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Steamin
Steve Clark



Full name: Stephen Maynard Clark Birthdate: April 23, 1960
Birthplace: Sheffield, UK
Died: January 8, 1991
Instrument: guitars/vocals
Steve joined Def Leppard after being introduced to the band by Pete Willis.
One of Steve's nicknames was "The Riffmaster",
which he earned after coming up with the most original guitar riffs
in Def Leppard's history
(and the music history in general),
over and over again.
During the "ADRENALIZE" sessions,

Steve died on January 8, 1991, after a long period of battling alcoholism.
Steve Clark got his first guitar when he was eleven.
His father, a free-lance cabdriver,
gave it to Clark for Christmas on the condition that he take lessons.
So young Steve learned to play classical pieces by Bach
and Vivialdi with the same studious patience
that he copied licks off of Led Zeppelin
and Thin Lizzy records.
In January 1978,
he joined the original lineup of Def Leppard -
featuring Elliott, bassist Rick Savage
and guitarist Pete Willis (Who left in 1982)
- after blowing them away
with a note-for-note rendition of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird,"
including the extended solo section at the end.

But Clark had melodic imagination as well as chops.
He wrote many of the searing riffs and catchy guitar
hooks that distinguished Def Leppard's classy
heavy-melody repertoire.
In a 1985 interview, Savage recalled how Clark rushed into the band's
Sheffield rehearsal room one evening in 1978
and started playing a riff that had come to him
on his way over in the bus:
"It was a brilliant riff, but he didn't say anything to anybody when he first came in,
in case he forgot it. He just ran across the room,
picked up his guitar and started playing this riff.
But he had more than just the riff.
He'd put chords after it for the bridge,
and he had an idea for the middle section.
He walked off that bus with an instant song."
That song was "Wasted," which later became a highlight of Def Leppard's live show.

Together with guitarist Phil Collen
(Who replaced Willis),
Clark was also instrumental in developing the soaring six string chorales
that fueled Def Leppard's brand of epic hard-rock classisism
on Pyromania and Hysteria.
"He would give us bits of songs," said Elliott.
"We would listen to his riff tapes and go,
`Well, Phil has a good riff that will go neat with that.'
Then there would be times when Phil or Sav would come in with a complete song
that was good, but Steve would say,
"Well, why don't we do this with it?"
And he would turn a good song into a great song."

The Leppards enjoyed their first
taste of stardom at a young age. In January 1979, the group issued its vinyl
debut, a self-financed EP on the band's own
Bludgeon Riffola label. The Def Leppard EP sold more than 15,000 copies
and established the Leppards as the flagship of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal,
a new generation of U.K. metal bands that
also included future superstars Iron Maiden.
Within eighteen moths, Def Leppard signed a worldwide deal with Phonogram Records,
raced into the British top twenty with its debut album,
On Through The Night, and embarked on its first major tour of the U.S.,
where the group opened for personal heros like Ted Nugent.

Def Leppard ascended into the big leagues with Pyromania and Hysteria
which together sold over 17 million copies.
Clark remained a quiet, shy but very
friendly guy amid the furor.
Onstage, though, he was something else again,
zipping back and forth with his trademark Gibson
Les Paul guitar hanging down almost to his knees.
"He could really really fill the stage,"
said Elliott. "He used to do the Chuck berry thing, stutting across the stage.
And where Chuck Berry would do it at five miles an hour,
Steve would do it ninety in reverse.
You had to get out of his way or you were going to get knocked offstage.
"He'd be so quiet offstage," Elliott continued.
"Then he would get up there and explode into this guitar god.
That was his thing. He didn't have any hobbies whatsoever.
He did crosswords. That was the nearest thing he had to something outside of the band.
But his guitar was it. Playing his guitar and having a drink afterwards -
those were the two most important things in his life."