Early Life and Def Leppard
Elliott was born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire and was educated at King Edward VII School. Elliott met Pete Willis, a member of a local band called Atomic Mass, in November 1977 when he missed a bus. After finding out that they were both musicians, Elliott met the rest of the band members in Elliott's bedroom. The band spent hours talking and listening to records. The band had not heard Elliott sing, but they were impressed by, "his attitude and his ideas about being in a band," and became the band's vocalist. The other members even took Elliott's suggestion to change their name to "Deaf Leopard." Elliott had invented the name for the band in youth. Tony Kenning suggested they change the name to "Def Leppard" to distinguish them from contemporary punk bands like The Flying Lizards and Boomtown Rats. The band claims that the similar-looking spelling of Led Zeppelin to Def Leppard was unintentional. Elliott soon became an integral part of the band while also contributing his songwriting skills.
As a songwriter, Elliott has drawn from his eclectic tastes in music (ranging from pop-rock to folk) as sources of inspiration. He also often comments that the lyrics to Def Leppard's music are almost never personal; they are meant to be easily accessible to the listener. He also plays guitar and drums as well as piano and electronic keyboard.
Joe Elliott currently hosts a radio show on planetrock.com on Saturday nights.
Read more about this topic: Joe Elliott
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