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At the forefront of the New Wave of British heavy metal bands in the early 80s, Def Leppard have made a name for themselves that has sustained them in the hard rock arena well into the new millennium. The band was formed in Sheffield, England in 1977; founding members included lead singer Joe Elliot, bassist Rick Savage, and guitarist Pete Willis. Drummer Rick Allen and guitarist Steve Clark joined the band shortly thereafter. They adopted a name proposed by Elliott, "Deaf Leopard." The spelling was slightly modified in order to make the name seem less like that of Continued...

a punk band and perhaps also as an indirect homage to Led Zeppelin. The group soon after released an EP which got airplay on BBC radio and resulted in a record deal with Phonogram/Vertigo (Mercury Records in the US). Their first full length release, On Through the Night, was a minor hit in the UK, but the band did not break out until 1983’s release of the album Pyromania. The lead single, "Photograph," turned Def Leppard into a household name, supplanting Michael Jackson's "Beat It" as the most requested video clip on MTV and becoming a staple of rock radio (dominating the US Album Rock Charts for six weeks). It also hit #12 on the pop charts. The band reached even greater heights with their fourth album, Hysteria (1987), which charted a record-shattering seven singles and remained on the charts for three years, selling 18 million copies worldwide.



Def Leppard continued to record throughout the 90s, but would never duplicate the mammoth success of Pyromania or Hysteria. Still, in September 2000, Def Leppard were inducted into the Rock Walk of Fame on Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard by their friend Brian May of Queen. And the band, along with Queen, Kiss, and Judas Priest, were the inaugural inductees of "VH1 Rock Honors" in May 2006. During the show, The All-American Rejects paid homage to the band with a cover of "Photograph". Soon afterwards, Def Leppard embarked on a successful US tour with Journey. They released another album in April 2008, which debuted at #5 on the Billboard Top 200. It contained the hit single Nine Lives," which featured country singer Tim McGraw, and demonstrated that you can make a hard rock leppard to change its spots.