Here’s wishing a very Happy 70th Birthday to Whitesnake frontman David Coverdale.
Asked how he plans to celebrate the milestone, the British rocker tells ABC Audio, “I’m going to ignore it,” adding with good humor, “It’s not 70, by the way, it’s 69 plus one, so you can stick that in your old pipe…and light it. But the circumstances…just snuck up on me, and I’m just simply not prepared emotionally.”
Reflecting on reaching 70, David says, “I’m delighted to have made it this far, and legitimately was hoping to actually retire, as I thought was appropriate for the lead singer with Whitesnake, at 69.”
Coverdale notes that his plans to mount a farewell Whitesnake tour this past year were sidetracked because of the COVID-19 pandemic, “[s]o now, I’m just gonna have to go out…at the ripe old age of 70.”
He adds, “I’m assured by everyone that I’m still kicking a** and singing appropriately.”
David, who lives in Reno, Nevada, with his wife Cindy, tells ABC Audio that he does actually have plan to celebrate his birthday.
“Hopefully my son’s flying in. We’re gonna have a small private dinner of people who won’t mention 70,” he notes. “And I think social media will be fun that day.”
As for his perfect birthday gift, Coverdale says it would be “to fly my daughter and my grandchildren from Germany safely, to make the family celebration complete, but that’s gonna be virtual.”
Looking back at some career and personal highlights, Coverdale includes joining Deep Purple during the ’70s, getting inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with that group in 2016, “taking Whitesnake from playing 300 seaters to 30,000-seat arenas and stadiums,” “working with Jimmy Page [in the ’90s],” and “the birth of my children.”
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