Former Whitesnake guitarist Bernie Marsden has died (Picture: Instagram)
Bernie Marsden, the original guitarist for the band Whitesnake, has died aged 72.
According to a statement from his family, the musician ‘died peacefully on Thursday evening with his wife, Fran, and daughters, Charlotte and Olivia, by his side’.
Writing on Instagram, they shared that Marsden ‘never lost his passion for music, writing and recording new songs until the end’.
One of the UK’s foremost rock and blues guitarists, Marsden wrote or co-wrote several of Whitesnake’s hit songs, including Fool for Your Loving, She’s a Woman, Walking in the Shadow of the Blues, Trouble and the international chart-topper Here I Go Again.
Born in Buckingham in 1951, Marsden started his career with the rock band UFO in 1972.
After stints in several bands he went on to create Whitesnake in London in 1978 along with former Deep Purple singer David Coverdale and the guitarist Micky Moody.
He helped form Whitesnake, pictured here in 1978 (Picture: Fin Costello/Redferns/Getty Images)
He performed on the band’s first EP, five albums and a live album, from Snakebite (1978) through Saints & Sinners (1982).
During that time he also released two solo albums, And About Time Too (1979) and Look at Me Now (1981).
Marsden final album, Trios, was released last year.
Meanwhile his autobiography Where’s My Guitar was released back in 2017.
Well-known for his extensive private guitar collection, which included more than 200 pieces, earlier this year Marsden’s 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard was briefly put up for sale with a price tag exceeding £1 million..
The musician was also well-known for his extensive guitar collection (Picture: Fin Costello/Redferns/Getty Images)
On Friday morning, his former Whitesnake bandmate Coverdale paid tribute to Marsden on social media.
‘I’ve just woken up to the awful news that my old friend and former Snake Bernie Marsden has passed,’ he posted on Twitter.
‘My sincere thoughts and prayers to his beloved family, friends and fans. A genuinely funny, gifted man, whom I was honored to know and share a stage with.’
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His family have released a statement.