Adrian Vandenberg
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| Adrian Vandenberg | |
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 Adrian Vandenberg around 1983
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Adje van den Berg |
| Born | January 31, 1954 Enschede, Netherlands |
| Genre(s) | Hard rock, Heavy metal, Blues-rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, Songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar |
| Years active | 1978 – present |
| Associated acts | Whitesnake, Vandenberg, Manic Eden |
| Website | http://www.vandenberg-art.com |
Adje (Adrian) van den Berg (Born: January 31, 1954, Enschede in the Netherlands) is a rock guitarist, best known for his tenure as lead guitarist in Whitesnake during their successful late 1980s period.
[edit] Early Years
Adrian was originally the lead guitarist for 'Teaser', a band that released a self-titled album in 1978. He then started his own band, simply named Vandenberg, who released three albums in the 1980s. They are arguably best known for the ballad "Burning Heart", a song that features complementing guitar layers and harmonies, and "Friday Night".
[edit] Whitesnake
Vandenberg was originally approached to join Whitesnake in the early 1980s, having impressed David Coverdale with not only his guitar wizardry, but also with his songwriting talent and his ability as a band leader. He initially declined, due to the success of his own band Vandenberg and their Top 40 hit, Burning Heart. By 1986, however, with pressure from the record company to become more and more commercial and their success hitting a plateau, he relented and finally disbanded Vandenberg and agreed to join Coverdale in Whitesnake. Initially he was hired as a session musician, helping to complete their eponymous album Whitesnake (known as 1987 in Europe) after a mass-firing of the original band members by Coverdale. He contributed to some rhythm guitar work, and the solo to their #1 hit "Here I Go Again", but guitarist John Sykes played the majority of the rhythm and all of the other lead guitar on the album. After an extremely successful world tour and extensive airplay for their 3 videos on MTV, Vandenberg co-wrote all of the music to the follow-up album Slip of the Tongue. However, in preparing to enter the studio for the recording sessions, he injured his wrist performing isometric exercises and was unfortunately unable to contribute lead guitar work to the album Slip of the Tongue. Steve Vai was imported by founder David Coverdale to record both lead and rhythm guitars on the album in Vandenberg's stead. Vandenberg healed in time to stay with the band on tour supporting the album in a now-trademark dual guitarist role with Steve Vai. After Whitesnake was disbanded in 1991, he returned as part of other Whitesnake incarnations such as the 1994 Greatest Hits reunion/tour. He once again co-wrote the songs for the 1997 album Restless Heart with Coverdale. This time, he played all of the guitars on this stripped-down, bluesy album, turning away from his well-known rock/metal neo-classical chops and towards his original main influence, Jimi Hendrix. He also collaborated with Coverdale on the Whitesnake unplugged acoustic album, Starkers in Tokyo.
[edit] Current Status
After Whitesnake, he played in the band Manic Eden, which also featured singer Ron Young, previously of the band Little Caesar, bassist Rudy Sarzo, and drummer Tommy Aldridge.
He has since turned to painting; further details are available on his website.
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