David Coverdale’s career as a singer did not get off to the best of starts. In 1966, at the tender age of 15, Coverdale had a chastening experience when his band Vintage 67 entered a talent contest in his hometown of Saltburn-by-the-Sea in Yorkshire. “We lost to a guy who sang songs from The Sound Of Music whilst beating his head with a tin beer tray,” Coverdale said, adding for comedic emphasis, “I shit thee not!”
This was, he said, “not very encouraging”. But if ever a kid had the desire and the voice to become a star, it was David Coverdale.
