The band was formed by David Coverdale (of Deep Purple fame) after two solo records in the late 70's and was originally popular only in Europe and Japan.During the band's early years, its music was primarily blues-oriented hard rock. Members of the band include Jon Lord and Ian Paice (of Deep Purple), Cozy Powell and Neil Murray. The band has featured many talented guitarists over the years including: Bernie Marsden, Micky Moody, John Sykes, Adrian Vandenberg, Vivian Campbell and Steve Vai.