Adrian Vandenberg

Adrian Vandenberg, known in his youth as Adje van den Berg, is a Dutch guitarist born in 1954 in Enschede, although some sources place his birth in The Hague. He became known as the leader of the band Vandenberg and above all for his time in Whitesnake during the late 1980s. His career belongs to the European hard rock and heavy metal scene, and his style combines punchy riffs with neoclassical-inspired guitar harmonies.

He began as the lead guitarist of Teaser, which released a self-titled album in 1978. He then founded Vandenberg, which released three albums in the 1980s: Vandenberg, Heading for a Storm and Alibi. The band is best remembered for the ballad "Burning Heart", which reached the upper reaches of the charts, and for "Friday Night". They toured widely, including support slots for the Michael Schenker Group in the UK and Kiss in 1983.

David Coverdale approached him about joining Whitesnake in the early 1980s, but he declined while his own band was doing well. By 1986, under pressure from the record company and with their success levelling off, he disbanded Vandenberg and joined Whitesnake as a session musician. He played the solo on "Here I Go Again", although John Sykes played most of the album's guitar. He co-wrote much of the material for Slip of the Tongue, but an injury kept him out of the recording sessions, and Steve Vai took over the guitar parts. Vandenberg later toured in a dual-guitar role alongside Vai.

After Whitesnake split in 1990 he worked with the band in various line-ups. In 1997 he co-wrote Restless Heart with Coverdale, a bluesier record shaped by his early admiration for Jimi Hendrix. Following Whitesnake he formed Manic Eden with Rudy Sarzo and Tommy Aldridge. In 2013 he created Vandenberg's MoonKings, releasing MoonKings in 2014 and MoonKings MK II in 2017, and in 2020 he issued a new Vandenberg album featuring Ronnie Romero and Rudy Sarzo.

His legacy lies mainly in spreading the European neoclassical guitar sound of the 1980s and in his role in Whitesnake's more commercial phase. Beyond music, he is also an accomplished airbrush artist who painted the covers of Heading for a Storm and Alibi.