David Coverdale Coverdale was born on 22 September 1951, in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, North Riding of Yorkshire, England. Around the age of 14, he began performing professionally and developing his voice. "I don't think my voice had broken," he explained to "Sounds" in 1974. "And that's when I first learnt how to sing with my stomach, which sounds silly, but it's totally different from a normal voice." Coverdale started performing with local bands Vintage 67 (1966–68), The Government (1968–72) and Fabulosa Brothers (1972–73). In 1973, Coverdale saw an article in a copy of "Melody Maker", which said that Deep Purple was auditioning for singers
Ian Gillan performing to pursue various unsuccessful business ventures. These included a £300,000 investment in a hotel near Oxford. A second was the Mantis Motor Cycles project, which suffered from the collapse of the British motorcycle industry in the mid-1970s, culminating in Gillan being forced to file for liquidation. A more successful opportunity, however, came with his investment in Kingsway Studios in 1974, This led to a live performance at the Butterfly Ball on 16 October 1974, replacing Ronnie James Dio at the last minute. In 1975, Gillan formed the Ian Gillan Band with guitarist Ray Fenwick, keyboardist Mike Moran, quickly replaced