12 Facts About Don Powell

Donald George Powell was born on 10 September 1946 and 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.

Don Powell has three siblings, a brother and two sisters.

Don Powell attended Villiers Road Primary School from 1950 to 1957 and started to play drums for the Boy Scouts in 1958.

Don Powell then attended Etheridge Secondary Modern School for Boys from 1957 to 1962, and studied metallurgy at Wednesbury Technical College in 1962.

Don Powell 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.

Don 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.

In 2013, Don Powell created his own website, and in early 2014 he published his diary entries for 1977 and 1978.

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.

Don Powell had worried about his leg relapsing while on stage, 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.

On 8 June 1973, Don Powell collapsed with heat exhaustion at the end of a show in Birmingham.

Don Powell spent the night in hospital but was declared fit to play the following morning when discharged.

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 fiancee, Angela Morris was killed instantly.