Def Leppard are an English hard rock band from Sheffield who formed in 1977 as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. On the strength of their albums, Pyromania and Hysteria, Def Leppard became one of the top selling rock bands of the 1980s.[citation needed]

• 1 Music
• 2 History
  • 2.1 1977 - 1979
  • 2.2 1980 â€" 1983
  • 2.3 1984 â€" 1989
  • 2.4 1990 â€" 1999
  • 2.5 2000 â€" Present
• 3 Band members
  • 3.1 Current members
  • 3.2 Former members
• 4 Side projects
• 5 Discography
• 6 See also
• 7 References
• 8 External links

The music of Def Leppard is a mixture of hard rock, AOR, and heavy metal elements, and has been associated more with the glam metal movement of the 1980s than with the NWOBHM of the late 1970s, in large part due to their mainstream success and production. However, Def Leppard have expressed dislike of the "pop metal" label[4]

By the release of the Hysteria album, the band had developed a distinctive sound featuring heavily processed drums and effects-laden guitar sounds, overlaid with a multi-layered wall of husky, harmonised vocals. Def Leppard is one of only six rock bands with two original albums selling over 10 million copies each in the U.S. The others are The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Eagles and Van Halen.

Rick Savage (bass), Pete Willis (guitars) and Tony Kenning (drums), formed the band "Atomic Mass" in 1977 as students at Tapton School in Sheffield. Joe Elliott auditioned for a spot as their guitarist following a chance meeting with Willis. However, during Elliott's audition, it was decided that he was better suited for the role of lead singer.

Soon afterwards, they adopted the name "Deaf Leopard" (which Elliott had thought of in his school days). At the suggestion of Tony Kenning, the name "Deaf Leopard" was slightly modified to Def Leppard in order to avoid comparison to punk bands, and perhaps also as an indirect homage to Led Zeppelin's similarly styled band name.

While perfecting their sound as a band in spoon factory, the band added another guitarist Steve Clark in January 1978. Tony Kenning suddenly left the band in November 1978 prior to recording sessions for a three-song EP in late 1978. He was replaced for those sessions by Frank Noon on what was known as the Def Leppard EP.

Sales for the EP soared soon after the track "Rocks Off" was given extensive airtime by renowned BBC Radio DJ John Peel, considered at the time to be a champion of punk rock and new wave music. 15-year-old Rick Allen joined the band as its full-time drummer towards the end of November 1978.

Throughout 1979, the band won a loyal following among British hard rock/heavy metal fans, and were even initially considered the leaders of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (eventually losing that spot to Iron Maiden). This emerging popularity resulted in a major label record deal with Phonogram/Vertigo (Mercury Records in the US).

Their debut album, On Through The Night, was released on March 14, 1980. Although the album hit the Top 15 in the UK, many early fans were turned off by the perception that the band was trying too hard to appeal to American audiences,[citation needed] with songs like "Hello America" and touring more in the US (supporting Pat Travers, AC/DC and Ted Nugent). While performing at the Reading Festival in August (alongside fellow NWOBHM pioneers Iron Maiden), audience members showed this displeasure by pelting the band with garbage during their set.

The band then caught the attention of AC/DC producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange, who agreed to work on their second album, High 'n' Dry, released on July 11, 1981. Lange's painfully meticulous approach in the studio greatly improved on Def Leppard's potential from On Through The Night.

Despite mediocre album sales, the "Bringin' on the Heartbreak" promo clip became one of the first "metal" videos played on MTV in 1982, and this brought increasing visibility (and momentum) to the band in the States.

Phil Collen, former guitarist with the glam band Girl, replaced Pete Willis who was fired on July 11, 1982, due to excessive alcohol consumption on the job (Willis later resurfaced with the bands Gogmagog and Roadhouse). This personnel change took place during the recording of their third release, Pyromania, released on January 20, 1983, and also produced by Lange.

The lead single "Photograph" turned Def Leppard into a household name, supplanting Michael Jackson's Beat It as the most requested video clip on MTV, becoming a staple of rock radio (dominating the US Album Rock Charts for six weeks), and hitting #12 on the pop charts.

Fueled by "Photograph" and subsequent singles "Rock of Ages" and "Foolin'", Pyromania went on to sell six million copies in 1983, and was held off the top of the US album charts only by Michael Jackson's Thriller. The album has since been certified Diamond by the RIAA in the US, and is considered a classic in both the mainstream rock and heavy metal genres.

Def Leppard's US tour in support of Pyromania began by opening for Billy Squier in March, and ended with an audience of 55,000 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego, CA in September.

As a testament of the band's popularity at the time, a US Gallup poll in 1984 saw Def Leppard voted in as favourite rock band over peers such as the Rolling Stones, AC/DC and Journey. However, this popularity was not matched in their native England, a fact that greatly bothered them.

Following their breakthrough, the band moved to Dublin in February 1984 to begin writing the follow-up to Pyromania. Mutt Lange initially joined in on the songwriting sessions, but then suddenly declined to return as producer due to exhaustion. Instead, Jim Steinman (of Meat Loaf's Bat out of Hell fame), was brought in.

On December 31, 1984, drummer Rick Allen lost his left arm in a car crash on the A57 in the hills outside Sheffield when his speeding Corvette left the road on a sharp bend and went through a drystone wall. Despite the severity of the accident, Rick was committed to continuing his role as Def Leppard's drummer. He practiced drumming with pillows, and realised that he could use his legs to do some of the drumming work previously done with his arms. He then worked with Simmons to design a custom electronic drum kit.

The other members of the band fully stood behind Rick's determination and never sought a replacement. During his recovery, Mutt Lange eventually returned to the fold as producer, and Rick's triumphant comeback was sealed at the 1986 Donington Monsters of Rock festival, with an emotionally charged ovation after his introduction by Joe Elliott.

Def Leppard's fourth album, Hysteria, was finally released on August 3, 1987. The second single from the album, "Animal", reached #6 in the UK and finally turned the band into stars in their home country. Hysteria immediately topped the charts in its first week of release.

US album sales were relatively slow (compared to Pyromania) until the fourth single, "Pour Some Sugar On Me". The song hit Number 2, and Hysteria finally reached the top of the US Album Charts in July 1988. In October, the power ballad "Love Bites" would become Def Leppard's first (and only) Number One single on the Billboard Hot 100, and in January 1989 the band scored another US Top 5 hit with "Armageddon It".

Hysteria is one of only a handful of albums (and the third in rock history) that has charted seven singles or more on the US Hot 100: "Women" (#80), "Animal" (#19), "Hysteria" (#10), "Pour Some Sugar On Me" (#2), "Love Bites" (#1), "Armageddon It" (#3) and "Rocket" (#12). It remained on the charts for three years and has sold 18 million copies worldwide.

Equally as successful was the accompanying Hysteria world tour which ran for 15 months and saw Def Leppard perform "In The Round". The concept proved wildly popular with fans, as evidenced in the videos for "Pour Some Sugar On Me" and "Armageddon It" (and was later used again for the Adrenalize tour).

In 1989 Def Leppard won Favourite Heavy Metal Artist as well as Favourite Heavy Metal Album (for "Hysteria") during the American Music Awards. It was the first time that a heavy metal category was added to the awards show. (The category has since been deleted in recent years)

By the end of the decade, although Guns N' Roses and Bon Jovi garnered more mainstream exposure, Def Leppard had sold more records than any other rock band in the US.

Following Hysteria's mammoth success, the band quickly set out to work on their fifth album, hoping to avoid another lengthy gap. However, Steve Clark's alcoholism issues worsened to the point where he was constantly in and out of rehab. Recording sessions suffered from this distraction, and in mid-1990 Steve was granted a six-month leave of absence from the band.

Clark never reached the end of his leave, dying from an accidental mix of prescription drugs and alcohol on January 8, 1991 in his London home. The remaining band members decided to carry on and recorded of the album as a four-piece, with Phil mimicking Steve's style on his intended guitar parts.

Def Leppard's fifth album Adrenalize was finally released on March 31 1992. The album simultaneously entered at Number One on both the UK and US album charts, staying there for 5 weeks on the latter. The first single, "Let's Get Rocked", was an instant smash hit and its video was later nominated for Best Video of the Year at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards.

In April 1992, guitarist Vivian Campbell (formerly of Dio and Whitesnake) joined Def Leppard, making his official live debut with his band at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. Adrenalize yielded six hit singles and sold 7 million copies worldwide. Another successful world tour followed, but the band's fortunes began to be affected by the rise of grunge and alternative rock.

A collection of b-sides and unreleased tracks recorded between 1984 and 1993, Retro Active, was released in October 1993, preceded by the success of "Two Steps Behind" (from the Arnold Schwarzenegger film Last Action Hero). Another single, "Miss You In A Heartbeat", hit the Top 5 in Canada, becoming one of their biggest hits there. Retro Active has sold 3 million copies worldwide to date.

Two years later, Def Leppard issued their first greatest hits collection, Vault: Def Leppard's Greatest Hits (1980-1995), which has sold 8 million copies worldwide. Alternate track listings of the album were issued for North America, the UK and Japan.

The compilation included a new track, the ballad "When Love & Hate Collide", which became their biggest ever hit in the UK, hitting #2. It peaked at #58 in the U.S. On October 23, 1995, the band entered the Guinness Book of World Records by performing three concerts in three continents in one day (Tangiers, Morocco, London, England, and Vancouver, Canada).

Slang, released in May 1996, marked a drastic musical departure for the band by featuring darker lyrics and a stripped-down alternative rock edge. The US audience reception for Slang and its subsequent tour was a major dropoff from a decade earlier, but Q Magazine would nonetheless list Slang as one of the Top Ten Albums of 1996.

VH1 revived the band's fortunes in the US in 1998 by featuring them on one of the first episodes of Behind The Music. Reruns of the episode yielded some of the series' highest ratings, and brought the band's music back into the public consciousness (following years of burial by the alternative rock climate). The episode was even parodied on Saturday Night Live.

In an effort to capitalize on this new momentum, Def Leppard returned to its classic sound with the 1999 album Euphoria. The first single, "Promises", reunited the band with Mutt Lange, and hit the US Mainstream Rock charts for 3 weeks. The album was certified for gold sales in the United States and Canada.

On September 5, 2000, Def Leppard were inducted into the Rock Walk of Fame, on Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard by their friend Brian May of Queen.

In 2001 VH1 produced and aired Hysteria - The Def Leppard Story, a biopic that included Anthony Michael Hall as Mutt Lange and Amber Valletta as Lorelei Shellist (Steve Clark's girlfriend). The docudrama covered the band's history between 1977 through 1986, recounting the trials and triumphs of Rick Allen and Steve Clark. The July 18 broadcast still produced some of the channel's highest-ever ratings and is available on DVD.

A side project at the time consisted of Joe Elliott and Phil Collen teaming up with members of the Spiders From Mars (David Bowie's former band), minus the late Mick Ronson, naming themselves the Cybernauts. The group played several shows, covering Bowie's Ziggy Stardust-era songs.

Def Leppard's tenth album, simply titled "X", was released in July 2002. It saw the band's musical direction moving more towards pop and further away from the band's hard rock roots. In fact, some tracks were produced by the hit factory behind Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys.

Although greeted with generally positive reviews, X quickly disappeared from the charts, ultimately becoming the band's least successful release. However, the accompanying tour played to the band's strongest audiences since Adrenalize.

An expanded and updated best-of collection, Best Of, was released in October 2004 internationally. The North America-only version, Rock Of Ages - The Definitive Collection, was released the following May. Def Leppard would participate at the Live 8 show in Philadelphia, and toured in the summer with Bryan Adams. 2005 also saw the band leave their longtime management team, Q-Prime and sign with HK Management.

On May 23 2006, Def Leppard released an all-covers album titled Yeah!. The disc pays homage to classic rock songs of their childhood, originally recorded by David Bowie, The Kinks, Blondie, and Badfinger among others. It debuted at #16 in the US, their tenth consecutive Top 20 album and has scanned 140,000+ to date. It did very little business in the rest of the world though.

The band, along with Queen, Kiss, and Judas Priest, were the inaugural inductees of "VH1 Rock Honors" on May 31, 2006. During the show, The All-American Rejects paid homage to the band with a cover of "Photograph". Soon afterwards, they embarked on a successful US tour with Journey. That October, Hysteria was re-released in a two-disc deluxe edition format, which combined the original album, remastered for the first time, with b-sides, remixes and bonus tracks from single releases.

Def Leppard began their latest tour, the 52-date "Downstage Thrust Tour," on June 29, set to take them across the US and Canada. The openers are Foreigner and Styx (with the addition of REO Speedwagon or Kim Mitchell on some dates). The band's upcoming album is tentatively titled Songs From The Sparkle Lounge and is scheduled for release in 2008.

Promo poster from 2007 tour

• Joe Elliott - lead vocals, occasional guitar (1977-present)
• Phil Collen - lead & rhythm guitars, backing vocals (1982-present)
• Vivian Campbell - lead & rhythm guitars, backing vocals (1992-present)
• Rick Savage - bass, keyboards, backing vocals (1977-present)
• Rick Allen - drums, percussion, backing vocals (1978-present)

• Steve Clark - lead & rhythm guitars, backing vocals (1978-1991)
• Pete Willis - lead & rhythm guitars, backing vocals (1977-1982)
• Tony Kenning - drums (1977-1978)
• Frank Noon - drums (1978)

Phil Collen played guitar, uncredited, on Sam Kinison's "Wild Thing" from 1988. The video featured members of Poison, Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe, Guns N' Roses, Ratt, and Aerosmith.

Collen also produced and played on the 1991 album On The Edge from Australian band BB Steal.

Joe Elliott sang lead vocals on two tracks on Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood's 1992 solo album, Slide On This. His then-wife Karla appeared in the video for "Always Wanted More".

Various members of Def Leppard have played on tribute records for Jeff Beck, AC/DC and Alice Cooper.

Joe Elliott performed on two tracks to the soundtrack of the 1996 Sheffield-set motion picture, When Saturday Comes, the title track and an instrumental, "Jimmy's Theme".

Phil Collen has a side band called Man-Raze, which is set to release its debut album September 2007.

Vivian Campbell joined former Foreigner vocalist Lou Gramm and bassist Bruce Turgon on the one-album project Shadow King, in 1991.

Vivian Campbell has played with two side bands in recent years, Clock and the Riverdogs, and recorded a solo album, Two Sides of If, released in 2005.

• List of best-selling music artists
• List of best-selling albums worldwide
• List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart
• Terror Twins - Steve Clark and Phil Collen

• Def Leppard Official Site
• Def Leppard @ Sheffield Walk of Fame
• Def Leppard at the Open Directory Project

Alanis Nadine Morissette (doğumu 1 Haziran 1973 Ottawa, Ontario, Kanada) Kanadalı şarkıcı, şarkı sözü yazarı ve sinema oyuncusudur. Sanat hayatına Nickelodeon'un "You Can't Do That on Television" dizisinde oynayarak başlamış ve buradan kazandığı parayla Kanada'da epeyce satan ilk single çalışmasını ( Fate Stay With Me ve B yüzünde Find The Right Man) çıkarmıştır.

İlk klibi Friends'den tanınan Matt le Blanc'ın da ilk ekran deneyimlerindendir. İkinci albümüyle istediği başarıyı yakalayamayan Alanis Amerika'ya gider ve orada prodüktör Glen Ballard'la tanışır. Hemen çalışmaya başlarlar ve dünyanın en çok satan çıkış albümü (33 milyondan fazla) olan "Jagged Little Pill" kısa zamanda ortaya çıkar. "Hepimiz kardeşiz bu öfke ne diye" diyen Alanis kısa zamanda içindeki öfke ve kini çıkararak "You Oughta Know", ve "Forgiven" adlı şarkıları yaratmıştır.

Daha sonra medyanın ilgisinden bunalan Alanis gelmiş geçmiş en iyi kadın sanatçı satışını yapsa da müziği bıraktığını açıklar ve Hindistan'a iç huzurunu aramaya gider. Orada huzuru bulduğunu belirtir ve yine müzik yapmaya başlayarak "Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie" albümünü çıkarır. Yazmış olduğu "Uninvited" ile Grammy ödülünü kazanır. Hindistana teşekkür ederek çıkışını "Thank U" ile yapar. Albüm yalnızca 7 milyon satmıştır ve eleştirmenlerce kötü olarak eleştirilmiştir.

Bunda sonra "MTV Unplugged" albümünü çıkarır. Aynı dönemde Kevin Smith'in "Dogma" sismli filminde Tanrı rolünde oynar. "Still" şarkısını bu film için yazmıştır. Ardından "Under Rug Swept" gelir ve Alanis "Hands Clean" şarkısıyla kendini tekrar tanıtır. Albüm satışı 5 milyon gibi az bir rakamdır. Bu albümle en iyi prodüktör Juno ödülünü almıştır.

Ardından "Feast on Scraps" adlı bir albümle hayranlarının karşısına çıkar. Diğer ülkelerdekilere konser performansını izleme şansı verdiği bu albüme aynı zamanda "URS" e sığmayan şarkılarını da koyar. Önemli şarkılarından biri "Purgatorying"dir.Daha sonra "So-Called Chaos" gelir ve Kanadalı aktör Ryan Reynolds'a atfedilen bu albüm ile onun artık eskisi gibi sinirli olmadığını, olgunlaştığı görülmektedir.

2005 senesinde Narnia Günlükleri filmine yaptığı "Wunderkind" şarkısıyla Altın Küre'ye aday olan sanatçı Jagged Little Pill 'in 10. yılı anısına akustik versiyonunu çıkarır. Yine 2005 sonlarına doğru "The Collection" adlı "Best of" albümünü çıkarır ve "Crazy" şarkısıyla yeniden popüler olur. "Limited edition" 'ına 1 saatlik belgesel ve konser görüntüleri koyan Alanis, 2006'nın başında müziği belirsiz bir süre için bıraktığını açıklamıştır. Nip/Tuck adlı estetik cerrahiyle ilgili dizinin 4. sezonunda, anestezi uzmanı Liz'in sevgilisi Poppy rolüyle ekranlada 3 bölümlük de olsa arz-ı endam eden Alanis, kendisiyle yapılan röportajlarda çok yakında stüdyoya gireceğinin de müjdesini vermiş, hayralarını heyecanlandırmıştır. Tabii Alanis'in "yakında stüdyoya gireceğim" sözünü geçen iki sene içinde defalarca duyan bir takım koyu hayranlar içten içe "inşallah bu sefer sözünü tutarsın" demekten kendilerini alamamışlardır.

• 1 Eserleri
• 2 Dış bağlantılar
• 3 Filmleri
• 4 Oyunları
• 5 Videoları

• Alanis (Kanada) (1991)
• Now Is the Time (Kanada) (1992)
• Jagged Little Pill (1995)
• Jagged Little Pill Live (DVD) (Grammy Ödüllü) (1996)
• Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie (1998)
• Music in High Places (DVD)
• Under Rug Swept (2002)
• Feast on Scraps (CD+DVD) (2002)
• VH1 Storytellers (DVD)
• So-Called Chaos (2004)
• Jagged Little Pill Acoustic (2005)
• The Collection (2005)
• The Collection Limited Edition (CD+DVD) (2005)

• Alanis Morissette Resmi Site
• Alanis Morissete IMDB Sayfası
• Resmi olmayan bir fan sitesi

• Dogma (Ben Affleck ve Matt Damon Yönetmen: Kevin Smith tanrı rolünde)
• De-Lovely (Ülkemizde DVD'si Cole Porter'ın aşkı adıyla satışta)
• Just Friends (DVD'deki çıkarılmış sahnelerde izlenebilir)

• Vajina Monologları
• The Exonerated

• [1]
• [2]
• [3]
• [4]
• [5]
• Thank You [6]
• Crazy [7]
• Everything [8]
• You Oughta Know [9]
• Ironic [10]
• Hands Clean [11]

Whitesnake are an English hard rock band, founded in 1977 by David Coverdale (formerly of Deep Purple). They were active primarily in the 1980s, but still tour, albeit with an entirely new line-up (bar Coverdale and Aldridge), to this day.

Some of the most famous musicians who have joined the band for a time were: Jon Lord, Ian Paice, Cozy Powell, Neil Murray, Bernie Marsden, Micky Moody, John Sykes, Adrian Vandenberg, Vivian Campbell, Tommy Aldridge and Steve Vai.

Throughout its career, the band has been compared by critics to Deep Purple, not only because three past members of the band were once in Deep Purple, but also because of their sound and influences.

• 1 History
  • 1.1 Pre-history/formation: David Coverdale's backing band (1977-1978)
  • 1.2 First Era (1978-1982)
  • 1.3 Reformation: Transformation to Glam metal (1982-1991)
    • 1.3.1 Shift from blues to rock music
    • 1.3.2 From rock to glam
  • 1.4 Hiatus (1991-2003)
    • 1.4.1 First revival - Greatest Hits tour (1994)
    • 1.4.2 Second revival - Starkers in Tokyo and Restless Heart (1997-1998)
  • 1.5 25th Anniversary Reformation (2002-present)
    • 1.5.1 Recent events
    • 1.5.2 In Popular Culture
• 2 Discography
• 3 Band members
• 4 References
• 5 External links

David Coverdale officially founded Whitesnake in 1978; However the core lineup had been working as his backing band (he called them 'The White Snake Band' on the White Snake album tour, and they retained the title) on tour prior to Whitesnake's official founding. They toured with him in support for both of the solo albums he released between exiting Deep Purple and founding Whitesnake - White Snake (1977) and Northwinds (1978)

During the band's early years, its music was primarily blues rock (although, Coverdale himself described Whitesnake's early style as, "progressive R&B") [2]. At this time, the band was made up of Coverdale, Bernie Marsden, Micky Moody and Neil Murray. The drummer and keyboard slot changed a few times.

Their first 7" EP, Snakebite (1978), includes the well known track, "Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City", a re-arrangement of Bobby "Blue" Bland's song, which was the first hit from the band and a classic from their gigs, even today. Subsequent reissues of this EP included four bonus tracks from Coverdale's second solo album Northwinds produced by Roger Glover. All four tracks from the original EP have been included in a 2006 reissue of Trouble. The album had varied success throughout the UK.

In August 1978, some months after the release of the EP, Jon Lord joined the group, and helped to record, Trouble. After Trouble was recorded, Whitesnake toured Europe to promote it. Their first live album, Live at Hammersmith (1979) was the result of this tour. Also in 1979, Ian Paice joined the band, helping to record Ready an' Willing.

As a result, the early recordings of the band were very successful in Europe, with singles "Fool for Your Loving" and "Don't Break My Heart Again" (B/W "Child of Babylon") entering the UK charts. Although popular with European fans, Whitesnake had yet to find commercial success in the US.

During 1982 Coverdale took time off to look after his sick daughter. He decided to break up the band, temporarily.

When David Coverdale returned to music he reformed Whitesnake a slightly changed man, with different musical preferences.. The first major change in the band's line-up occurred right after the recording of 1982's Saints & Sinners album, when most of the band (including lead guitarist, Bernie Marsden, drummer, Ian Paice, and bass player Neil Murray) were fired (or "quit" depending on who you ask). Marsden was replaced by Mel Galley (of Trapeze fame), Murray was replaced with Colin Hodgkinson while Cozy Powell became the new drummer. This line-up recorded and released the original European and Canadian release of the Slide It In album (released January 1984).

After another major personnel shift (including the firing of Moody and hiring of John Sykes and firing of Hodgkinson and re-hiring of Neil Murray) and a major recording deal with the Geffen Records label, Whitesnake released a partially re-recorded and fully remixed version of Slide It In (guitar parts redone by Sykes and bass parts by Murray) for the U.S. market in 1984 (released April 1984). Coverdale initially hated the new Geffen re-recording of Slide It In, as he had found nothing wrong with the original, famously declaring that it had "lost its British bollocks". Despite his misgivings, however, the album did manage to give Whitesnake some much-needed US exposure, and David soon altered his opinion. Slide It In later went double platinum in the US on the back of 1987. The Slide It In album spawned the American album-oriented rock hits, "Slow an' Easy", "Love Ain't No Stranger" as well as the album's title track â€" although in Europe the band had a run with other songs, "Guilty of Love" and "Give Me More Time". While touring the first few months in support of the album, Mel Galley was forced to leave in the spring of 1984 due to an accident involving a broken arm, leaving John Sykes solely handling the guitars for the rest of the dates. A few weeks after Galley's departure, the next to leave was Jon Lord, who left to reform Deep Purple MKII. Keyboard duty was then handled by an off-stage keyboardist, Richard Bailey.

At the end of the tour, after their last gig in Rio, Cozy Powell left to join Emerson, Lake & Powell. Veteran drummer Aynsley Dunbar (of Journey & Jefferson Starship fame) was brought in for the rehearsals and recordings of the 1987 Whitesnake album.

Their next album, Whitesnake (entitled 1987 in Europe and Serpens Albus in Japan) marked the band's first mainstream success in the U.S. Thanks to the guidance of A&R guru John Kalodner, the album sold over eight million copies in the U.S. and also pushed sales of Slide It In from its RIAA certified gold status to over two million copies. The band's style was now quite different from that of their earlier years and was now more similar to glam metal.

The album's biggest hits were the power ballad, "Is This Love" and the #1 hit single, "Here I Go Again" (a re-recording of a song on Saints & Sinners in 1982). Other hit singles from the album were "Still of the Night" and "Give Me All Your Love".

The album's exposure was boosted by heavy airplay of its videos on MTV, which featured actress Tawny Kitaen, whom Coverdale later married. None of the band members who played on the album appeared in these videos, as Coverdale had fired all of the band members (John Sykes, Neil Murray and Aynsley Dunbar) prior to the album's release, except session musician Adrian Vandenberg, who had been hired to complete the album after the others were dismissed. Vandenberg's only work on the album was the solo on "Here I Go Again" though he became a full time member of the band shortly afterwards.

The resulting music videos from Whitesnake featured new band members Rudy Sarzo, Tommy Aldridge, and Vivian Campbell.

The band's line-up changed yet again for the 1989 album Slip of the Tongue, when Vivian Campbell left in late 1988 (he later joined Def Leppard). While preparing for the recording of the album, Adrian Vandenberg suffered a debilitating hand injury related to isometric exercises and was unable to participate in the sessions. With all of the foundation tracks completed, guitarist Steve Vai was called in to record all the guitar parts. The resulting album sold a disappointing three million copies.

After a period of inactivity, Whitesnake officially went on hiatus in 1991. Coverdale decided to try working with Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page on their Coverdale-Page project in 1992. His voice and style had in the past been compared to Robert Plant (also of Led Zeppelin), which may have inspired this. The album became a #5 platinum record upon release in 1993.

Despite the album's success, the Coverdale-Page tour failed to attract ticket sales outside of Japan. Due to the collapse of Coverdale-Page, Page decided to tour as Page and Plant with Robert Plant, Coverdale revived Whitesnake. The initial success of Page and Plant made Coverdale very conscious of his own lack of success, and just as Page brought back his best known musical partner (Robert Plant), Coverdale brought back the name that brought him to his greatest fame: Whitesnake.

In 1994, "Whitesnake: Greatest Hits" was released. As well as the release of the compilation, a new incarnation of the band went on a short tour in Europe (to help support poor sales), with former Ratt guitarist Warren DeMartini playing lead guitar and Denny Carmassi on drums. Adrian Vandenberg, one of Whitesnake's guitarists during the 1987-1991 period, also returned to the fold. Following this the band returned to hiatus upon losing their recording contract.

In 1997, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Whitesnake's popular self-titled album, Coverdale and Vandenberg released an unplugged-style show recorded in Japan entitled Starkers in Tokyo. This reunion inspired them to then work together on a new album - Restless Heart. This was originally to be a solo album for Coverdale, but record company pressures made him release it under the Whitesnake name (similar to the case of Seventh Star by Black Sabbath, originally a Tony Iommi solo project). However, despite a release in both Japan and Europe, it was never available officially in the United States. The album marked a return to the band's earlier R&B stylings.

In December 2002, Coverdale reunited Whitesnake for a 25 year anniversary tour. By the time of the anniversary in 2003, the band was ready. Joining Coverdale was; Doug Aldrich (guitar), Reb Beach (guitar), Marco Mendoza (bass), Tommy Aldridge (drums), and Timothy Drury (keyboards). That same year, they headlined the "Rock Never Stops Tour", with other popular 1980s rock bands. This line-up remained stable until early 2005, when Mendoza left to pursue the Soul SirkUS project and was replaced by Uriah Duffy.

In February 2006, Whitesnake released a live DVD titled, Live... In The Still of the Night, and announced a Spring/Summer tour taking in Japan and Europe.

In June 2006, it was announced Coverdale had signed Whitesnake to a new record deal, with Steamhammer/SPV records, to release a double live album entitled, Live: In The Shadow Of The Blues, on November 27, 2006 (November 24th in Germany, Switzerland and Austria). It was made up of recordings from tours since the reformation in 2003. It also included four new studio tracks (the first new studio recordings since 1997's Restless Heart): "Ready to Rock", "If You Want Me (I'll Come Running)", "All I Want Is You" and "Dog". These songs have been described by Coverdale as "three balls-to-the-walls rockers and a ballad". [3]

The band is reportedly working on a new studio album, to be called Good to Be Bad [4] and is currently slated for release in the Fall of 2007.[5]

In June 2007 a special twentieth anniversary release to mark the mega-selling album '1987' was released. Titled "1987 20th Anniversary Collector's Edition", this is a dual CD / DVD release. The album was remastered along with a host of bonus material like four live tracks from the recent Shadow Of The Blues Live set. It also includes the four promo videos for the album on the DVD.[6]

In the Venture Bros episode Fallen Arches, Dr Venture tries to teach his son Dean Venture about relationships and sex in an awkward montage that ends with Dr Venture making pelvic thrusts in the air and semi-hysterically asking Dean, "And there she was, writhing on top of the car! What was David Coverdale to do?" The scene was a reference to Whitesnake's Here I Go Again video.

• Official Website
• Whitesnake Spanish Blog

{{Infobox musical artist | Name = Stereophonics | Img = Stereophonics-promo.jpg | Img_capt = Left-to-right: Javier Weyler, Kelly Jones and Richard Jones | Img_size = 250 | Landscape = yes | Background = group_or_band | Origin = Cwmaman, Wales | Genre = Rock
Indie rock
Alternative rock
Britpop
| Years_active = 1992â€"present | Label = V2 Records
Vox Populi Records | Associated_acts = | URL = Stereophonics.com | Current_members = Kelly Jones
Richard Jones
[[Javier Weyler]
[[Daniel Knight] | Past_members = Stuart Cable
Steve Gorman }}

Stereophonics are a rock band from Wales with members Kelly Jones, Richard Jones (no relation to Kelly) and Javier Weyler. Kelly and Richard grew up together in Cwmaman, South Wales. Kelly and Richard, along with original drummer, Stuart Cable began writing and performing in working men's clubs together in 1992 as a teenage cover band.

• 1 Biography
  • 1.1 Formation and early years
  • 1.2 Signing and Brit Award
  • 1.3 Just Enough Education to Perform
  • 1.4 You Gotta Go There to Come Back
  • 1.5 New drummer appointed and Language. Sex. Violence. Other?
  • 1.6 Live from Dakota
  • 1.7 Other Projects
  • 1.8 Pull the Pin
• 2 Band members
  • 2.1 Current Full-time members
  • 2.2 Live Band members
  • 2.3 Previous members
• 3 Songs in pop culture
• 4 Discography
• 5 See also
• 6 References
• 7 External links
  • 7.1 Official Band Websites
  • 7.2 Band member websites
  • 7.3 Fan Sites

The three-piece began writing and performing music in working men's clubs together in 1992 as a teenage cover band known as 'Tragic Love Company', a name inspired by their favourite bands Tragically Hip, Mother Love Bone and Bad Company, although initially they were known as "Blind Faith" - but quickly renamed after discovering that Eric Clapton had a band of that name. The band later changed their name to "The Stereophonics", named after the manufacture of then drummer Stuart Cable's Grandmother's Gramophone. [1]

In 1996 the band were signed to a newly formed record label, V2. The record label was created by Richard Branson and were the first artist to be signed. Upon signing, they dropped "The" from their name and simply became "Stereophonics".

In February 1998 the band received a BRIT Award for the Best New Group. In the same week the band re-released the single "Local Boy in the Photograph" which in turn, reached position 14 in the UK Singles Chart. The band's debut album, Word Gets Around also went "Gold" in the UK from the heightened publicity .

In November 1998, The Bartender and the Thief, the first single from Performance and Cocktails, was released. It hit number three on the UK charts. "Just Lookin", was released next and reached number 4 in March 1999. The same month the much anticipated new album was finally released, entering at number 1 and within three weeks went platinum. Later that year the band played what was widely regarded as the best gig of the year in Britain in front of 50,000 people at Morfa Stadium in Swansea. They also collaborated with Tom Jones on a cover of the Randy Newman song Mama Told Me Not To Come for his album Reload.

Throughout 1998 and 1999 the band toured in Europe, Australia and the USA. On June 12, 1998 Stereophonics played to over 10,000 spectators at what has become one of the bands largest gigs. Footage of the concert was released in VHS and DVD titled Live at Cardiff Castle. As the title suggests, the concert took place in the grounds of Cardiff Castle in Wales.

The band took a break during 2000 as well as recording their third studio album.

The band released their third album, Just Enough Education to Perform in April 2001. The album included the critical track "Mr. Writer" which is about the lead singer's dislike of journalists and the media. The song caused controversy which in turn caused a lot of bad publicity for the band by the main stream media.

To promote the new album, Just Enough Education to perform, they [Stereophonics] played a two day festival which was called "A Day at the Races". The two day concert was held at Donington Park on the first day and Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on the second. The concerts were supported by Ash, Black Crowes and Proud Mary. Matt Bellamy of Muse fell out with Kelly because Kelly claims Muse demanded large amounts of money to support them. Matt Bellamy replied that this wasn't true, and in fact the Stereophonics has asked for a huge amount of money to play Reading Festival. Over 200,000 separate tickets were sold for the weekend festival in total. The performance was released on a DVD in 2002.

2003 saw the release of their fourth album You Gotta Go There to Come Back and a change to their logo. Drummer Stuart Cable was sacked from the band due to reported commitment issues, Cable at the time presented a TV show called "Cable TV". Because of this he missed several rehearsals and live concerts. He was eventually replaced by present drummer Javier Weyler. [2] Steve Gorman, The Black Crowes Drummer stood in for the bands live performances until Javier Weyler was appointed.

Towards the end of the year they did a sold-out tour of the UK, ending with a Christmas show at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, supported by Feeder and Ocean Colour Scene. The group took a break after their 2003-2004 world tour, which included a set at the Manchester Move Festival in July 2004.

Their fifth studio album Language. Sex. Violence. Other? was released in March 2005; it marked their first recordings with their new drummer, Javier Weyler. The band grabbed their first number 1 hit in the UK singles charts with the album's first single, the punky, upbeat "Dakota". The second single from the album, "Superman" was a growling, Black Sabbath-inspired rocker. This song however did not repeat the success of "Dakota", peaking at number 13 in the charts, partly due to limited radio airplay. After "Superman" came "Devil", which featured a controversial video and reached number 11 in the charts. The album was nominated for a Pop Factory award at the end of the year, losing out to Feeder's Pushing the Senses.

The band played in Vancouver, Canada in April of 2005 with opening band The Manvils. Following the concert, Kelly Jones invited The Manvils lead guitarist, fellow Welshman Mark Parry to join Stereophonics on the road as second guitarist in the band for their world tour.

On July 2, 2005, the group appeared at the Live 8 concert, in Hyde Park, London, playing to their biggest audience yet.

The band were scheduled to support Oasis for a number of dates across Europe in early 2006, but pulled out due to family commitments. After taking a break, they are currently working on their next album. In a diary entry on the bands official website, made on the 15 May 2006, Jones talked about how he felt that the new album was their best yet, and those who had heard the demos gave similar sentiments.

2006 also saw the release of Stereophonics first live album Live from Dakota. The album is a 2-disc compilation featuring 20 tracks spanning all five of the band's albums and capturing the best of their 2005 world tour. Rather than being a recording of single show, every night of the tour was recorded and the band picked out the best version of each song individually. The album also features a previously unreleased track Jayne.

In 2007 Lead singer Kelly Jones released a solo album titled "Only the names have been changed" while recording the bands sixth studio album, Pull the Pin. The album contains 10 tracks all named after a woman and features a simple arrangement of guitar, piano and subtle strings. The album also includes the song Jayne, a previously unreleased Stereophonics track featured on the live album Live from Dakota.

Drummer Javier Weyler also released a solo album titled Lagrima in 2007 under the persona Capitan Melao. The name Capitan means captain in Spanish and Melao is a Latin American slang word for swing, rhythm or soul.

The album has been described as being a mix of Bossanova, Bolero and Rock and being the consequence of someone born in Buenos Aires Argentina, growing up in Caracas Venezuela and living in UK that integrates his cultural influences and experiences.

Stereophonics' announced in late April the name of their forthcoming album Pull the Pin, which will be released in October, along with a download-only taster; "Bank Holiday Monday". The track was also available for free to people who pre-order tickets for the band's concerts in 2007. It Means Nothing is the frontier single of the album, set to be released in September before the LP is released a week later on October 1st. Fans who bought the Stereophonics 2007 iTunes concert were treated to hearing new song I Could Lose Ya before the album ever even hit the shelves.

For the preview of the album click the link below http://www.wordgetsaround.org/news/015.html[3]

• Kelly Jones (vocals, guitar, keyboards, main songwriter)
• Richard Jones (bass guitar, vocals, keyboards)
• Javier Weyler (drums, percussion)

• Tony Kirkham (keyboards)
• Adam Zindani (guitar)

• Stuart Cable (drums, percussion, vocals) 1992 - 2003
• Steve Gorman (drums, percussion) 2003
• Scott James (guitar - live) 2001 - 2006
• Aileen McLaughlin (backing vocals - live) 2002 - 2003
• Anna Ross (backing vocals - live) 2002 - 2003

• "Rewind", season one (2006), t.v. show "Friday Night Lights".

• "Maybe Tomorrow" (from You Gotta Go There to Come Back) is featured over the end titles of the film "Crash", which won the Academy Award for Best Film in 2006. It is also used in the 2004 psychological thriller Wicker Park, in episodes of Charmed, Cold Case, One Tree Hill, HBO's Tell Me You Love Me and Traveler.

• "Have A Nice Day(Stereophonics song)" (from Just Enough Education to Perform) is featured in Zack Snyder's remake of "Dawn Of The Dead".

• "Help Me (She's Outta Her Mind)" (from You Gotta Go There to Come Back) is featured in the Vince Vaughn film "Dodgeball".

• "High as the Ceiling" (from You Gotta Go There to Come Back)was featured in a 2005 commercial for a Nissan sports utility vehicle.

• "Devil" (from Language. Sex. Violence. Other?) is featured Dennis Leary's TV show Rescue Me in Season 3 Episode 1.

• "Dakota" (from Language. Sex. Violence. Other?) is featured in an episode of the TV Show "Veronica Mars".

• "Rewind" (from Language. Sex. Violence. Other?) is featured in an episode of the CBS TV series Cold Case.

• "Superman" (from Language. Sex. Violence. Other?) is featured in an episode of Smallville.

• "Long Way Round" is a song written and performed by Kelly Jones specifically for Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman as the main theme for their 2004 travel documentary "Long Way Round". The song is included on the single Dakota.

• "Pick a Part That's New" is featured in a 2000 film, Antitrust, starring Ryan Phillippe.

• "Just Looking" (from Performance and Cocktails) is featured in the Marc Evans film "Snow Cake".

• "Just Looking" is also featured in British film "This Years Love".

• Live from London (iTunes)

• Official website
• Official MySpace page

• Cider Lolly Brown
• Only the names have been changed MySpace

• wordgetsaround.org
• StereoBase