Rick Allen (drummer)

Rick Allen

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 and continuing to play with the band, which subsequently went on to its greatest popular success worldwide.

Biography

Childhood and early career

The son of Geofrey and Kathleen (Daly), 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.

Def Leppard

When Allen was 15, 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. Since their first album, Allen still continues to record and tour with the band.

Accident and recovery

On December 31 1984, on the way to a New Year's Eve party at his family's home in Sheffield, England, 21-year-old Allen was driving his Corvette when an Alfa Romeo 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, which sailed over a stone wall and into a field. He was thrown from the car, with his left arm severed due to the seatbelt not being properly fastened. The car ended up upside down, with his girlfriend Miriam Barendsen secure in her seat. She was not seriously injured, and found Allen in the field. They were helped by a passerby, who was a nurse, and Allen was taken to a hospital. Doctors initially reattached Allen's arm, but due to infection it was removed again. He left the hospital three and a half weeks later, with recuperation expected to last six months.

Allen believed that he could still play some drum beats with one hand, using 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 they 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 onetime 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. 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 20 million copies worldwide.

Allen's drum sets

1978-1984

Allen used Pearl Drums from 1978-1980. From 1980-1984 Ludwig drumset and Paiste RUDE,"2002" cymbals during the High 'N' Dry and Pyromania recording and touring sessions. The drums for the album Pyromania were computer generated.

His setup for 1980-1982 consisted of nine pieces: snare (6-1/2" x 14"), bass (16" x 22"), four rack toms (11" x 12", 12" x 13", 13" x 14", and 14" x 15"), two floor toms (16" x 16" and 16" x 18") which were suspended by a Ludwig cymbal stand, and a gong drum (15" x 16"). And in early 1983 he removed the gong tom and the two of the rack toms from his drum set. The reason when asked at a Meet & Greet was that the 13" x 14" tom broke and so Rick replaced that with the "gong" drum. Also, when asked why he removed the rest of the drums from the set, Rick replied, "I got tired of lugging them around on tour".

1985-Present

Most electronic drums use piezoelectric triggers which sense a hit from a drumstick or a 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. 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 100 Greatest Drummers Of All Time list.

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 2004, Allen collaborated with Krishna Das in the recording of a CD entitled All One.

Personal life

Allen was married on October 10, 2003, to Lauren Monroe. Allen is the co-founder of Raven Drum Foundation, a charity located in Malibu, California, to encourage disabled children to overcome their challenges. Allen also has a daughter from a previous marriage.

External links

• The Raven Drum Foundation
• Rick Allen @ DefLeppard.com

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