| Don Powell | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Donald George Powell |
| Born | 10 September 1946 Bilston, Staffordshire, England |
| Genres | Glam rock, hard rock |
| Occupations | Drummer |
| Instruments | Drums, percussion |
| Years active | 1960s–present |
| Associated acts | Slade |
Don Powell (born Donald George Powell on 10 September 1946) is a drummer who founded the English glam rock group, Slade.
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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 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, and apparently had his nose broken three times. It was he who was sent around with the hat money collection 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 got in 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. It always amused them that they played there first rehearsal on April 1st.
Powell the wit of the group, was considered by Slade's fans to be one of rock's best drummers. Others maintained he, like Ringo Starr, was unspectacular but could fit a song very well, often finding tricky own style sounds. Early and later work is considered his best by most fans.
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.
On 4 July 1973, when Slade were popular in Europe and number one in the UK Singles Chart with "Skweeze Me Pleeze Me", Powell was badly injured in a serious car crash in Wolverhampton, in which his 20-year-old girlfriend Angela was killed. He 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 [1] [2] . By mid-August Powell was back recording with the group. When the Top 5 hit "My Friend Stan" was recorded, Powell was still 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 to this day he has severe problems with his short-term memory, whilst his long-term memory has remained unaffected.
When Slade split up in 1991 Don Powell owned and operated an antique import/export company before he reconvened the band as Slade II in 1993 with Dave Hill. He has remained active with various line-ups to this day and has released the albums Keep on Rockin' and Cum On Let's Party!. 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 he 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.
Biographically Powell is detailed in the 3 Slade Biographies; Slade by George Tremlet, Slade; Feel the noize by Chris Charlesworth and Noddy Holders autobiography Who's crazee now. Holder recounts that for a while Don was a drinking buddy with Ozzy Osbourne among other gems. He is currently collaborating with Lise Lyng Falkenberg on his own biography. This is in part that because of the memory failures from his 1973 accident Powell lived from day to day by notebooks. He recalls often missing girl friend dates simply by forgetting the next day. [3]