MUSIC HISTORY 101
NOVEMBER 1, 1963 – Born on this day as Richard John Cyril “Rick” Allen in Dronfield, Derbyshire, England: Def Leppard drummer RICK ALLEN
Allen has played for the hard rock band Def Leppard since 1978. He overcame the amputation of his left arm in 1985 and continued to play with the band, which subsequently went on to its most commercially successful phase. He is known as “The Thunder God” by fans.
Allen started playing drums at the age of 9. He performed in bands called Smokey Blue, Rampant and the Johnny Kalendar Band. When he was 14, his mother replied on his behalf to an ad placed by a band called “Def Leppard” looking for a drummer to replace Tony Kenning. Later, on November 1, 1978, his fifteenth birthday, Allen joined the band. In 1979, he dropped out of school (other band members left their jobs around the same time) to concentrate on a career in music. In September 1979, they opened for Sammy Hagar at London’s Hammersmith Odeon. Subsequently, Def Leppard played shows as a support act for AC/DC during October and November 1979. 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”.
On December 31, 1984, Allen was involved in a driving accident with his Dutch girlfriend Miriam Barendsen. The crash occurred when Allen was speeding on a country road near Sheffield, and Jaguar passed him. The driver had been egging Allen on and would not allow him to pass. In his rage to pass this driver, he did not see a turn up ahead and lost control of his car.
He misjudged a curve, crashed through a stone wall and flipped his Corvette Stingray C4 several times. Wearing an improperly fastened seat belt, the musician was ejected from the vehicle, leading to his left arm being severed, while his girlfriend only suffered some bruising. He later told the BBC that when help arrived he had to tell them “I think my arm was left in the car.” A medical professional who fortunately lived nearby packed Allen’s arm in ice and doctors initially reattached Allen’s arm, but due to an infection, it had to be re-amputated. His right shoulder was also severely broken in the accident. “What I’ve experienced through losing my arm, I wouldn’t change. The human spirit is so strong.”
Allen initially had doubts about continuing his performances with the band, but was encouraged by the band to continue. Allen, along with a few engineers, later started to design a drum set to assist Allen’s drumming. At the time, he was still able to play some drum rhythms with one hand and use his left leg (typically for hi-hat pedals in common drum kits), to play the snare drum. Then-Status Quo drummer Jeff Rich helped and encouraged Allen during his convalescence, and designed an electronic kit Allen could play using only one arm. (The Ludwig acoustic drum kit he used on earlier albums “High ‘n’ Dry” and “Pyromania” was later given away by Def Leppard’s one-time management.) Electronic drum manufacturer Simmons created a kit to their specifications, and Allen made his post-accident debut in 1986 with a well-received set at the “Monsters of Rock” festival at Castle Donington.
Allen has used custom-manufactured cable routing by Whirlwind. He uses four electronic pedals for his left foot to play the pieces he used to play with his left arm, which from left to right trigger sounds of a closing hi-hat, bass drum, snare drum, and a tom drum. He is ranked #7 on the UK website Gigwise in the The Greatest Drummers of All Time list.
Allen has been married to Lauren Monroe since October 10, 2003. They are the co-founders of The Raven Drum Foundation, a charity located in Malibu, California, with a mission to serve, educate, and empower veterans and people in crisis. The Raven Drum Foundation commonly works to help individuals and communities in crisis through healing arts programs, drum circle events, and collaborative partnerships. Allen described the foundations involvement with Camp Kilpatrick in 2009:
“Rhythm is such a big part of their culture and their own way of communicating, so we were able to go in there and design a program around them. It developed into drum council, which is an ongoing program that we provided for the camp. We had tremendous success.”
The One Hand Drum Company was created by Allen to assist in providing awareness and funding for his Raven Drum Foundation. Currently, the primary focus of the One Hand Drum Company is promoting StikRick, a drawing by Rick of a one-armed drummer that he sometimes uses with his autograph. The StikRick site sells, t-shirts, hats, and other items with the StikRick drawing along with a “Life Is Great!! Be A Rockstar!!” slogan. Proceeds from the One Hand Drum Company go to support the Raven Drum Foundation charity.
SOURCES
http://rickallen.com/
http://www.defleppard.com/
http://ultimateclassicrock.com/tags/def-leppard/
http://classicrock.about.com/od/artistsae1/p/def_leppard.htm
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Def_Leppard.aspx
http://www.rollingstone.com/m…/artists/def-leppard/biography
http://www.8notes.com/biographies/def_leppard.asp
http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biogr…/def-leppard.html
http://www.infoplease.com/biography/var/defleppard.html
http://www.allmusic.com/…/def-leppard-mn0000193320/biography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Def_Leppard
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Allen_(drummer)
https://www.facebook.com/theofficialrickallen/
https://www.facebook.com/defleppard
https://twitter.com/def_leppard
https://twitter.com/rickallenlive