Def Leppard

My apologies for the rather … succint … band history below. I'm in the process of making a more detailed writeup and what's below is a quick placeholder while the final version is written.

Def Leppard was formed in 1977 by Joe Elliott, Rick Savage, and Pete Willis in Sheffield, England. They were soon joined by Steve Clark and a bit later by Rick Allen. Phil Collen replaced Pete Willis in 1983 near the end of the Pyromania sessions. Viv Campbell joined the band after Steve Clark's untimely death in 1991.

Full name: Richard John Cyril Allen
Birthday: November 1, 1963
Rick joined Def Leppard at the age of 15, right before the band signed their record contract. He lost his left arm in a car accident in 1984, but this didn't stop him from being a drummer; with the help from a (semi-)electronic drum kit, Rick became "a better drummer than he was when he had two arms" (as said by Joe Elliott). In 1986, the drumkit was completely electronic, but since 1995, some parts are acoustic again, depending on his studio- or live setting.

Full name: Vivian Campbell
Birthday: August 25, 1962
Vivian was asked to join Def Leppard in 1992, to fill the spot that Steve Clark left after his tragic death in 1991. After being officially introduced at the Freddy Mercury AIDS-awareness gig at Wembley Stadium, his first job was to accompany the band on their Adrenalize-tours in 1992 and 1993.

Full name: Stephen Maynard Clark
Birthday: April 23, 1960
Died: January 8, 1991
Steve joined Def Leppard after being introduced to the band by Pete Willis. One of Steve's nicknames was "The Riffmaster", which he earned after coming up with the most original guitar riffs in Def Leppard's history (and the music history in general), over and over again. During the Adrenalize sessions, Steve died on January 8, 1991, after a long period of battling alcoholism.

Full name: Philip Kenneth Collen
Birthday: December 8, 1957
Phil replaced Pete Willis in 1982 during the recordings of Pyromania. In the interval between Steve Clark's death in 1991 and Vivian Campbell's arrival, Phil took care of all the guitar parts during the recordings of the album Adrenalize. Phil has become one of the main songwriters of the band.

Full name: Joseph Thomas Elliott
Birthday: August 1, 1959
In his youth, Joe was caught by the music of the late 60s/early 70s 'glam' bands such as T.Rex, Mott The Hoople and (David Bowie's) Ziggy Stardust. Joe's dream to be a member of the imaginary band Deaf Leopard came true when he joined Atomic Mass, originally formed by Rick Savage and Pete Willis. Partly because of Joe's dream, the band was renamed to Def Leppard.

Full name: Richard Savage
Birthday: December 2, 1960
Sav co-founded Atomic Mass together with Pete Willis and Tony Kenning in the late 70s -- the band that would become Def Leppard. In his teens, Sav was considered a football/soccer-talent and he was asked to join Sheffield United (despite the fact that he was a fan of rival Sheffield Wednesday), for which he played a couple of years -- but he chose to be in a band after all.

Full name: Peter Willis
Birthday: February 16, 1960
Pete co-founded Atomic Mass together with Sav and Tony Kenning in the late 70s -- the band that would become Def Leppard. During the recordings of Pyromania in 1982, it was clear to the band that Pete was too difficult to handle due to excessive drinking, and he was fired. In his post-Leppard career, Pete was involved in two musical projects, but is currently not active in the music business anymore.