Def Leppard

Genres:	Children's Music • Documentaries • Heavy Metal • Pop / Rock
Descriptive "tags":	hard rock • rock • classic rock • 80s • hair metal • heavy metal
Decades Active:	1980s • 1990s • 2000s
Links online:	BBC Music • Discography • IMDb • MusicMoz • MySpace • Official Homepage • Wikipedia • YouTube

Biography

This perennially popular UK hard rock band was formed in 1977 in Sheffield, Yorkshire by Pete Willis (16 February 1960, Sheffield, Yorkshire, England; guitar), Rick Savage (b. 2 December 1960, Sheffield, Yorkshire, England; bass) and Tony Kenning (drums), as Atomic Mass. They assumed their current name when Joe Elliott (b. 1 August 1959, Sheffield, Yorkshire, England; vocals) joined the band. The quartet initially hired a tiny room in a spoon factory, which served as a rehearsal area, for £5 per week. Early in 1978, Willis met another young guitarist, Steve Clark (b. 23 April 1960, Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, d. 8 January 1991, London, England), and invited him to join. Clark agreed only on condition that they would play some ‘proper’ shows, and in July that year Def Leppard debuted at Westfield School before an audience of 150 children. After several gigs, the band voted to dismiss their drummer, replacing him with Frank Noon, who was working...

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