In 1992, Vivian Campbell joined the mega-success rock group Def Leppard, stepping into the second lead guitarist slot left vacate by Steve Clark, who had died the year before. At the time, Campbell had gone a few years out of the spotlight after leaving David Coverdale’s rock supergroup Whitesnake before signed on with the Leps, a position he’s had for nearly 20 years that remains his most high-profile gig to date.

The Irish-born Campbell, who got big break back in 1983 as Ronnie James Dio’s hot-shot lead guitarist in the former Black Sabbath frontman’s newly created solo band, Dio, has always said that the guitar parts in Def Leppard weren’t really challenging to him and he was fine with that. Now, the guitarist is finally bitching about it, complaining that fellow Lep guitarist Phil Collen gets all the good guitar parts. Let’s just say, I told you so.

Today marks an incredible 20 years since the death of Def Leppard guitarist Steve Clark.

Def Leppard is sometimes, rather unfairly, known simply as “˜the band with the one-armed drummer’. Back in the late ’70s and for well over a decade, Def Leppard was one of the biggest rock bands in the world, selling albums by the millions and playing sold-out stadium tours across the world. As a part of the NWOBHM* its influence on rock and metal bands since has been immense. A big part of this was down to wildly talented guitarist Steve Clark.

Born in Sheffield, England, in 1960 he played guitar from a young age and joined Def Leppard in 1978. One of my favourite stories about Clark came from his Def Leppard audition: he played Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” in its entirety with no backing. He quickly became a key part of the band’s songwriting process, contributing both lyrics and music, and was known within the band as “˜The Riffmaster’.

Sadly Steve Clark battled addictions to alcohol and drugs for many years. He died of an overdose on January 8, 1991 at only 30 years of age.