Steve is born on April 23, 1960 in Hillsborough (Northern Sheffield, UK), the first son of Barry and Beryl Clark. Caught by music at a very young age, Steve gets his first guitar at the age of 11, and learns to play classical guitar -- until he hears what Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page can do with his Les Paul. From that moment, Steve knows what he wants: to play rock n' roll.
In 1978, Steve is at a Judas Priest show in Sheffield, where he bumps into Pete Willis and Joe Elliott. They both invite him to come down to the Bramall Lane spoon factory, where the young musicians, along with Tony Kenning and Rick "Sav" Savage, rehearse with their band. After Steve plays some very impressive guitar parts, the rest of the band agree that Steve is the guitarist they're looking for to write and play their own material with.
One memorable situation occurred in 1978, when Steve was sick of rehearsing and not playing any shows. He told his bandmates that he would leave the band unless they wouldn't do a gig very soon. Put under pressure by Steve, Joe arranged the band's first gig at the local high school, which was only the first in a long line.
The first Def Leppard release, simply called "THE DEF LEPPARD EP," became successful partly due to Steve's strong riffs in "GETCHA ROCKS OFF" and "RIDE INTO THE SUN", and earned the band a record deal. On the first album, "ON THROUGH THE NIGHT", his riffs played another important role, especially in songs as "WASTED", "ROCK BRIGADE" and "IT COULD BE YOU". On the band's second release, "HIGH 'N' DRY", Steve's masterpiece can be heard: "SWITCH 625", an instrumental up-tempo rock song, all based on one recurring three-note theme.
The third DL release, "PYROMANIA", showed why Steve deserved his nicknames "Steamin'" and "Riffmaster": "TOO LATE FOR LOVE", "FOOLIN'" and "PHOTOGRAPH" are songs that are still popular among the fans, enough to be part of a current Def Leppard set list. During the recordings of that album, Pete Willis was replaced by Phil Collen. The combination Steve/Phil proved to be a perfect one. Both guitarists knew how to challenge, complement and inspire eachother, both on stage, off stage, and in the studio: on "HYSTERIA", the band sounds tighter than ever, with Steve and Phil being the perfect guitar tandem.
The long tour to promote "HYSTERIA" got the band into the world of drugs and alcohol even more than they were at the time. While Steve was a heavy drinker already, life on the road didn't make it easier for him. On stage, Steve was the guitar god. Off stage, he was unhappy and depressed, reaching for the bottle far too often.
After the tour, Steve's alcoholism got worse. He checked into rehab several times to get rid of the bottle, which seemed to control his life more and more. During the recording of the band's next album, things did not get better. Towards the end of 1990, the four other band members gave Steve a 6 month leave of absence, to get the "rock star" pressure off his chest and get himself together.
On January 8, 1991, even before those 6 months were over, Steve Clark died alone in his London home at the age of 30. After taking a fatal combination of prescription drugs and alcohol, Steve's battle with alcohol came to an end. Unfortunately, Steve Clark lost.
We miss him.
Quote from Steve:
"I remember lying in bed at night, thinking that when I get rich, I'll have a wall full of guitars."
Steve Clark died of a fatal mixture of alcohol and drugs according to the coroner's report released in London on February 27th. The report said Steve died of a respiratory failure due to a compression of the brain stem resulting from excess quantities of alcohol mixed with antidepressants of painkillers. The Westminster Coroner's Court issued a verdict of accidental death caused by non-dependent abuse of drugs and alcohol, with no evidence of suicidal intent. The thirty-year-old guitarist was found dead in his London home on January 8th.
According to the report, Steve fell asleep on the sofa after drinking heavily in a local pub with a friend. The coroner disclosed that the alcohol level in Steve's blood was three times the British legal limit for driving. Steve had battled alcoholism for several years and had undergone clinical treatment during the past year and a half. The autopsy revealed traces of Valium and morphine along with a fatal quantity of codeine. Steve had been taking painkillers as a result of a back injury. Although some British newspapers reports that traces of heroin had been found as well, the coroner found no evidence of the drug.
The members of Def Leppard made no public comment on the coroner's report. They have resumed work on their follow-up album to 1987's Hysteria, with Leppard guitarist Phil Collen playing all of the guitar parts.
-David Fricke
Steve’s memory lives on in his family, band mates, and his millions of fans all over the world. Steve ‘Steamin’ Clark may be gone, but he will never be forgotten.
