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Don Powell

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Don Powell
Powell signing copies of his biography Look Wot I Dun - My Life in Slade at Liverpool One's Waterstones in 2014
Powell signing copies of his biography Look Wot I Dun - My Life in Slade at Liverpool One's Waterstones in 2014
Background information
Birth nameDonald George Powell
Born (1946-09-10) 10 September 1946 (age 78)
Bilston, Staffordshire, England
GenresGlam rock, hard rock
OccupationDrummer
Instrument(s)Drums, percussion
Years active1960s–present
Websitehttp://www.donpowellofficial.com/

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.

Early life

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As a child, Powell joined the Boy Scouts where he became interested in the drums after being asked to join the band on a Sunday morning parade. After attending Etheridge Secondary Modern School he studied Metallurgy at Wednesbury Technical College. Powell then worked as a metallurgist in a small foundry before turning professional as a drummer. He was athletic and a keen amateur boxer, although an easy going personality. It was he who was sent around with the money collection hat amongst early audiences.

Powell became a member of The Vendors, a band that guitarist Dave Hill later joined. The Vendors became the N'Betweens and bass guitarist / keyboard player / violinist / guitarist Jim Lea joined at an audition. Powell then spotted Noddy Holder playing with Steve Brett & The Mavericks and he and Hill got Holder to join the N'Betweens. They regrouped as Ambrose Slade, changed the name to Slade and the success began.

Songwriting

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He co-wrote a number of Slade's earlier songs, mainly with Lea; many of them can be found on the 1970 Slade album Play it Loud. He also co-wrote one of Slade's Top 10 hits "Look Wot You Dun" with Holder and Lea in 1972, and made the breathing noises in the background of the song.

Drum choice

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Powell started drumming on a borrowed Olympic kit as a youngster. He moved up to a deep blue Hayman set for his work with Slade until the early 1970s. From there he changed to Ludwig, but in the mid-2000s he switched to Pearl as the original Ludwig firm had changed ownership. Currently he states he likes a four-piece kit with a shallow snare drum. Since 2020 he has played Natal Drums. He also exclusively uses Zildjian cymbals and has used Shaw Drumsticks for all of his career

Accident

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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.[1]

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.[2][3] 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,[4] 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.[5][6][7] He left hospital on 30 July[8] and by mid-August 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.

Post-Slade career

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After Slade split up in February 1992, Powell owned and operated an antique import/export company before he reconvened the band as Slade II later that year with Dave Hill. He remained active with various line-ups. In 1994, the band released the album Keep on Rockin'. The name of the band was shortened back to Slade in 1997. In 2000, Powell had a small cameo role in the BBC TV version of Lorna Doone.

Powell has been married twice and for a number of years lived in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, England. In 2004, he moved to Silkeborg, Denmark where he now lives with his Danish wife Hanna.

In December 2005, Powell appeared in the Channel 4 TV documentary Bring Back...The Christmas Number One.

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.[9] As the drummer with Colonel Bagshot, McCusker toured with Slade in the 1970s and the two have remained firm friends.[10][11]

Powell is now one-third of the group Quatro Scott Powell (QSP) alongside Suzi Quatro and Sweet guitarist Andy Scott. Don has played at two of Scott's 'Concert at the Kings' events at All Cannings in Wiltshire, and in 2017 he contributed towards a BBC Radio Wiltshire documentary of the life of former Status Quo guitarist Rick Parfitt.

In late 2019, Powell's side project, Don Powell's Occasional Flames, featuring Les Glover on lead vocals and guitar, and Paul Cookson's lyrics and poetry, released their first album and single which charted on several download sites, the highest position being 23 on Amazon chart.[citation needed]

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]

In late 2020 Don formed the Don Powell Band with the intention of touring again. He was joined by Craig Fenney, who was a member of Slade II with Don and Dave Hill. Whist still finalising the full line up of the band the Covid pandemic arrived and curtailed auditions and rehearsals. During the Lockdown Don & Craig put together a track to raise money for charity, a version of Let There Be Drums originally recorded by Sandy Nelson featuring some of the UK's finest drummers from many styles of music. Because of Covid restrictions this meant that all of the drummers had to work from home studios The producer on this version was Jon Bates, who since then has continued in a production role as well as keyboard player and member of the current band line-up. The obvious addition to complete the final band lineup was Steve Whalley, the original singer from Slade II. The Don Powell band have recorded songs with Jim Lea and also Bev Bevan as guests and have achieved strong success in charts such as The Heritage Chart

Biography

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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.[3] 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.[13] In 2013, Powell created his own website, and in early 2014 he published his diary entries for 1977 and 1978.[14][15][16]

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References

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  1. ^ Reading Evening Post - Saturday 9 Jun 1973 - Page 10.
  2. ^ "Slade Scrapbook - 1974 Press Cuttings". Slade Scrapbook. Archived from the original on 3 July 2017. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  3. ^ a b Bradley, Steve (16 March 2010). "Slade drummer Don Powell prepares to publish his biography". Birmingham Mail. Archived from the original on 22 February 2013. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  4. ^ Gibb, Bill. "Slade-mania is back... and everybody's having fun: Drummer Don Powell looks ahead to Glasgow show". Sundaypost.com. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  5. ^ "Genealogy Research Service".
  6. ^ Webb, Julie (4 August 1973). "Road to recovery". New Musical Express. pp. 8–9.
  7. ^ "Gary James' Interview with Don Powell of Slade". Classicbands.com. Retrieved 12 December 2009.
  8. ^ Daily Mirror - 31 July 1973
  9. ^ "Don Powell: Slade drummer visits The Beatles Story". www.beatlesstory.com. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  10. ^ Copp, Michele. "Review: RINGO STARR AND THE BEATLES BEAT". Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  11. ^ "Interviews". Don Powell Official Website. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  12. ^ Ben Beaumont-Thomas. "Slade drummer Don Powell 'fired by email' after 57-year partnership". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  13. ^ 'Look Wot I Dun: Don Powell of Slade' by Don Powell & Lise Lyng Falkenberg. ASIN 1783050403.
  14. ^ "News Page". Don Powell Official Website. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  15. ^ "Don's 1977 Diary". Don Powell Official Website. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  16. ^ "Don's 1978 Diary". Don Powell Official Website. Retrieved 25 July 2014.