Def Leppard

Group

Def Leppard

From
Sheffield, United Kingdom
Since
1977–present
Rating
★ 4.1 (17 votes)
Releases
183
  • hard rock
  • glam metal
  • heavy metal
  • nwobhm
  • rock
  • pop rock
  • aor
  • classic rock

About

Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in Sheffield in 1976. Since 1992, the band has consisted of Rick Savage (bass, backing vocals), Joe Elliott (lead vocals), Rick Allen (drums), Phil Collen (guitar, backing vocals), and Vivian Campbell (guitar, backing vocals). They established themselves as part of the new wave of British heavy metal of the early 1980s.

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The band's first album, 1980's On Through the Night, reached the Top 15 in the UK but received little notice elsewhere. Their second album, 1981's High 'n' Dry, was produced by Mutt Lange, who helped them to define their melodic hard rock style. The album's most popular track, "Bringin' On the Heartbreak", became one of the first rock videos played on MTV in 1982. Their next studio album, Pyromania, the first with Collen featured on five tracks replacing guitarist Pete Willis who played rhythm guitar on the entire album before getting fired, was released in January 1983, with "Photograph" and "Rock of Ages" both topping the US Rock Tracks chart and reaching the top 20 of the Hot 100. Reaching No. 2 on the US album chart, Pyromania was certified Diamond in the US. The band's fourth album, the more pop-oriented Hysteria (1987), topped the UK, US, Canadian and Australian charts and remained on the charts for over two years. It has sold over 15 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time. Hysteria spawned six Top 20 US singles: The US Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 "Love Bites", "Pour Some Sugar on Me" (US No. 2), "Hysteria", "Armageddon It" (US No. 3), "Animal" (at No. 6, the biggest UK hit), and "Rocket".
Following the death of guitarist Steve Clark in 1991, the band recorded their next studio album, Adrenalize (1992), as a four-piece before adding Campbell for the subsequent tour. The album reached No. 1 on the UK, US and Australian charts. It contained several hits, including the Billboard chart-topper "Let's Get Rocked". The album's third single, "Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad", was a Top 10 song in the US, UK and Canada. Adrenalize went on to sell over eight million copies worldwide. The band's 1993 album, Retro Active, contained the acoustic Top 5 hit "Two Steps Behind". Their greatest-hits album, Vault (1995), featured the UK No. 2 hit "When Love & Hate Collide" and reached the Top 10 in several countries.
As one of the world's best-selling music artists, Def Leppard have sold more than 100 million records worldwide. They have received RIAA diamond certification for two albums, Pyromania and Hysteria, making them one of only five rock bands (the others are Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, Van Halen, and Pink Floyd) with two original studio albums that have sold more than 10 million copies in the US. Def Leppard were ranked No. 31 in VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock" and No. 70 in "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019.

From Def Leppard on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Heard on the radio

Members

Discography

Albums 14
EPs 11
Singles 64

Showing 60 of 64. See them all on MusicBrainz

Live 42
Compilations 42
Other 10

Links

Instrumental supporting musician

Named after artist

Tribute

Also known as

Def Leopard · Def Lepard · デフ・レパード

Tags

  • british
  • uk
  • hair band

Identifiers

ISNI
0000000123372817

Data from MusicBrainz, saved 7 Nov 2026. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, covers from the Cover Art Archive and Apple Music.