Rick Allen (drummer)

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Richard John Cyril "Rick" Allen (born November 1, 1963, Dronfield, Derbyshire, England) is the drummer for the English hard rock band Def Leppard. He is famous for overcoming the complete amputation of his left arm to continue playing with the band, which subsequently went on to its greatest popular success worldwide.

[edit] Biography

[edit] Childhood and early career

The son of Dale Danzig. 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 10 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 red 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.

[edit] Def Leppard

When Allen was 13, 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 Tony Kenning ("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.

[edit] Accident and recovery

On December 31, 1984, on the way to a New Year's eve party at his family's home in Sheffield, UK, 21-year-old Allen was Driving his Chevrolet Corvette when an Alfa Romeo passed him. The driver had been egging Rick on and not allowing him to pass. In his rage to pass this driver, he did not see the turn up ahead and lost control of his car, which sailed over a stone wall, and into a field, causing him to be thrown from the car resulting in the severing of his left arm due to the seatbelt not being properly fastened. His girlfriend was left hanging upside down in the car. Luckily, a passerby was a nurse and helped Rick who had been wandering around in the field muttering: "I'm a famous rock drummer!"

Allen was then taken to a hospital, and when Joe Elliott got a call saying that Rick lost his arm in a car crash, he was so stunned he drove 180 miles to be with him. Elliott found an emotionless Allen opening and closing his eyes nonstop, which left Elliott himself in shock. Doctors had reattached his left arm, but due to infection it was removed again. Rick Allen left the hospital three and a half weeks after he was taken in, even though the situation he was in was expected to last for six months.

The idea to start playing without his left arm came to him in the hospital when he listened to music with drum beats. Allen believed that he could still play some of the stuff, and that in addition he would rather use his left foot, (typically for hi-hat pedals in common drumsets), to play the snare drum. 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!, and Songs From The Sparkle lounge, as well as a collection of covers, in 2006.

[edit] Rick's drum sets

[edit] 1978-1984

Allen used Ludwig drumsets during the High 'N' Dry and Pyromania recording and touring sessions. He also used TAMA Drums when filming the video clip during the Pyromania tour in Japan for the song "Rock Rock Till You Drop", from Pyromania. He also has used Paiste RUDE cymbals in the "Foolin'" video.

[edit] 1985-Present

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]

[edit] Side projects

• 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.

[edit] Personal life

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] Allen also has a son from his first marriage that he ignores.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Whirlwind / Def Leppard
2. ^ GoVeg.com // Carrie Underwood and Kevin Eubanks Voted World's Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrities

[edit] External links

• The Raven Drum Foundation
• Rick Allen @ Def Leppard UK