Richard John Cyril Allen (born 1 November 1963) is an English

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western bands that play rock, pop, jazz, or R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeeping and embellishing the musical timbre. The drummer' ...

who has played for the hard rock band

Def Leppard Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1976 in Sheffield. Since 1992, the band has consisted of Rick Savage (bass, backing vocals), Joe Elliott (lead vocals), Rick Allen (drums, backing vocals), Phil Collen (guitar, backing vocals) ...

since 1978. He overcame the

amputation Amputation is the removal of a limb by 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 malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on ind ...

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

Early life

Rick Allen was born on 1 November 1963 in Dronfield,

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the no ...

to Geoffrey Allen and Kathleen Moore, and started playing drums at the age of nine. He performed in the bands Grad, Smokey Blue, Rampant, and the Johnny Kalendar Band. When Allen 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. Allen celebrated his 16th birthday with a performance at the Hammersmith Odeon, when Def Leppard opened for AC/DC.

Car crash and recovery

On the afternoon of 31 December 1984, Allen was involved in a car crash, with his then-girlfriend Miriam Barendsen, on the A57 road in the countryside a few miles west of

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

. While trying to pass another car at a high speed, he lost control of his

Corvette C4 The Chevrolet Corvette (C4) is a sports car produced by American automobile manufacturer Chevrolet from 1983 until 1996. The convertible returned, as did higher performance engines, exemplified by the LT5 found in the ZR-1. In early March 1990 ...

, which hit a dry stone wall and entered a field; his left arm was severed. Doctors initially reattached the arm, but the arm was later amputated due to an infection. Despite losing his arm, Allen 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 16 August 1986, when Allen was able to return to live drumming at the

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

festival 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. 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, pop, jazz, and blues. Hi-hats consist ...

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 much greater than the drum's depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. T ...

snare drum The snare (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 used i ...

, and a

tom drum A tom drum 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, though floor toms can go as ...

. In 2009, Yamaha announced the addition of Rick Allen to their artist roster. Allen 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. Allen 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 hardware. History Drummer and founder R ...

drumheads (usually he has coated Ambassadors on his drums and a clear Powerstroke 3 on his bass drum), Zildjian cymbals (mostly K customs, Z Customs and A customs), Ahead drumsticks and an LP rock cowbell. He previously used

Paiste Paiste (English pronunciation: , ) is a Swiss musical instrument manufacturing company. It is the world's third largest manufacturer of cymbals, gongs, and metal percussion. is an Estonian word that means "shine". Apart from cymbals and gon ...

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, Allen was arrested for spousal abuse and was sentenced to a work crew and ordered to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. He is married to Lauren Cuggino Monroe; Monroe is also a musician and Allen has contributed to some of her albums.

References

External links

RickAllen.comThe Raven Drum FoundationRick Allen
@ DefLeppard.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Rick 1963 births Def Leppard members English amputees English rock drummers English heavy metal drummers Living people People from Dronfield Amputee musicians