Bernie Marsden 1951-2023
BERNIE MARSDEN
Born: May 7th 1951
Died: August 24 2023
I only met Bernie quickly once, in London 2019 after he had his book release party in the basement of a bookstore. Sitting there listening to him telling stories of his career and of course Whitesnakes with a glass of wine in my hand was very interesting so to speak.
But having the band as my all-time favourite band and considering the era up to 1984 being the bands best his passing was a hard one for me. I never really feel emotional when rockers die,(apart from Lemmy and Ronnie James Dio ) well not like this anyway. It felt like he hasn’t had good health the last few years but putting out records in his own name drenched in his favourite music style blues I followed him anyway on social media.
He will never get a top spot on any “best guitarists” lists or being much mentioned but to those of us who followed Whitesnake he had made his eternal impact on us. He is behind songs like “Here I Go Again” (who was rewritten in 1987 from hobo to drifter to suite the American market but that is a completely different story and I still sing hobo whenever I listen to the new track) and probably made him financially stable for the rest of his life. “Walking In the Shadow of the blues” and “Fool For Your Loving” is two other songs that were fundamental in every Whitesnake show
Even if they had their fallout after the split in mid 80s it seemed like David Coverdale and Bernie buried the hatchet and were on speaking terms the last few years. It felt good. I saw him on stage with Whitesnake at Sweden rock festival a few years ago and it was heartwarming to see.
Bernie, I think was never a man of big words or needed to be an official person much (might have been because of all the songs he wrote back in the 70s and 80s) It seemed like he was a a humble and down to earth man.
Somewhere I had hopes of a more continuous special guest appearance from him with Whitesnake.
This will now never happen, and I am a bit sad still thinking of it. There were even plans for a Scandinavian/Swedish tour this coming spring.
I always play a lot of early Whitesnake at my home but those last few days have been more than average and I get a bit emotional paying a little more attention to Bernie (and of course Micky Moodys) guitar playing.
He is probably jamming with the maestro Jon Lord and Cozy Powell in heaven, probably get help from Jimi Hendrix or so, who knows
Thank You mr Marsden for the unforgettable songs and melodies that will forever be in my DNA…
