Biff Byford

Peter 'Biff' Byford is a British vocalist for the heavy metal band Saxon. Born on 5 January 1951, in Barnsley, Yorkshire, Byford formed a group with guitarists Graham Oliver and Paul Quinn, bassist Steve Dawson and drummer Pete Gill in 1976. Prior to this, Byford had been the vocalist with Blue Condition from about 1970. In 1978, the group became Saxon and released a self-titled album in 1979. Coinciding with the so-called New Wave of British Heavy Metal at the turn of the decade, Saxon had eight British Top 40 albums and five Top 40 singles between 1980 and 1986. After this Saxon declined in popularity, eventually leading to a split in 1995 with Oliver and Dawson forming a new band with the same name. Byford's Saxon maintained a recording and touring career centered on Germany for much of the 1990s before coming back into worldwide attention with 2007's The Inner Sanctum. In April the same year, Byford released his autobiography, entitled Never Surrender.