From the International SLADE mailing list:
A short note about Dave:
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Dave Hill probably had the most recognisable fringe of the 1970's and 1980's! Dave (real name is David John Hill) was born in Fleet Castle, Devon on 4th of April 1946. Good at metalwork when at school and learned to play the guitar from a friend. Dave is the only member of the band not born in the Midlands. He originally played in a band with Don Powell called the Vendors. The Vendors changed their name to the 'N Betweens, met Noddy whilst in Germany and then Jim when back in the UK. Slade were born! And the success began! You know the rest of the story!
It's amazing (to me at least) to think he's 60 - I shouldn't really be surprised at his age given my own, but I still think of him as he was on Top of the Pops in the early-mid '70s, strutting on stage bedecked with glitter, lurex and mirrors, anything shiny and outrageous. He's known for saying to Nod and Jim, 'You write 'em and I'll sell 'em!'. And sell 'em he did!
The last time I saw Dave in the flesh was in the winter of 1981 (I think) when SLADE played Cardiff Students Union and I helped out as a roadie after the gig. Outside, as the lorry was being loaded Dave offered me a Benson and Hedges cigarette - I stammered a decline even though I smoked at the time. How could I accept a cigarette from one of the Lords of Noize? Unthinkable!
Dave was on telly at Christmas on the C4 programme,
'Whatever happened to the Xmas Number 1?' when he was one of the '70s musicians brought in to help create a new Christmas song with David Essex on vocal. It's a nice song but was released too close to Christmas to have any impact and only available as a download.Dave is still a-rockin' and a -rollin' with Don as SLADE (previously known as SLADE2), mainly around Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, and playing some gigs in the UK (but not close enough to me so that I could see them).
Happy Birthday Dave, and keep on rockin'!
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