Jeff Rich

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Jeff Rich (born 8 June 1953, Hackney, London) is an English rock drummer, who is best known as a former drummer for the English rock band, Status Quo.

He helped out Def Leppard in August 1986, and played alongside Rick Allen who had recently lost his left arm in a car accident on 31 December 1984.

However, during Def Leppard's warm-up mini tour of Ireland, Rich accidentally missed a gig, and the rest of the band realized Allen could drum alone. It should be noted that he was never a member of Def Leppard, and simply helped them in a time of need.

Rich had done a number of sessions and he has played with Stretch, Judie Tzuke and the Climax Blues Band prior to joining Status Quo, where in 1986 he replaced Pete Kircher on drums. With Quo he was featured on their albums from "In the army now" up to and including "Famous in the last century".

During an interview in 1990 during the recording for Quo's Anniversary Waltz concert video, he described his pet hate as "Bass players who fiddle," as John 'Rhino' Edwards would always fiddle with his kit during sound checks.

He left Quo in Spring 2000 to spend more time with his family. He was replaced on drums by Matt Letley.

After leaving Status Quo, he began touring schools across the UK giving school children lessons on percussion, which he continues to do today. He can be found at his website[1].

During his time with Quo, Jeff used Paiste cymbals and Tama drums. Up until the Under the Influence tour in 1999, Jeff had his cymbals free floating from a steel-frame, which many noted as making him look like he was "drumming in a cage".

[edit] Charity work

“As a musician, losing my hearing was devastating. I started really struggling to hear people speak when there was any kind of background noise. I was constantly asking people to repeat themselves, which was frustrating and embarrassing.

However, since I accepted my hearing loss and did something about it my life has dramatically changed for the better. That’s why I am happy to support Hearing Concern’s message that ‘there is life after hearing loss’". [2]