Saxon

Saxon vocalist Peter "Biff" Byford is a Yorkshireman with strictly old-school values. Once photographed enjoying a cup of tea while his wife washed his car with her broken arm in a sling, he likes his metal plain and simple.

Saxon are best remembered for early-80s hits such as Wheels Of Steel and 747 (Strangers In The Night); thunderous gauche heavy metal anthems delivered with indomitable gusto. After years in the wilderness laboring under the unfortunate moniker of Son Of A Bitch, Saxon suddenly burst forth in big style from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, in 1979 with a debut album issued on little-known Carrere Records (a label better known for French disco releases than for daubs of South Yorkshire war paint).