David Coverdale recording "Slide It In" to re-form Deep Purple. (Ian Paice had left Whitesnake in 1982.) In 1985, Sykes and Coverdale started working on new songs for the next album, but Coverdale soon contracted a serious sinus infection that made recording close to impossible for much of 1986 and which had doctors thinking he might never sing again. Coverdale eventually recovered, and recordings were continued. But before their upcoming album was fully recorded and released, Coverdale had dismissed Sykes from the band. The split with Sykes was, reportedly, not amicable. In many period interviews, Coverdale stated that the next album was
Ian Gillan early days they were sponsored and championed by Tony Blackburn, who occasionally accompanied Gillan on stage. Later, as well as performing concerts in the UK, Episode Six also toured Germany and Beirut, and had regular appearances on the BBC Light Programme. During his time with Episode Six, Gillan began writing songs together with Glover, forming an ultimately long-lasting partnership. After a strained tour of Beirut, Shields left the band and was replaced first by John Kerrison, then by Mick Underwood. Underwood had previously played in The Outlaws with Ritchie Blackmore, and it was via him that Ian knew about Deep