Stephen Clark

Guitar player and one of the original members of Def Leppard from 1977 until his death in 1991, Steve Clark was considered to be lightning in a bottle. He auditioned for the band wearing his guitar two notches too low, playing the guitar solo from Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Freebird". He adored the audience interaction and was a deeply troubled man. Steve had a severely disapproving father who never approved of his musician ambitions. The depression that came from that led Stephen to drink heavily. He died of complications arising from severe alcoholism at age 30.