Slade drummer Don Powell (second from left in above photo) said he's been fired from the group, claiming the dismissal came via email. The drummer’s departure leaves only one original member in the band: guitarist Dave Hill (far right).

“It is with great sadness and regret that Don needs to inform his fans that he now is no longer a member of Dave Hill’s Slade,” reads a message posted to Powell’s website. “Dave has sent Don a cold email to inform him that his services are no longer required, after working together and being friends since 1963.”

A response from Hill, posted on the official Slade Facebook page, refuted some of Powell’s details. “Our parting of the ways has not come out of the blue, and his announcement is not accurate,” the message reads in part.

Powell had been the only drummer in Slade’s history, spanning the glam-rock group’s more than 50 years in music. In announcing his firing, the drummer also revealed plans to move forward performing Slade tunes as part of a new group, appropriately titled Don Powell’s Slade.

“We will post more news about the recruited members in due course," the message explained. "Don so looks forward to going on the road and seeing all the fans again." The post also noted that Powell is currently recording a debut solo album.

Slade rose to prominence in the early '70s, scoring multiple chart-topping hits in their native U.K., including 1973's "Cum On Feel the Noize," which Quiet Riot covered and took to the Top 5 in the States a decade later. Despite selling more than 50 million albums worldwide over the course of their career, Slade scored only minor success in the U.S. “Run Runaway” marked their highest charting U.S. single, reaching No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1984.

Still, the group proved influential to many artists, including Gene Simmons of Kiss, who once admitted that his band's "Rock and Roll All Nite" was "a direct bastard child of Slade's 'Mama Weer All Crazee Now.'"

 

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