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
David Coverdale live DVD, shot during the 2004 tour at the legendary Hammersmith Apollo was released in February 2006. In June 2006, Coverdale signed a new record deal with Steamhammer Records. The first release under the new contract was the double live album "" (released 27 November 2006); the album also contained 4 brand new studio tracks written by Coverdale and Aldrich. In 2008 the band (with new bassist and drummer) released its first new studio album in over 10 years titled "Good to Be Bad". The band toured the album extensively. Also in 2008, Whitesnake embarked on a European Tour as