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Guitarist Steve Clark is a self assured guy, but he wasn't always that way! With a little help from his fellow band member and friend, Phil Collen, Steve's carving a place for himself as one of the hottest guitarists around!
Def
Leppard's Steve Clark is, undoubtedly, one of the most sizzling guitar players in rock 'n'
roll today! He's a confident musician, and if you've seen him in concert or on MTV, you
know exactly why! But was Steve always the confident person he is today?
This Sheffield, England, native (who was born on April 23, 1960) has no worries about admitting there was a time when he was feeling rather low. This period occurred as the band members in Def Leppard struggled with internal problems when then guitarist Pete Willis decided to quit the band!
But, thanks to Phil Cohen, who joined the band during the making of the album Pyromania, Steve regained his confidence and inspiration in no time at all!
"I was probably getting into a rut..."
Recalls Steve of that rough period when he was without a fellow guitarist to share the workload, "I was probably getting into a rut before and would let a lot of things go by. When Phil joined, it was a completely fresh attitude. He was excited about working and his attitude rubbed off on everyone else in the band."
And of his friend as well as co-lead guitarist, Steve remarks honestly, "Phil's got an abundance of energy and everybody's delighted with the way things have worked out!"
With Phil in the lineup, life for Def Leppard and Steve improved right away. Says Steve proudly of the band's hot-selling LP Pyromania, "We all expected this album to do well. No matter how well a band performs, if its songs are a pile of junk, the group might as well not put any effort into it."
Steve has wanted to be in a band as long as he can remember
Steve’s
the first to recognize how important "effort" really is. He first learned to
play the guitar at 14 years of age, and he has wanted to be in a rock 'n' roll band as
long as he can remember. And now he's built a career that his parents, Barrie and Beryl,
and his two younger brothers, Kevin and Christopher, are very proud of!
But will Steve ever get too confident? Will success make him too big for his britches, so to speak? It doesn't appear so since Steve's still the modest guy he always was, despite Def Leppard's overwhelming success!
"Just because you’re in a group…doesn’t mean your opinion is right!"
Being a major rock 'n' roller is not something Steve takes for granted, as he states humbly. "As far as we're concerned, we all have opinions on different things. But just because you're in a group and you can broadcast them doesn't mean your opinion is right!"
And to prove his sincerity, Steve remembers that "we believe it's the kids who count!"