Tuesday, 22nd October 2024
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9 Years Ago DEF LEPPARD's PHIL COLLEN Releases ADRENALIZED Autobiography

Def Leppard 1992. Phil Collen

Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen's released his first autobiography Adrenalized: Life, Def Leppard, and Beyond on this day in 2015 in the UK.

The book was initially released in Hardcover format in the UK.

It was then released worldwide (including North America) on 27th October via Atria Books.

The first ever autobiography released by a member of Def Leppard and dedicated to his late parents Ken and Connie.

Phil took part in a signing event on 19th October 2015 in California where some fans got to purchase the book ahead of its main release. View some photos from that event.

The book was co written with journalist Chris Epting over the last two years. It tells the story of his life from early years in London up to the present day and his career in music with bands like Girl and of course Def Leppard.

Phil talked more about the book in various interviews conducted around its release.

The book contains 240 pages arranged in four untitled chapters.


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Buy Adrenalized Online


Phil Collen Adrenalized 2015.

The Weeklings - Phil Collen Interview Quotes

A revelation from Adrenalized – you’re still not an official member of Def Leppard.

"Right! (laughs) I think they did sneak me in there somewhere though."

Why did you decide to write a memoir now?

"I didn’t, actually. I was at the Gerson Institute for a fund raiser and a friend of mine, Chris Epting, who’s my co-writer, suggested I write a book. I don’t really like the idea, as it seems egotistical but Chris convinced me we could do it in a different sort of way."

Digital Journal - Phil Collen Interview/Article Quotes

"It's notes of 57 years in 200 pages. That's it, really. It's like a TV show without the commercials. Me and my wife, Helen, went over it, and we changed a lot of it."

In this book, Collen discusses how Def Leppard's smash hit "Pour Some Sugar On Me" became extremely popular, and he shares his encounters with such global music stars as Robert Plant (of Led Zeppelin), Elton John, Mick Jagger (of The Rolling Stones), the late B.B. King, as well as Taylor Swift. He also opens up about Def Leppard's 2014 co-headlining tour with rock band Kiss.

Examiner - March 2014 Phil Collen Interview Quote

"It’s my story, everything from growing up, the Girl stuff, Def Leppard and all the other stuff that’s going on. I was asked to write it. I didn’t go, “Oh, I need to write a book.” It’s fascinating and there’s so much stuff there. There’s two books worth, so it’s an interesting concept."

Def Leppard 1992. Screenshot

Arizona Republic - Phil Collen Interview Quotes

"It wasn’t as easy as someone ghost-writing. I did these interviews with Chris, then me and my wife, Helen, we went through and pretty much redid the whole thing based on how I speak. So it really is me. Having said that, when you do a book, it's like a TV hour. You can’t get that much in. There’s so much that goes on. And there’s a lot of it where you go “This is irrelevant. It wouldn't interest me, so I don’t see it being interesting to other people."

Adrenalized: Life, Def Leppard, and Beyond - Book Description

A revelatory and redemptive memoir from the lead guitarist of the legendary band Def Leppard—the first book ever written by one of its members—chronicling the band’s extraordinary rise to superstardom and how they’ve maintained it for three decades.

Meet Phil Collen. You may know him as the lead guitarist in Def Leppard, whose signature song “Pour Some Sugar on Me” is still as widely enjoyed as when it debuted in 1988. Maybe you’ve heard of him as the rock star who gave up alcohol and meat more than twenty-five years ago. Most likely you’ve seen him shirtless—in photos or in real life—flaunting his impeccably toned body to appreciative female fans.

But it wasn’t always like this. Collen worked his way up from nothing, teaching himself guitar from scratch as a teenager by imitating his heroes. He slogged it out in London-based pub bands for years, long before Def Leppard formed and transformed from unknowns to icons (all thanks to a little album called Pyromania), from playing openers in near-empty arenas to headlining in those same stadiums and selling them out every night. But as Collen discovered, true overnight success is a myth. Like the other band members, he had to struggle and fight his way to the top; in the end, he says, “our work ethic saved us.” Just as it still does.

This is Collen’s story, starting with his first real taste of success and wild rock and roll excess as a member of the seminal glam rock outfit Girl. But once he joins Def Leppard, it’s also an amazing underdog tale featuring a bunch of ordinary working-class lads who rose to mega-stardom, overcoming incredible obstacles—such as drummer Rick Allen losing an arm in a car crash and the tragic death of guitarist Steve Clark, Phil’s musical soul mate, who lost his fight with alcoholism. Featuring personal, never-before-seen photos of Collen and his band mates on stage and off, Adrenalized is a fascinating account of the failures, triumphs, challenges, and rock-hard dedication it takes to make dreams come true.

Adrenalized: Life, Def Leppard, and Beyond - Back Cover Quote

"Apparently, when learning how to play guitar, you're supposed to learn chords first, which I did, but I was shocked to discover that I could play lead guitar or solos, almost immediately. And that's really what I wanted to do. I didn't want to play 'finger-style' or 'chordal-style' back musician. B.B. King never played chords. Like him, I wanted to be a lead guitar player straight off the bat. This was almost like being able to fly... What had seemed like unattainable magic was all of a sudden within my grasp."


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