Current members

Joe Elliott - lead vocals
Phil Collen - lead & rhythm guitars (1982-present)
Vivian Campbell - lead & rhythm guitars  (1992-present)
Rick Savage - bass
Rick Allen - drums

Former members

Steve Clark - lead & rhythm guitars (1978-1991)
Pete Willis - lead & rhythm guitars (1977-1982)

Def Leppard, in many ways, was the definitive hard rock band of the '80s.
Emerging in the late '70s as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, the group actually owed more to the glam rock and metal of the early '70s their sound was equal parts T. Rex, Mott the Hoople, Queen, and Led Zeppelin. By toning down their heavy riffs and emphasizing melody, Def Leppard was poised for crossover success by 1983's Pyromania, but skillfully used the fledgling MTV network to their advantage.

They intended to follow Pyromania quickly but were derailed when their drummer lost an arm in a car accident, the first of many problems that plagued the group's career. Def Leppard managed to pull through such tragedies, and they even expanded their large audience with 1987's blockbuster Hysteria.

Hysteria proved to be the peak of Def Leppard's popularity, yet their follow-up remained eagerly awaited in the early '90s as the band set to work on the record. During the recording, Steve Clark died from an overdose of alcohol and drugs.

Following Clark's death, Def Leppard resolved to finish their forthcoming album as a quartet, releasing Adrenalize in the spring of 1992. Adrenalize was greeted with mixed reviews, and even though the album debuted at number one and contained several hit singles, including "Let's Get Rocked," "Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad," and "Make Love Like a Man," the record was a commercial disappointment in the wake of Pyromania and Hysteria. After the release of Adrenalize, the group added former Whitesnake guitarist Vivian Campbell.

In 1993, Def Leppard released the rarities collection Retro Active, featuring a new single, "Miss You in a Heartbeat," which scraped the lower reaches of the Top 40. Two years later, the group released the greatest-hits collection Vault while preparing their sixth album. Slang arrived in the spring of 1996, and while it was more adventurous than its predecessor, it was greeted with indifference, proving that Leppard's heyday had indeed passed, and they were now simply a very popular cult band. Undaunted, Def Leppard soldiered on, returning to their patented pop-metal sound for Euphoria, which was released in June of 1999. The record failed to produce a hit, resulting in a return to adult pop balladry on 2002's X.

In May 2006, Def Leppard released an all-covers album titled Yeah!. The disc pays homage to classic rock songs of their childhood, originally recorded by David Bowie, The Kinks, Blondie, and Badfinger among others.
The band, along with Queen, Kiss, and Judas Priest, were the inaugural inductees of "VH1 Rock Honors" on May 31, 2006.

The band's upcoming album is tentatively titled Songs From The Sparkle Lounge and is scheduled for release in 2008.