CRAIG GOLDY Says He Would Be 'A Great Fit' For WHITESNAKE: 'I Love DAVID COVERDALE's Voice'

In a new interview with "The Card King Sports Variety Show", former DIO guitarist Craig Goldy confirmed that he got a call from WHITESNAKE's A&R executive in the late 1980s about joining the David Coverdale-fronted band as the replacement for John Sykes. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "That was a trip. At the time, me and David Glen Eisley were working on a project together for Geffen with [Geffen A&R executive] John Kalodner. And so when [John] Sykes decided to [form] BLUE MURDER, I remember [BLUE MURDER drummer] Carmine Appice had invited me over to his house. And I'll never forget it — I was sitting next to Carmine and he was playing me the demos of BLUE MURDER. And they scared the crap out of me, because they were so good. [I was thinking], 'Oh, man. This is really gonna take off.' And when Sykes was singing, I just assumed it was a guide vocal, because, let's face it, he's not the best lead vocalist on the planet. He's the best guitar player on the planet, the best songwriter on the planet, but not the best singer on the planet. Nor is he the best frontman on the planet. I'm sorry, but that's just the truth. So Geffen wanted David Glen Eisley, because, at the time, Isley was at the top of his game. And when you put his voice, like you go and listen to my 'Hidden In Plain Sight' [1991] album [from CRAIG GOLDY'S RITUAL], listen to the song 'Over And Over', that's David Glen Eisley on a heavy metal song. When Isley sings on heavy metal, it's absolutely amazing. And Kalodner knew that. He sings circles, Isley sings circles around Sykes. Even the first GIUFFRIA record, listen to some of the screams at the end of 'Turn Me On'. I mean, the guy had chops that nobody else had, but nobody knew about. And, unfortunately, Sykes had been told what to do by Coverdale for so long, it was his time to call the shots. And that's what he did. But, unfortunately, he still should have had a lead singer and let Sykes be almost like the Glenn Hughes to Coverdale in [DEEP PURPLE's] 'Burn', 'Stormbringer' album type of stuff. And he didn't. So Kalodner was pissed. So, now David Glen Isley is out. But in the meantime, [Kalodner] leaves a message on my machine. I'll never forget it, walking in and hearing the… I turned on the machine to find out where my messages, who called since I was gone. I hear, 'Goldy, it's Kalodner. Don't sign any contracts. You're gonna be the next guitar player for WHITESNAKE. I'll call you back.' … He was the reason why AEROSMITH got back together again and got so big. The guy knew what he was doing."

The now-62-year-old musician went on to say that his pairing with WHITESNAKE ultimately "didn't go through. And in a way, I'm very glad because then [Kalodner] put me and David Glen Isley together back in the studio, and that's where some of those others really great gems came from. And then that's what was part of some of the stuff that I did that got David Lee Roth interested [in me], and the producer of PINK FLOYD interested, and Joe Lynn Turner and all that kind of stuff. So some of the failures actually brought in some great achievements. But that was the deal."

According to Goldy, he would be a good musical match for Coverdale, who has famously gone through at least a dozen guitarist during WHITESNAKE's four-and-a-half-decade career. "Now I've dropped the weight and everything, I'd be a great fit for WHITESNAKE, 'cause I love Coverdale's voice," Craig said. "But I'm not one of those jack-of-all-trades guys. That's what he needs — just like David Lee Roth. You get a guy in there who can play anything and look great and do anything he asks right off the top of his head, like Glenn Hughes does with THE DEAD DAISIES with [Doug] Aldrich. Those guys are amazing. Those guys can do anything. I'm not that guy. I'm just kind of like a stylized guy. I have limitations. My imagination has no boundaries, but the things that I like and I put my heart into have limitations 'cause I won't go there 'cause I'm just not a jack-of-all-trades kind of guy. I never wanted to be that. Otherwise I would have been David Lee Roth's guitar player, and I probably would've been WHITESNAKE's guitar player, but I wasn't a good fit, and they just figured that out. And I'm good with that. Just to be considered was great."

Goldy joined DIO during the "Sacred Heart" tour in 1986 after original guitarist Vivian Campbell was fired from the band following a contentious business disagreement with the legendary heavy metal singer and Ronnie's management. After joining DIO, Goldy became Ronnie James Dio's right-hand man and went on to co-write such DIO classics as "Dream Evil", "One More For The Road", "As Long As It's Not About Love" and many others.

For several years, Goldy played sporadic shows with DIO DISCIPLES, which is made up of former members of DIO, along with a rotating lineup of singers, including former JUDAS PRIEST frontman Tim "Ripper" Owens.

Goldy played in VENGEANCE, ROUGH CUTT and GIUFFRIA before joining DIO. "Dream Evil" was the first DIO album Goldy played on, recorded in 1987, but he left the group shortly thereafter, returning in 2000 to help record "Magica". Craig had left to do solo work, re-emerging in 1991 touting his CRAIG GOLDY'S RITUAL project, a group that involved Mike Stone on lead vocals, bassist Tom Rucci, keyboard player Doug Allen and drummer Carl Marelli. He left DIO again shortly after the release of the "Magica" album due to family commitments, at which point Doug Aldrich stepped in. Aldrich then joined WHITESNAKE, facilitating Goldy's final return to DIO.