This year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony is Friday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, and all this week we will shine the spotlight on members of the Class of 2019.
First up is Def Leppard.
Eligible for nomination since 2005, which was 25 years since their first release, Def Lep are headed in following their first nomination. Singer Joe Elliott tells us Friday's ceremony will be a great way to wrap up what has been a busy year for the band:
"The year for me -- it wasn't January through January -- the year started in March when we did the Royal Albert Hall for Roger Daltrey's Teenage Cancer Trust. And the reception that we got in the Albert Hall actually took us by surprise -- it was breathtaking. And that translated all the way through the stadium and arena shows that we did with Journey. And, to think that it will almost be to the day when we do the Hall of Fame thing from when we did that Teenage Cancer Trust gig. It's like, that's been one hell of a year."
Queen guitaris tBrian May, a good friend of the band, will induct them:
"For me, it gets more exciting the closer it gets to the day and I know sooner or later I'm gonna have to write a skeleton sketch of whom we should be thanking and make sure that we don't all end up thanking the same people. I don't even know if everybody in the band actually wants to say anything."
Going in alongside Elliott are founding members Rick Allen, Rick Savage, Pete Willis (who is no longer in the band), and the late Steve Clark, along with the last two members to join --Vivian Campbell and Phil Collen.
Collen says it was the support of their fans that actually paved the way for Def Leppard's nomination and induction:
"Actually our fans were the ones that were really getting upset with the fact that we weren't in there before. So, thank you to our fans. They really helped us get in there. So that was great. I'm really proud of our fans for doing that. It's very cool."
Def Leppard topped the Fan Vote with 550,000.
This year's other inductees are The Zombies, Roxy Music, Radiohead,The Cure, Janet Jackson and Stevie Nicks.
Facts & Figures:
- They formed in Sheffield, England in 1977.
- Their first release wasThe Def Leppard E.P.in 1979, followed a year later by their first album,On Through the Night.
- They hit pay dirt in 1983 with their third album,Pyromania, which has sold more than 10-million copies in America. It was the first album with guitarist Phil Collen, who replaced founding member Pete Willis.
- Their fourth album, 1987's Hysteria, has sold more than 12-million copies in the U.S.
- Overall they have sold more than 100-million albums worldwide and remain a big draw on the concert circuit.
- Sadly, the band has had its share of hardships, with drummer Rick Allen losing his left arm in a car accident in 1984. Original guitarist Steve Clark died in 1991 at the age of 30 from a combination of alcohol and prescription drugs. He was on a six-month leave from the band at the time of his death. And current guitarist Vivian Campbell has successfully been battling Hodgkin's lymphoma since 2013.