Joe Elliott

English rock singer (born 1959)

This article is about the lead singer of Def Leppard. For other people named Joe Elliott, see Joe Elliott (disambiguation).

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Joe Elliott

Elliott in 2018

Background information
Birth name| Joseph Thomas Elliott
Also known as| Zeff
Born|  (1959-08-01) 1 August 1959 (age 65)[1]
Sheffield, England
Genres|

* Glam metal
* hard rock
* heavy metal
* pop rock

Occupations|

* Singer
* songwriter
* musician

Instruments|

* Vocals
* guitar
* keyboards

Years active| 1975–present
Member of|

* Def Leppard
* Down 'n' Outz

Formerly of|

* Atomic Mass
* Cybernauts
* Kings of Chaos

Website| defleppard.com

Musical artist

Joseph Thomas Elliott (born 1 August 1959) is an English singer-songwriter, best known as the lead singer and one of the founder members of the hard rock band Def Leppard. He has also been the lead singer of the David Bowie tribute band the Cybernauts and the Mott the Hoople cover band Down 'n' Outz.[2] He is one of the two original members of Def Leppard still in the band and one of the three to perform on every Def Leppard album. Elliott is known for his distinctive and wide ranging raspy singing voice.[3]

## Early life and Def Leppard

[edit]

Joseph Thomas Elliott was born in Sheffield to Joseph William Elliott (1930–2011) and Cynthia Gibson. He was educated at King Edward VII School. Elliott met Pete Willis (a member of a local band called Atomic Mass) in November 1977 after missing a bus. Upon finding out that they were both musicians, Willis invited Elliott to meet the rest of the Atomic Mass members. The band spent hours talking and listening to records in Elliott's bedroom. Elliott tried out as a guitarist and, though the band had not heard Elliott sing, they were impressed by "his attitude and his ideas about being in a band" and he became the band's vocalist instead. The other members also took Elliott's suggestion to change their name to "Deaf Leopard." Elliott had invented the name for a band in his youth. Bandmate Tony Kenning suggested they change the band name to "Def Leppard" to distinguish them from contemporary punk bands like The Flying Lizards and the Boomtown Rats. The band claims that any apparent similarity of the name Led Zeppelin to Def Leppard was unintentional.[4]

## Personal life

[edit]

Elliott's first marriage was to Karla Ramdhani in 1989; they divorced in 1996. Elliott met Kristine Wunschel in 2003 while she was working on the crew for the X album tour, and they were married on 1 September 2004. Their first child was born in 2009, and they are also parents to a daughter born in 2016.[5][6][7] He announced on SiriusXM in March 2022 that he and his wife Kristine had another daughter who was born in 2020.

Elliott previously co-owned a Sheffield sports bar with Tim Cranston, a Canadian ice hockey player for the local Steelers.[8]

Elliott is a supporter of Sheffield United.[9]

## Controversies

[edit]

During a performance on 7 September 1983 in Tucson, Arizona, Elliott attempted to rile the crowd during the "Rock of Ages" crowd sing-along. He told the crowd: "Last night, we played in El Paso, that place with all the greasy Mexicans, and they made a lot more noise than that." Then, on 30 September, he apologised on an El Paso radio station for the racial slur he made while referring to the city on 7 September. The band later followed up the apology with donations to Hispanic charities.[10]

In 2010, Elliott criticised the British music press, which he accused of ignoring his band and narrowing popular taste:

> It's nice to walk down Oxford Street without being recognised but then again when music magazines write about us they take the piss because we're not as cool as Johnny Marr, who isn't as successful as us by a million miles [...] Rock's ploughed its own furrow for 30 years but still music magazines don't give rock its due [...] How many more front covers do Paul McCartney and Morrissey need? Our album will sell more than Morrissey's so why don't we get the same kind of respect?"[11]

## Discography

[edit]

Elliott with Def Leppard in 2005

With Def Leppard

Main article: Def Leppard discography

* The Def Leppard E.P. (1979)
* On Through the Night (1980)
* High 'n' Dry (1981)
* Pyromania (1983)
* Hysteria (1987)
* Adrenalize (1992)
* Retro Active (1993)
* Slang (1996)
* Euphoria (1999)
* X (2002)
* Yeah! (2006)
* Songs from the Sparkle Lounge (2008)
* Mirrorball: Live And More (2011)
* Viva! Hysteria (2013)
* Def Leppard (2015)
* The Story So Far – The Best Of (2018)
* Diamond Star Halos (2022)
* Drastic Symphonies (2023)

With Down 'n' Outz

* My ReGeneration (2010)
* The Further Adventures Of... (2014)
* The Further Live Adventures Of... (2017)
* This Is How We Roll (2019)

With Kings of Chaos

* Re-Machined: A Tribute to Deep Purple's Machine Head – "Never Before" (2012)

With Cybernauts

* Cybernauts Live

With various artists

* Beside Bowie: The Mick Ronson Story – Vocals on "All The Young Dudes" and "This Is For You"

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Jeffrey, Laura S. (2010). Def Leppard: Arena Rock Band. Enslow Publishers. p. 16\. ISBN 978-0-7660-3234-7.
2. ^ Wiederhorn, Jon (14 June 2010). "Def Leppard Frontman Launches Mott the Hoople Cover Band – Noisecreep". Noisecreep. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
3. ^ "Standing the test of time". Tuscaloosa News. 21 October 2017.
4. ^ Fricke, David. 1987. Animal Instinct: The Def Leppard Story. Zomba Books, London. ISBN 0-946391-55-6.
5. ^ "Rock of Ages: Life lessons with Def Leppard's Joe Elliott". Reuters.com. 12 July 2018.
6. ^ "Def Leppard Band Member Joe Elliott (Lead Vocals)". Deflepparduk.com. "Leppard Tour History"
7. ^ "Kristine Elliott / My Def Leppard". Mydefleppard.com. 1 May 1972. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
8. ^ "Retro: The stars of Players Café". Sheffield Star. JPIMedia. 24 February 2016. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
9. ^ "Def Leppard Sheffield: Joe Elliott on his love for Tony Currie, why Sheffield United and that huge Bramall Lane gig". The Star. 22 May 2023. Retrieved 26 April 2025.
10. ^ "Racial slurs | Michael Hutchence and Me". Archived from the original on 10 November 2013. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
11. ^ "Joe Elliot: Def Leppard don't get enough respect". Metro. 20 July 2010. Retrieved 2 April 2013.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Joe Elliott.

* Joe Elliott at DefLeppard.com
* Joe Elliott on Planet Rock

* v
* t
* e

Def Leppard

* Rick Savage
* Joe Elliott
* Rick Allen
* Phil Collen
* Vivian Campbell

* Pete Willis
* Steve Clark

Studio albums|

* On Through the Night
* High 'n' Dry
* Pyromania
* Hysteria
* Adrenalize
* Slang
* Euphoria
* X
* Yeah!
* Songs from the Sparkle Lounge
* Def Leppard
* Diamond Star Halos

Live albums|

* Mirror Ball – Live & More
* Viva! Hysteria
* And There Will Be a Next Time... Live from Detroit

Compilations|

* Retro Active
* Vault: Def Leppard Greatest Hits (1980–1995)
* Best of Def Leppard
* Rock of Ages: The Definitive Collection
* The Story So Far – The Best Of
* The Early Years 79–81
* Drastic Symphonies

EPs|

* The Def Leppard E.P.

Singles|

* "Wasted"
* "Hello America"
* "Let It Go"
* "Bringin' On the Heartbreak"
* "Photograph"
* "Rock of Ages"
* "Foolin'"
* "Too Late for Love"
* "Animal"
* "Women"
* "Pour Some Sugar on Me"
* "Hysteria"
* "Armageddon It"
* "Love Bites"
* "Rocket"
* "Let's Get Rocked"
* "Make Love Like a Man"
* "Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad"
* "Stand Up (Kick Love into Motion)"
* "Heaven Is"
* "Tonight"
* "Two Steps Behind"
* "Desert Song"
* “Miss You in a Heartbeat”
* "Action"
* "When Love & Hate Collide"
* "Slang"
* "Work It Out"
* "All I Want Is Everything"
* "Breathe a Sigh"
* "Promises"
* "Paper Sun"
* "Goodbye"
* "Now"
* "Four Letter Word"
* "Long, Long Way to Go"
* "No Matter What"
* "Rock On"
* "20th Century Boy"
* "C'mon C'mon"
* "Undefeated"

Other songs|

* "High 'n' Dry (Saturday Night)"
* "Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)"

Videography|

* Historia
* Live: In the Round, in Your Face
* Visualize
* Rock of Ages: The DVD Collection
* Mirror Ball – Live & More
* Viva! Hysteria
* And There Will Be a Next Time... Live from Detroit

Concert tours|

* Adrenalize World Tour
* Slang World Tour
* Viva! Hysteria
* Kiss 40th Anniversary World Tour
* World Tour 2015
* Def Leppard & Journey 2018 Tour
* The Stadium Tour
* The World Tour

Related|

* Discography
* Members
* Songs
* Awards and nominations
* Cybernauts
* Man Raze
* Down 'n' Outz
* Gogmagog
* Jeff Rich
* Frank Noon

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – Class of 2019

Performers|

* The Cure
* Perry Bamonte, Jason Cooper, Michael Dempsey, Reeves Gabrels, Simon Gallup, Roger O'Donnell, Robert Smith, Pearl Thompson, Lol Tolhurst, Boris Williams
* Def Leppard
* Rick Allen, Vivian Campbell, Phil Collen, Steve Clark, Joe Elliott, Rick Savage, Pete Willis
* Janet Jackson
* Radiohead
* Colin Greenwood, Jonny Greenwood, Ed O'Brien, Philip Selway, Thom Yorke
* Roxy Music
* Brian Eno, Bryan Ferry, Eddie Jobson, Andy Mackay, Phil Manzanera, Graham Simpson, Paul Thompson
* Stevie Nicks
* The Zombies
* Rod Argent, Paul Atkinson, Colin Blunstone, Hugh Grundy, Chris White

Singles|

* The Chantels – "Maybe" (1957)
* The Champs – "Tequila" (1958)
* Barrett Strong – "Money (That's What I Want)" (1959)
* The Isley Brothers – "Twist and Shout" (1962)
* The Shangri-Las – "Leader of the Pack" (1964)
* The Shadows of Knight – "Gloria" (1965)

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF
* WorldCat

National|

* Germany
* United States
* Czech Republic
* Spain

Artists|

* MusicBrainz

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