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.