Micky Moody was the guitarist who gave Whitesnake its blues bite before the band ever had a hit record.
He co-wrote “Fool for Your Loving” and the “Ready an’ Willing” title track, two songs that came to define the band’s early sound.
Moody spent five years inside Whitesnake’s founding lineup, from the 1978 debut through the tense sessions that produced Slide It In.
Before Whitesnake he had already logged time in Juicy Lucy and Snafu.
A run of session gigs along the way put him in rooms with Gerry Rafferty and Graham Bonnet.
This is the story of Micky Moody’s career, from a Middlesbrough school band to six decades on record.
Micky Moody performing live in 2014. Photo by Jenn Jinhong, CC BY 2.0.
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Who Is Micky Moody?
Micky Moody is an English guitarist, songwriter, and author born Michael Joseph Moody on August 30, 1950, in Middlesbrough.
He is best known as a founding member of Whitesnake, the blues rock band he helped David Coverdale build in 1978.
Moody’s slide guitar work and songwriting appear on the band’s first six studio records.
He also spent years in Juicy Lucy and Snafu before that, and decades of session and solo work after.
Moody turned 76 in 2026 and remains an active recording and performing musician.
Early Life in Middlesbrough
Moody grew up in Middlesbrough, England, and started guitar with private lessons as a teenager.
He formed a school covers band called the Roadrunners with future Paul Rodgers, later the singer of Free and Bad Company.
Bassist Bruce Thomas, who later joined Elvis Costello and the Attractions, joined the group soon after.
The band moved to London and renamed itself the Wildflowers, but split up without ever recording.
Moody returned home and studied classical guitar before developing the slide technique that became his signature.
He signed his first record deal fronting Tramline, a group that released two albums on Island Records before breaking up.
Tramline, Juicy Lucy, and Snafu: Micky Moody’s First Bands
In 1970, Moody briefly played guitar behind keyboardist Zoot Money before joining Juicy Lucy.
He replaced guitarist Neil Hubbard in the band and recorded three albums with them.
Juicy Lucy toured heavily before splitting, and Moody moved straight into his next project.
He co-founded Snafu, a band that mixed his funk-influenced guitar with American roadhouse grooves.
Snafu released three albums between 1973 and 1975 and appeared on the Old Grey Whistle Test and a John Peel radio session.
The band broke up in the mid-1970s after years of touring without a commercial breakthrough.
Session Work on the Road to David Coverdale
Between bands, Moody worked steadily as a session guitarist through the mid-1970s.
He played on Gerry Rafferty‘s City to City and took early session work behind singer Graham Bonnet.
He also teamed with Status Quo tour manager Bob Young, and their Young and Moody project produced a single featuring Motorhead’s Lemmy on backing vocals.
Moody had known David Coverdale since the late 1960s Middlesbrough music scene.
When Coverdale left Deep Purple and needed a guitarist for his solo debut, he called Moody.
Moody co-wrote four songs on Coverdale’s 1977 album White Snake, including the title track, and contributed to three more on 1978’s Northwinds.
How Micky Moody Helped Form Whitesnake
After Deep Purple’s Mark IV lineup collapsed, Coverdale and Moody built a full band around the Northwinds sessions.
They recruited guitarist Bernie Marsden, bassist Neil Murray, drummer Dave Dowle, and keyboardist Brian Johnston.
The group took its name from the title of Coverdale’s first solo album and became Whitesnake in 1978.
Moody and Marsden built a twin lead guitar sound rooted in blues, a different direction from the heavier style Coverdale had left behind in Deep Purple.
The band’s first release was the Snakebite EP in 1978, a taste of the sound to come.
Trouble and Lovehunter: The First Whitesnake Albums
Whitesnake’s debut album, Trouble, arrived in 1978 with Moody credited as co-writer on four tracks.
He wrote the album’s instrumental, “Belgian Tom’s Hat Trick,” entirely on his own.
Jon Lord joined on keyboards in time for 1979’s Lovehunter, replacing Johnston and adding his Deep Purple pedigree to the mix.
Moody also found time to play slide guitar on Roger Chapman‘s solo debut, Chappo, that same year.
Neither Trouble nor Lovehunter cracked the US charts, but both built the foundation for what came next.
💡 Did You Know?
Micky Moody’s eldest son, also named Micky Moody, played drums in a 2000s lineup of the Micky Moody Band.
Ready an’ Willing and Fool for Your Loving
Drummer Ian Paice, formerly of Deep Purple, replaced Dowle just before 1980’s Ready an’ Willing.
The album gave Whitesnake its first two UK singles, “Fool for Your Loving” and the title track, both co-written by Moody.
“Fool for Your Loving” became one of the songs most identified with Moody’s time in the band.
Whitesnake also released the double live album Live… in the Heart of the City in 1980.
That same year, Moody recorded two more singles with Bob Young, writing every track himself.
Come an’ Get It and the Beginning of the End
In 1981, Moody played guitar on every track of Graham Bonnet‘s solo album Line-Up and co-wrote three songs with Bob Young.
Whitesnake stayed busy too, releasing Come an’ Get It later that year.
Behind the scenes, relationships in the band were fraying.
Marsden left before the follow-up album, Saints and Sinners, was finished.
Moody followed soon after, and Whitesnake went on hiatus for most of 1982.
Micky Moody and Bernie Marsden on stage at Hammersmith Odeon, 1981. Photo by Andrew King, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Why Micky Moody Left Whitesnake
During the 1982 break, Moody picked up session work, including a stint backing Sheena Easton.
By late 1982, Whitesnake reformed with guitarist Mel Galley replacing Marsden.
Moody rejoined for that stretch, but only as a backing vocalist on the finished Saints and Sinners.
In 1983, Coverdale replaced both Paice and Murray with drummer Cozy Powell and bassist Colin Hodgkinson.
Moody felt increasingly sidelined by the direction Coverdale was taking the band.
He still recorded 1984’s Slide It In, a process he later called an unhappy experience, before leaving Whitesnake for good in 1983.
| Year | Whitesnake Lineup Change |
|---|---|
| 1978 | Band founded: Coverdale, Moody, Marsden, Murray, Dowle, Johnston |
| 1978 | Jon Lord replaces Johnston on keyboards |
| 1980 | Ian Paice replaces Dowle on drums |
| 1982 | Mel Galley replaces Marsden on guitar |
| 1983 | Cozy Powell and Colin Hodgkinson replace Paice and Murray |
| 1983 | Moody leaves Whitesnake after recording Slide It In |
Back to Session Work
Moody returned to steady session work after leaving Whitesnake.
He played on records by Mike Oldfield, Gary Glitter, and Mike d’Abo, and toured with Chris Farlowe.
He also worked with singer Willy Finlayson and his band, the Hurters.
Moody and Bob Young wrote a book on musicians’ humor together, titled Language of Rock and Roll.
He formed the first version of the Micky Moody Band with former Taste bassist Charlie McCracken.
Micky Moody Reunites with Bernie Marsden
By the late 1980s, Moody and Marsden were playing select shows together as the Moody Marsden Band.
The reunion became a full-time project in the early 1990s, touring the UK and Europe.
They released two live albums, Never Turn Our Back on the Blues and Live in Hell, plus a studio record, Real Faith.
In 1996, Moody joined the Best of British Blues tour of the United States alongside Eric Burdon, Alvin Lee, and Boz Burrell.
Roger Chapman, who toured with Moody through this same period, once called him “a great guitarist, and intelligent too.”
“Too intelligent for Coverdale,” Chapman told Classic Rock magazine in 2009.
Company of Snakes, Snakecharmer, and Later Bands
In 1997, Moody and Marsden formed the Snakes with Norwegian singer Jorn Lande, a band built to play the sound of the original Whitesnake catalog.
Keyboardist Don Airey often sat in with the group.
The Snakes released two albums before evolving into the Company of Snakes, which added a former Bad Company singer and original Whitesnake bassist Neil Murray.
That lineup released two more albums before later editions of the band renamed themselves M3 Classic Whitesnake.
In 2011, Moody co-formed Snakecharmer with Murray, a Wishbone Ash guitarist, and Ozzy Osbourne’s keyboardist.
He left Snakecharmer in 2015 to focus on his solo career.
💡 Did You Know?
Don Airey, who guested with the Snakes, later became Deep Purple’s full time keyboardist, the same band David Coverdale had left to start Whitesnake.
Micky Moody’s Solo Albums and Memoirs
Moody released his first solo album, I Eat Them for Breakfast, in 2000.
He teamed with a former Juicy Lucy bandmate for an acoustic blues covers record, Smokestacks, Broomdusters and Hoochie Coochie Men.
In 2006, he released the solo album Don’t Blame Me alongside his memoir, Playing With Trumpets: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Apprenticeship.
He followed with two instrumental albums, Acoustic Journeyman in 2007 and Electric Journeyman in 2009.
In 2008, he toured Japan with drummer Jimmy Copley and guitarist Char, a trip later released as a live DVD.
A second memoir, Snakes and Ladders, arrived in 2016.
Since 2016, Moody has also recorded and toured with musician Ali Maas Moody, releasing Black & Chrome and Who’s Directing Your Movie?
Micky Moody’s Guitar Style and Legacy
Moody built his reputation on slide guitar, a technique he picked up early and never abandoned.
His own website credits him with contributions to more than 100 albums across six decades.
His library music recordings have turned up on shows including Top Gear, Mad Men, and Jersey Shore.
He has shared stages with Eric Clapton, Alice Cooper, Meat Loaf, and one of his own early heroes, Duane Eddy.
Inside Whitesnake, his blues foundation gave David Coverdale’s early records their grit before the band chased a bigger, glossier American sound.
The guitar chair Moody vacated in 1983 eventually went to John Sykes, whose 1984 arrival pushed Whitesnake toward the sound that broke the band in America.
What Is Micky Moody Doing Now?
Moody turned 76 on August 30, 2026, and continues to write and record.
He remains active with musician Ali Maas Moody, performing as the Ali Maas and Micky Moody Band.
He also still appears with blues guitarist Papa George and the Sunflower Jam house band.
Moody has not toured with Whitesnake since leaving the band in 1983.
Coverdale remains its only constant member, a story told in full on the Members of Whitesnake hub.
Fans can track his current catalog and shows through his own website.
People Also Ask About Micky Moody
These are common questions about Micky Moody with short, sourced answers.
Is Micky Moody still alive?
Yes.
Moody turned 76 on August 30, 2026, and continues to record and perform.
Did Micky Moody write “Here I Go Again”?
No.
“Here I Go Again” was written by David Coverdale and Bernie Marsden in 1982, after Moody had already left Whitesnake.
Moody’s own hit single credits were “Fool for Your Loving” and the “Ready an’ Willing” title track.
Why did Micky Moody leave Whitesnake?
He felt sidelined after Coverdale rebuilt the rhythm section around Cozy Powell and Colin Hodgkinson in 1983.
He recorded Slide It In under those tensions, then left the band.
What bands was Micky Moody in besides Whitesnake?
Juicy Lucy, Snafu, the Moody Marsden Band, the Snakes, the Company of Snakes, and Snakecharmer.
Is Micky Moody the same person as footballer Mick Moody?
No.
Micky Moody the guitarist is a different person from Mick Moody, an Irish former footballer.
Watch Micky Moody’s Whitesnake Era
The video below is the official version of “Fool for Your Loving,” the song Moody co-wrote for 1980’s Ready an’ Willing.
Shop Micky Moody’s Whitesnake-Era Albums
These four albums cover Moody’s complete run as a Whitesnake guitarist.
Affiliate Disclosure: I am an Amazon affiliate and if you purchase through any amazon links on this site i may earn a small commission at no extra charge to you.
Whitesnake – Trouble
Debut studio album, 1978
Moody co-wrote four tracks and wrote “Belgian Tom’s Hat Trick” alone.
The first record by the original Whitesnake lineup.
Produced by Martin Birch.
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Whitesnake – Ready an’ Willing
Studio album, 1980
Home to “Fool for Your Loving,” co-written by Moody.
Whitesnake’s first UK Top 10 album.
The title track was also a co-write.
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Whitesnake – Come an’ Get It
Studio album, 1981
Moody’s last full studio album with the classic lineup.
Reached the UK Top 3.
Recorded as tensions in the band were rising.
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Whitesnake – Slide It In
Studio album, 1984
Moody’s final Whitesnake session before departing.
Later remixed for the US market.
The bridge between the blues years and the 1987 sound.
🛒 Check Price on AmazonKey Takeaways
- Micky Moody co-founded Whitesnake in 1978 and played guitar on the band’s first six studio albums.
- He co-wrote “Fool for Your Loving” and the “Ready an’ Willing” title track, released as UK singles in 1980.
- He left Whitesnake in 1983 after Coverdale rebuilt the rhythm section around Cozy Powell and Colin Hodgkinson.
- After Whitesnake, he reunited with Bernie Marsden in the Moody Marsden Band, the Snakes, and the Company of Snakes.
- Moody turned 76 in 2026 and continues to record with musician Ali Maas Moody.
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Few guitarists shaped a band’s identity in as short a run as Micky Moody did at Whitesnake.