Richard John Cyril Allen (born 1 November 1963) is an English musician who has been the drummer of the

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

band

Def Leppard Def Leppard are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Since 1992, the band has consisted of Rick Savage (bass, backing vocals), Joe Elliott (lead vocals), Rick Allen (drummer), Rick Allen (drums), Phil Collen (guitar, ...

since 1978. He overcame the

amputation Amputation is the removal of a Limb (anatomy), limb or other body part by Physical trauma, trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as cancer, malign ...

of his left arm in January 1985 and continued to play with the band, which went on to its most commercially successful phase. He is known as "The Thunder God" by fans. He is ranked No. 7 on the UK website

Gigwise ''Gigwise'' is a British online music news site featuring music news, photos, album reviews, music festivals, concert tickets and video content. Founded in June 2001, the site is based in London, England. History Gigwise was launched in 2001 in ...

in ''The Greatest Drummers of All Time'' list.

Early life

Allen was born on 1 November 1963 in

Dronfield Dronfield is a town in North East Derbyshire, England, which includes Dronfield Woodhouse and Coal Aston. It lies in the valley of the River Drone between Chesterfield, Derbyshire, Chesterfield and Sheffield. The Peak District National Park i ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

to Kathleen Moore and Geoffrey Allen, and started playing drums at the age of nine. He performed in the bands Grad, Smokey Blue, Rampant, and the Johnny Kalendar Band. When he was 14, his mother replied on his behalf to an advertisement placed by a band called

looking for a drummer to replace Tony Kenning ("Leppard loses skins" was the advertisement's headline). He later joined the band on 1 November 1978, which was his 15th birthday. In 1979, he dropped out of school to concentrate on a career in music. He celebrated his 16th birthday with a performance at the Hammersmith Odeon, when Def Leppard opened for

AC/DC AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock and Heavy metal music, heavy metal, although the band calls it simply "rock and roll". They are cited as a formativ ...

Car crash and recovery

On the afternoon of 31 December 1984, Allen was involved in a car crash with his girlfriend, Miriam Barendsen, on the

A57 road The A57 is a major road in England. It runs east from Liverpool to Lincoln, England, Lincoln via Warrington, Salford, Greater Manchester, Salford and Manchester, and then through the Pennines over the Snake Pass (between the high moorlands of ...

in the countryside a few miles west of

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

. A car in front of theirs deliberately slowed for him to catch up, only to speed up as he tried to pass. This went on for several miles until, in frustration, he accelerated to pass, at which point he lost control of the left-hand-drive Corvette C4, which hit a dry stone wall and entered a field. His left arm was entangled in the seat belt and severed, remaining in the car while he was flung out. Doctors initially re-attached it, but it was later amputated due to an infection. Initially Allen felt "defeated" but, buoyed by "family, friends and hundreds of thousands of letters from all over the planet", he decided to continue playing drums with Def Leppard, and adopted a specially designed electronic drum kit. The band took a hiatus from onstage performances until 5 August 1986 (Allen's first live performance since losing his arm), instead doing a small run of public rehearsal shows in Ireland in advance of their 16 August 1986

Monsters of Rock Monsters of Rock was a hard rock and heavy metal music festival. It was originally held annually in Castle Donington, England, from 1980 to 1996, taking place every year except 1989 and 1993. It later branched into other locations such as th ...

festival performance at Castle Donington. He has since re-adopted partially acoustic drum kits depending on the setting.

Equipment

Allen has used custom-manufactured cable routing by

Whirlwind A whirlwind is a phenomenon in which a vortex of wind (a vertically oriented rotating column of air) forms due to instabilities and turbulence created by heating and flow ( current) gradients. Whirlwinds can vary in size and last from a cou ...

. 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 A hi-hat (hihat, high-hat, etc.) is a combination of two cymbals and a pedal, all mounted on a metal stand. It is a part of the standard drum kit used by drummers in many styles of music including rock music, rock, popular music, pop, jazz, an ...

bass drum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter usually greater than its depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. The head ...

snare drum The snare drum (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often u ...

, and a

tom drum A tom drum (also known as a tom-tom) is a cylindrical drum with no snares, named from the Anglo-Indian and Sinhala language. It was added to the drum kit in the early part of the 20th century. Most toms range in size between in diameter, thoug ...

. In 2009, Yamaha announced the addition of Allen to their artist roster. He plays Yamaha Oak Custom drums with a matching subkick.Yamaha Welcomes Legendary Rick Allen to its Drum Roster , Yamaha Artists
Yamaha.com (16 October 2009). Retrieved on 15 September 2011. He also uses

Remo Remo Inc. is an American musical instruments manufacturing company based in Valencia, California, and founded by Remo Belli in 1957. Products manufactured include drum kits, drumheads, drums, and drum hardware, hardware, and various percussio ...

drumheads (usually he has coated Ambassadors on his drums and a clear Powerstroke 3 on his bass drum),

Zildjian The Avedis Zildjian Company, simply known as Zildjian (), is a musical instrument manufacturer specializing in cymbals and other percussion instruments. Founded by the ethnic Armenian Zildjian family in the 17th-century Ottoman Empire, the com ...

cymbals (mostly K customs, Z Customs and A customs), an Ahead drumstick and an LP rock cowbell. He previously used

Ludwig Drums Ludwig Drums is a United States musical instrument manufacturer, focused on percussion instruments, percussion. It is a subsidiary of Conn-Selmer. Products manufactured by Ludwig include timpani, drum kits, and drum hardware. The company also ...

Paiste Paiste (English pronunciation: , ) is a Switzerland, Swiss musical instrument manufacturing company. It is the world's third largest manufacturer of cymbals, gongs, and metal percussion. is an Estonian language, Estonian and Finnish language, ...

2002, RUDE, and Sound Creation cymbals.

Charitable works

Allen and his wife Lauren Monroe are the co-founders of the Raven Drum Foundation, a charity. Allen also formed the One Hand Drum Company to provide funding for the Raven Drum Foundation. The company primarily sells merchandise featuring "Stick Rick", an illustrated character representing Allen.

Personal life

Allen was married to Stacy Lauren Gilbert from 1991 to 2000. In 1995, he was arrested for spousal abuse and was sentenced to a work crew and ordered to attend

Alcoholics Anonymous Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a global, peer-led Mutual aid, mutual-aid fellowship focused on an abstinence-based recovery model from alcoholism through its spiritually inclined twelve-step program. AA's Twelve Traditions, besides emphasizing anon ...

meetings. He is married to Lauren Cuggino Monroe, who is also a musician and he has contributed to some of her albums. He is a

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products and the consumption of animal source foods, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A person who practices veganism is known as a ve ...

."Def Leppard's Rick Allen Announces New Vegan Bag Collection"
lntvglobal.com. Retrieved 22 January 2023. On the weekend of 12 March 2023, while standing in the parking valet area of the

Four Seasons Hotel Four Seasons Hotels Limited, trading as Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, is a Canadian luxury hotel and resort company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Four Seasons currently operates more than 100 hotels and resorts worldwide.David Se ...

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale ( ) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County, Florida, Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the ...

, where he was staying for a performance at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, Allen was attacked by a " spring-breaker" who intentionally ran toward and collided with him, knocking him to the ground. He sustained a head injury. The attacker was apprehended and charged with several crimes.

References

External links

RickAllen.comThe Raven Drum FoundationRick Allen
@ DefLeppard.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Rick 1963 births 20th-century English drummers 21st-century English drummers Amputee musicians Def Leppard members English amputees English heavy metal drummers English rock drummers Living people People from Dronfield British musicians with disabilities English people with disabilities