We got the opportunity to interview the amazing vocalist Doogie White this week. Over the years Doogie has been a member of many legendary bands including Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, Michael Schenker Fest, Alcatrazz and more. Recently he re-released his debut solo album “As Yet Untitled” a decade after its initial drop in 2011. We hope you enjoy this interview!
Shannon Wilk: You’ve been in the music industry for over 35 years now, but how did you get started?
Doogie White: I got started when some guys at the Youth Fellowship had me singing praises of Jesus. Then I joined some devil-worshipping rock bands when I was around 14. Where I lived, you played with the best drummer and best guitar player on your street. Then later I spread my wings and played with the best musicians from two streets away and it just started to happen like that. This guy called Chic McSherry, the best guitarist in western Scotland at the time, formed a band with me called La Paz. The band was around for about 4 years and then I moved to London. It just kind of took off from there.
Shannon: Tell me about when you auditioned to be the lead vocalist of Iron Maiden?
Doogie White: I was recording an album in Belgium and I got a phone call from my friend saying that Bruce (Dickinson) was leaving the band after this tour and so I sent a tape in. I auditioned about 20 songs for them. I didn’t get the job, but Blaze did a great job for them.
Shannon: How did you end up getting in contact with Ritchie Blackmore and joining Rainbow?
Doogie White: The band that I moved to London to join broke up and I was so poor. Deep Purple were coming to town and Joe Lynn Turner was with the band at the time. I had a friend who worked at the record label so I asked if I could get a free ticket and he gave me a free ticket to the show and the aftershow party. I thought ‘this is my chance to give Ritchie my work’. I passed my tape on to the tour manager. Three or four years later I get a call from Ritchie Blackmore asking if I wanted to join Rainbow. So I was there for three or four happy years.
Shannon: What are some of your favorite memories from your time in that band?
Doogie White: It’s all a really good memory, I didn’t have any bad times. I was sad I had to leave because it really was all good times. When I got home I tried to resolve the situation with management but I never heard anything, it was over. It was good fun though.
Shannon: One thing led to another and you joined Michael Schenker’s band. How did he find you or you find him?
Doogie White: Prior to being with him, I was playing with Yngwie Malmsteen. We did two albums together and it was great fun, he was an awfully nice guy and I never had issues with him. Chris Glen was the bass player in the Michael Schenker Group at the time and he invited me to one of their shows. Michael asked me to sing with them. He liked what I did and he decided to put a new band together and he invited me to join. That was Michael Schenker’s Temple of Rock. Then we did Michael Schenker Fest, he asked me to come back. COVID killed all that for us.
Shannon: In 2020, you took over vocal duties in Alcatrazz after founding vocalist Graham Bonnet left the group. How have people responded to that?
Doogie White: People seem to be very positive which is a good thing. People can moan about it but it wasn’t my decision, it was Graham. There are two original members and they’re still successful. If it’s not me it would’ve been somebody else. The guys are writing the music they’ve always written.
Shannon: You recently re-released your debut solo album “As Yet Untitled” in June. What made you decide to re-release that album?
Doogie White: It came out about ten years ago and I did it just after I left Yngwie’s band. The reason it’s being re-released is because I got the rights back in December. I always over-record so that way if something isn’t sitting with the rest of the album, you can switch them out. We remastered the album to give it more of a punch. It turned out that the record company owned a bunch of these tribute CDs I did in the ‘90s and so I put that on the bonus CD. We did so many of those back then, some of those songs I don’t even remember doing.
Shannon: Are you planning on working on any more solo music in the future?
Doogie White: I’ve got 128 acoustic and piano songs done. If anyone was interested in funding the recording then I’d do it and get the best engineers and producers.