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Rick Allen (drummer)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Rick Allen | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Richard John Cyril Allen |
| Born | November 1, 1963 Dronfield, Derbyshire, England |
| Genre(s) | NWOBHM Heavy metal Hard rock |
| Occupation(s) | Drummer |
| Instrument(s) | Drums Percussion Vocals |
| Years active | 1978 - present |
| Label(s) | Island Mercury Polygram |
| Associated acts |
Def Leppard |
| Website | http://www.defleppard.com [1] |
Richard John Cyril "Rick" Allen (born November 1, 1963, Dronfield, Derbyshire, England) is the drummer for the British rock band Def Leppard. He is famous for having overcome the complete amputation of his left arm to continue playing with the band, which subsequently went on to its greatest popular success.
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Allen started out drumming with his mother's kitchen utensils when he was five, using a tambourine as additional percussion. At about the age of ten he successfully persuaded his parents to get him a drumkit, by agreeing to take lessons, and pay half the cost of the kit. He got a blue sparkle Del-Ray drum kit and after six months of lessons, he began playing with his first band, Smokey Blue. Later on he played with bands called Rampant and the Johnny Kalendar Band.
When Allen was 15, his father replied on his behalf (Allen himself didn't want to reply, as he was ready to give up the drums) to an ad placed by a band called Def Leppard looking for a drummer to replace Frank Noon ("Leppard loses skins" was the ad's headline), and on November 28, 1978, Allen joined the band. In 1979 he dropped out of school (other band members quit their jobs around the same time) to concentrate on a career in music. In September of that year, they opened for Sammy Hagar at London's Hammersmith Odeon and in October and November played shows as a support act for AC/DC; Allen celebrated his 16th birthday with a performance at the Hammersmith Odeon. On March 14, 1980, the band released their first album, On Through the Night. This was followed the next year by High 'n' Dry and in 1983 by Pyromania, the album that made them superstars.
On December 31, 1984, while driving under the influence near Sheffield, UK, his Corvette flew off the road, over a stone wall, and into a field, causing him to be thrown from the car and resulting in the severing of his left arm. Doctors reattached his arm, but due to infection it was removed again.
Former Status Quo drummer Jeff Rich was a source of help and encouragement during Allen's convalescence, and following many hours of discussion they decided to develop an electronic kit Allen could play using only one arm. (The Ludwig acoustic drum kit he used on High 'n' Dry and Pyromania was later given away by Def Leppard's onetime management.) Working closely with Allen's camp, the electronic drum manufacturer Simmons created such a kit, and Allen made his post-accident debut in 1986 with a well-received set at the "Monsters of Rock" festival at Castle Donington. In August 1987 the band released their fourth album, Hysteria, which after a relatively slow start in the U.S. ultimately became another huge success, selling over 15,000,000 copies. He has since released six further albums with the band, the latest being Yeah!, a collection of covers, in 2006.
Most electronic drums use piezoelectric triggers which sense a hit from a drumstick or a foot pedal and activate a sampled or synthesized sound in response. The customized kit built by Simmons for Allen included drum pads (placed primarily in front of Allen and to his right) triggering the sound of the snare drum and toms, to be played with his surviving arm, combined with multiple pedals (mainly placed on the floor to his left) duplicating many of the same sounds. This allowed Allen (after much practice) to play patterns using his right hand and left foot that two-armed drummers would typically play with their right and left hands. Allen subsequently experimented with hardware from other electronic percussion companies, such as Clavia's drum system, Forat's F/16 system, and the Hart Dynamics Acupad system.
In more recent years, as the undisguisedly artificial drum sound popular in the 80s has largely disappeared, Allen has favored a sound more like that of an acoustic drum kit, using the electronic pads to trigger samples made from recordings of Allen's acoustic drums.
Allen's current setup uses DW acoustic drums, Zildjian acoustic cymbals, Hart Dynamics Acupad electronic pads, Akai samplers, and custom-manufactured cable routing by Whirlwind.[1]
- Even though he was not credited, Allen co-wrote the soundtrack to a 1998 Disney TV-movie called "Brink!"
- In May and June 2000 he played two shows with the Mark Mason Project, featuring guitarist Mark Englert previously of Dramarama.
- Allen has also written some music with his wife Lauren.
- In November of 2004, Allen collaborated with Krishna Das in the recording of a CD entitled All One.
Rick was married on October 10, 2003, to Lauren Monroe, co-founder of Raven Drum Foundation a charity set up by Rick located in Malibu, California, to encourage disabled children to overcome their challenges. Rick has a daughter, Lauren Shane Allen (born May 20, 1997), by a previous marriage. Allen is a vegetarian.[2]
- The Raven Drum Foundation
- Rick Allen @ Def Leppard UK
| Preceded by Frank Noon |
Def Leppard Drummer 1978 – present |
Incumbent |