10 Greatest Hard Rock Frontmen Of The '80s

David Coverdale was in one of the worst positions a singer could find themselves in at the start of the '80s. After getting the chance of a lifetime by becoming the new star singer of Deep Purple, the band's inconsistencies and difficult professional relationships tore them apart by the end of the '70s. It's hard enough trying to move on from a band as colossal as Purple, but Coverdale's little solo outing became one of the most essential acts of '80s glam rock.

For as much as people like to jam out to songs like "Here I Go Again" and "Is This Love?" nowadays, the power that Coverdale had in the early days of Whitesnake was unrivaled by anyone on the rock scene. Still rooted in the blues mold of Purple, Coverdale had dialed in his shout to pinpoint accuracy, almost giving Ian Gillan or the great Robert Plant a run for their money at the best of times.

Even when the band went pop at the tail end of 1987, songs like "Still of the Night" still had that bold rock and roll swagger that you need to reach a massive audience. Whitesnake may have just been a little experiment from the ashes of Deep Purple, but David Coverdale was able to spin it around to make his time in Purple almost feel like a warm up.