about that.”
This isn’t the first time that Coverdale has spoken about singing into his seventies, as he previously spoke on not being able to see himself still singing that late in life.
“But who knows?,” he continued. “I’ve been taken by surprise too many times in my life to know that this magic there that exists… Whenever you make plans, that’s when God has a laughing fit. ‘Oh, really? Those are your plans? Well, let me just throw this into the mix’ [laughs].”
Coverdale went on to address his previous comments, noting that he thought his retirement answer was simply fun, stating, “I was asked a question, and I just thought it was amusing to say, ‘Oh, what better age for the lead singer of Whitesnake [to retire] than 69? I can’t wait to design the t-shirts.’ That was just fun.”
Love Classic Rock?
Get the latest Classic Rock news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
“I hope I do get out and play [in my 70s],” he rebutted. “There’s nothing comparable to standing in front of 10, 15, 20, 30 thousand people and have them singing — a hundred thousand people we were doing in South America last year — singing along to every word that you wrote.”
“Some of these people weren’t even born when those songs were released. There is nothing more fulfilling than that to an artist, to have an appreciative audience make you feel so uplifted. It’s breathtaking. I certainly hope to have that experience again.”
Although he’s still a tad unsure if he’ll be able to handle the big stuff, he’s said that he’ll still continue on doing whatever he can, including ‘An Evening With David Coverdale’ – a performance including “more acoustic-based conversations, [with] a Q&A” where you can hear “the real story of what happened.”
Check out ‘Here I Go Again’ by Whitesnake:
