rickbio

Welcome to the Rick Allen bit! Brace yourselves for the full-name...

Rick was born Richard John Cyril Allen on November 1st, 1963 in Derbyshire (just to be different.)

As with all good bands (see Spinal Tap if this goes over your head,) Def Leppard went through a fair number of drummers before they finally settled down with the then 15 year old Rick Allen. "Barely out of school - barely even out of diapers," as he put it, and there he was in an up and coming band just about to hit the big time in the music world.
Things were going pretty swimmingly well for young Rick, who had amazingly managed to land a job at doing what he was best at and enjoyed most...

Then, of course, aged just 20 years old, he lost his left arm in a car accident at the beginning of 1984. At this point it may have seemed as if his luck had run out, but a couple of things kept him on track, and led him back up onto the stage to claim his title of The Thunder God.

Firstly, the band, who thought of each other as family, were not going to abandon their drummer even though things were not looking too promising. They reluctantly carried on with the Hysteria sessions, but there was no replacing Rick.

Secondly, our Rick was not one to simply lie back and give up when the going got tough. Through all the black moments of his hospitalisation he held onto the conviction that he would play the drums again. Phil in particular recalled this with a smile, from the times he and Steve went to visit Rick in hospital. "Medication." He'd come away thinking - but Rick soon proved that his dream could be made a reality.

As soon as possible he was back in the studio, and fell to slowly perfecting his new playing technique that involved stylised foot-pedals and electronic drums making their way into the setup. He added drums and percussion to the tracks the others had laid down for Hysteria, and found that the fans were still behind him (even those who had forgotten quite who Def Leppard were,) when he got back up on-stage again to thunderous applause at their first gig since Pyromania, some four years earlier.

After learning another hard lesson from an alcohol-fuelled attack on his wife Stacey that landed him in trouble with the law, Rick turned more to alternative approaches to lifestyle and left the heavier drinking behind. He once claimed that he wrote the entire Slang album, and personally I believe him! ;)

With Stacey he had a little girl, Lauren Shane Allen. He is now separated from Stacey and lives in sunny California (when not working in Dublin or one of the other favoured Lepp-haunts,) with his girlfriend Lauren (certainly not to be confused with his daughter.)

If you have anything to add about Rick (which you no doubt will if you're an avid fan,) then please write to me and I'd be happy to quote you on this page. You know the drill, and if not then check out Sav's page for an example.) Thanks for visiting, and feel free to show your appreciation (or share your impressions) by e-mailing me or signing the guestbook!