Hill - So here it is: how the boy from Wolverhampton rocked the world with Slade

Dave Hill was born in a castle in Devon and moved with his parents to Wolverhampton when he was a year old. As a teenager he taught himself to play guitar and in 1966 formed the band which would become Slade.

After the break-up of the original band, Dave eventually reformed Slade, and twenty-five years later, they are still regularly touring the world, playing to hundreds of thousands of fans. Dave married his wife Jan in 1973, and they have three children and five grandchildren. They still live in Wolverhampton.

www.davehillslade.co.uk

I dedicate this book in loving memory to my mom and
dad, Jack and Dorothy

Dear Reader,

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I have known Mr Hill, or H, as we called him in the band, for well over fifty years, and worked with him in Slade for twenty-five years! He could be infuriating, zany, demanding and impatient, but also very funny, without even realising it. He is incredibly loyal, and protects the privacy of the Slade background and behaviour fiercely.

My first impression of Dave, all those years ago, was that he was very aloof. When eventually I got to know him properly, I found it was just that he did not follow the herd, he ploughed his own furrow and did his own thing. Nothing wrong with that! From day one any hilarious criticism about his eccentricity, his dress sense or his haircut was water off a ducks back. I totally empathised with his outlook. He was never going to be the one to fade into the shadows on stage, or on television.

When Dave asked me to join what was to become the new N Betweens, I dont think hed ever seen me perform. It was drummer Don Powell and roadie Graham Swinnerton who were singing my praises to him. Theyd seen my previous bands many times.

Dave did put his case very well. He wanted the new band to have a big colourful image, and that was right up my street. He wanted three lead guitar players, even on bass. He also wanted to get away from the straight blues format their band had been known for. All this suited me perfectly.

As far as Im concerned Daves biggest musical contribution to the band was his sound. It was always big, unsubtle and unique. Even from the old eclectic style of the N Betweens, through to what became the Slade guitar sound. All without the use of lots of effects pedals.

Since I left the band in 1991 we have not always seen eye to eye on some things. Im afraid thats the nature of the beast in rock n roll! But we have always respected one another and still manage to speak often. Dave has come down from Planet H in the last few years and has got his priorities in life all sorted. We are now both in our seventies and were still able to make each other laugh a lot, no mean feat... COZ I LUV YOU Mr H.

Noddy Holder

You can all picture the scene, youve all been there. The little bedroom in your parents house, all your gear in there, your clothes, your records, your coat hanging up on the back of the door. That was where I was still living at the age of twenty-six, not all that unusual in the 1970s, I suppose.

Only my story is a little bit different. Ive got the number one record in the UK. Again. Im in Slade, the biggest pop group in Britain, maybe Europe. Im on the front cover of Melody Maker . Im on Top of the Pops all the time. Ive sprayed a halo of silver paint on that bedroom door around that coat my dads not best pleased with that! Ive got my Jensen with the YOB1 plate parked in the road outside the house.

Its not all sweetness and light though. My mom is in hospital, the nut house as we called it. Shes in and out of there a fair bit. My dad is devoted to her, and to me and my sister Carol, but Mom takes up a lot of his time. I suppose that meant we were left to our own devices a bit, that we could follow what we were interested in without anybody getting in the way, because Mom wasnt up to it and Dad was busy. Maybe thats why we both end up us as performers, looking for a bit of attention, not that I ever felt short of that!

In a lot of ways, that bedroom, that house sums up my story. For all the success I got, the places I went, the things I saw, it was never about escaping from home, which in my case was Wolverhampton. In fact, Im still there now, pretty much a stones throw from where I grew up mind you, I wasnt bad at throwing stones as a kid!

Its not just a geographical thing. I dont think Ive changed much from the kid who grew up on that council estate. For all the money and the fame thats come and gone and come again, Ive still got the same values I had then. My family means the world to me wife, kids, grandkids now, theyre the foundation of everything.

And then theres the guitar. I still love picking it up, having a play, getting up in front of people and seeing them having a great time with all those songs. Fifty years and more since I first got on a stage, theres still no thrill like it when I walk on stage with Slade now, still me and Don Powell together after all weve been through.

Then theres my moms depression, which has haunted me all my life, certainly later on. I dont know if its genetic, if it was the fame and the life I led, or whether I just didnt fall very far from the tree, but I fell prey to the same problems later in my life and had to fight my way out of that. And then I had to get over a stroke that hit me while I was up there on stage.

Its been some journey, a lot of extremes. Life has taught me a lot on the way, mainly that you cant have everything at the same time! In the end, getting everything in balance is what really matters, thats what makes it all work out, and I think Ive recently got closer to that than I ever did before, even when I was in that bedroom and on top of the music world.

Like I say, its been some journey. So here it is

I was born in a castle in Devon, which, for a bloke who ended up being called Super Yob, isnt a bad start. It was in Flete, on a 500-acre estate owned by Lord Mildmay of Flete. During the war one of the local hospitals got bombed and so he gave over a wing of the building to be used as a maternity hospital. It carried on being used that way until 1958, and I came into the world there on 4 April 1946.