Donald George Powell (born 10 September 1946) is an English musician who was the drummer for glam rock and later hard rock group Slade for over fifty years, from 1966 until he was fired by Dave Hill in 2020.[1]
Early life
Powell was born in Bilston in 1946. His parents were Walter and Dora Powell. Wally was a steelworker, and Dora made electrical components. He has three siblings, a brother and two sisters.[2] He attended Villiers Road Primary School from 1950 to 1957 and started to play drums for the Boy Scouts in 1958.[3] He then attended Etheridge Secondary Modern School for Boys from 1957 to 1962, and studied metallurgy at Wednesbury Technical College in 1962.[3]
Career
He joined The Vendors in 1964, who later that year changed their name to The 'N Betweens, then to Ambrose Slade in 1969, and a few months later on 24 October 1969, shorten to Slade.[3]
A long-time fan of Ringo Starr, Powell contributed the foreword to the 2016 book Ringo Starr and the Beatles Beat by Alex Cain and Terry McCusker.[4] As the drummer with Colonel Bagshot, McCusker toured with Slade in the 1970s and the two have remained firm friends.[5][6]
Powell collaborated with Lise Lyng Falkenberg on his biography since 2006, in part using the notebooks and diaries he kept due to his problems with short term memory following his 1973 accident.[7] The biography, titled Look Wot I Dun – My Life in Slade was released via the publisher Music Sales Ltd in October 2013. It covers in detail Slade's long career and Powell's life, which included booze-ups with Ozzy Osbourne.[8] In 2013, Powell created his own website, and in early 2014 he published his diary entries for 1977 and 1978.[9][10][11]
In February 2020, Powell announced that he had been fired by email by Dave Hill and would be forming Don Powell's Slade to perform Slade songs.[12] The reason for Powell being fired wasn't official, with many rumours made up about why Don was fired. Noddy Holder eventually confirmed the reason for Powell being fired was because he had missed a few gigs because of an injury; on 28 December 2018 when at Peterborough station, he snapped tendons in both of his legs and was hospitalised for five weeks, eventually returning to performing again on 1 November 2019.[3]
Powell had worried about his leg relapsing while on stage,[12] and just two days after retuning to the band following his injuries was advised by doctors that he would be crippled for life and be wheelchair bound if he didn't stop drumming, but he refused and so Dave reacted by firing him. According to Holder, many fans turned against Dave, and it affected him personally.[1] Soon after departing from Slade, Powell's website mentioned that he was fit enough to play drums again. He formed "Don Powell's Slade".[12]
Car crash
On 8 June 1973, Powell collapsed with heat exhaustion at the end of a show in Birmingham. He spent the night in hospital but was declared fit to play the following morning when discharged.[13]
At 1am on Wednesday, 4 July 1973, when Slade were popular in Europe and number one in the UK Singles Chart with "Skweeze Me Pleeze Me", Don Powell was severely injured in a serious car crash at Compton Road West, Wolverhampton, in which his 20-year-old fiancée, Angela Morris was killed instantly.[14][7] On a bend in the road, the car hit a hedge and a road sign and then smashed into a wall. Powell fractured his skull,[15] smashed several teeth, broke both of his ankles and five of his ribs. Surgeons had to drill into his skull to ease the internal pressure and he was unconscious for six days but he came round and eventually pulled through, finding the best therapy to be work.
Both Powell and Morris had been flung out of the car so it was impossible to tell who had been driving. Powell was unable to attend Morris's cremation six days later on 10 July.[16][17][18] He left the hospital on 30 July;[19] by mid-August, he was back recording with the group. When the Top 5 hit "My Friend Stan" was recorded, Powell was walking with the aid of a stick and had to be lifted onto his drum-kit. The accident left Powell with no senses of taste and smell, and he still has severe problems with his short-term memory, whilst his long-term memory has remained unaffected.
