STEVE’S BAND: DEF LEPPARD

Def Leppard were the biggest band on the planet in the late 80’s. The record sales are there to prove it. They were popular all over the world and sold out everywhere in every country during their lengthy world tours. At the climax of their career – the end of the Hysteria World tour in 1988 Steve’s band were at this point bigger than The Beatles and Led Zeppelin and Madonna.

It’s not easy to achieve worldwide success. It’s a different kind of achievement to just being popular in your home country. Def Leppard seemed to do this in reverse though. The U.K. was slow to warm to them initially but they did achieve the success here at home as well as abroad.

By the time Hysteria had been certified Diamond in the US (10 million sales) this band became one of only five artists to date who have sold over 10 million copies of two consecutive studio albums. The other album being Pyromania.

The other four artists with this same achievement are Van Halen, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles and Pink Floyd.

The band originated back in 1977 when Pete Willis (guitar), Tony Kenning (drums) and Rick Savage (bass) put a band together called Atomic Mass. Joe Elliott was hired as the lead singer. Steve Clark came in to make the band a twin guitar band after being invited to an audition by Pete Willis. The name Deaf Leopard was brought in by Joe and subsequently the spelling was altered to Def Leppard. From 1978 began a rollercoaster journey and out of it emerged one of British music’s finest and most successful bands, which was in large part due to the songwriting mastery and creativity of Steve Clark.

FORMER MEMBERS:

Tony Kenning – Drums (Replaced by Rick Allen in 1978)

Pete Willis – Guitars (Replaced by Phil Collen in 1982)

Frank Noon was “borrowed” from The Next Band for a temporary role as drummer with the band until they hired Rick Allen in place of Tony Kenning. Frank Noon plays drums on the Def Leppard EP of 1979.

THE LINE-UP UNTIL 1991:

  • RICK ALLEN – Drums             
  • STEVE CLARK – Guitars         
  • PHIL COLLEN – Guitars
  •  JOE ELLIOTT – Lead Vocals     
  • RICK SAVAGE – Bass                

BAND GALLERY