After years of personal photographic work, Allen ventured into the fine art world with a blockbuster debut collection of abstract artwork built from rhythm. Rick continues his work helping wounded warriors through Project Resiliency's Warrior Resiliency Program sponsored by his charity foundation the Raven Drum Foundation.Īn integral part of Rick's creative life went public in 2012. He was awarded the Humanitarian Award by Maria Shriver's Best Buddies in 2002 and in 2012, was also awarded the prestigious Wounded Warrior Project's Carry It Forward Award. Over the past 17 years, Rick has reached out to teenage cancer patients, children with special needs, at risk youth in crisis, families of domestic violence and veterans who have served in Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan. Since then, Rick has been reaching out and giving support to others all over the globe by sharing his personal experiences and his love of drumming. While he was already a hero to millions of young people, he soon added millions of new admirers. Read the story of the tragic accident that took away his left arm as told by the band. Rick lost an arm, but turned personal tragedy into spiritual transformation and continued his musical career. Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen lost his left arm in a car crash 36 years ago today in Sheffield, England on New Year's Eve 1984. At the height of worldwide fame in 1984, he had a car accident that changed his life. But the originals, they're really everyone that's inspired me over the years and probably the reason why I do what I do and I play drums with DEF LEPPARD."Īllen became the drummer for DEF LEPPARD at age 15. Regarding how he creates his "Legends" paintings, Allen said: "I'll do originals, and then we'll do mixed media based off of those. I just really looked up to him, and he's inspired so many, so many players on the drums. I was really devastated when he went… I didn't know him well, but he was always such a gentleman.
#Def leppard drummer accident series
All the things that we listened to growing up are leaking in, which it always has, but we didn't block it this time.DEF LEPPARD drummer Rick Allen, who has been expressing himself in recent years through his artwork, spoke to the BIG 100 radio station about his "Legends" series of paintings which includes Jimi Hendrix and John Lennon.Īllen, who started painting at an early age before he ever picked up the drums, said (see video below): "The last I did was Neil Peart. "On this record we were coming up with ideas that sounded like Bowie or Elton John, or Queen and Zeppelin. "We're back to the roots of what got us into music, not back to ourselves," Elliott said. The new songs see the band try to step away from the "albatross" of Hysteria, said Elliot, experimenting with piano, flamenco guitar and glam rock.
They have also just released 12th studio album "Diamond Star Halos" - their first in seven years - which they pieced together during the pandemic despite the five members being spread across England, Ireland and the US. The jovial singer, still rocking the long hair and sporting a pair of blue-tinted sunglasses, knows it can't last forever.īut he sees no reason the band's journey can't "stretch until 2035 when we're the same age as The Rolling Stones are now."ĭef Leppard are back on the road this summer with fellow rock veterans Motley Crue, Poison and Joan Jett. "But we've never taken any time off - if we were off the road, we were making an album." Sinatra did five of them," he said with a laugh. "The Scorpions have been on a farewell tour for, like, 14 years, Cher's been on one for about 20. We're very fortunate that we haven't had to do that," singer Joe Elliott told AFP. "We always joked that farewell tours are a way of saying that your ticket sales suck.
Now in their sixties, they have certainly earned their stripes in rock lore: surviving the loss of their guitarist Steve Clark to an overdose in the early 1990s, and drummer Rick Allen carrying on despite losing an arm in a car accident in 1984.
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