Dave Hill has been in the music industry for over 60 years, having risen to fame in the early sixties with his band Slade.
The guitarist, now 80, has rubbed shoulders with countless stars over the years, making friendships with A-listers from Sir Paul McCartney to Noel Gallagher and the late Ozzy Osbourne.
As the sole founding member still in Slade, Dave continues to play the occasional show with his current bandmates Russell Keefe, John Berry and Alex Bines.
They are soon to be heading to the stage in Henley-On-Thames for Rewind Festival August 21 to 23.
It will mark 35 years since the original lineup of Slade – Noddy Holder, Jim Lea, Don Powell and Dave – took to the stage for one final time before they split in 1991.
Ahead of his summer show, Dave spoke to the Daily Mail about his ‘deep friendships’ with his A-list pals.
Dave Hill, now 80, has been in the music industry for over 60 years, having risen to fame in the early sixties with his band Slade (pictured in 2019)
‘Noel Gallagher, in particular is someone I know quite well’, he shared. ‘He grew up with Slade and he formed the Oasis based on Slade, he said. He’s a really nice guy.
‘Noel said to me “The songs never date”. They’re just part of you that grew up with a certain kind of music, it becomes part of that and that’s the way we grew up.’
On his first encounter with Sir Paul, David recalled: ‘I was nervous meeting Paul McCartney when I made it because I’m standing looking at my childhood, I’m looking at my early years.
‘The Beatles were the most remarkable group in the world, so standing there talking to him, it’s a strange feeling because you’re trying to be really cool.’
Meanwhile, Dave’s friendship with Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne formed when they took over the Black Sabbath’s slot at Reading Festival in 1980.
Dave described Ozzy, who died last year, and Sharon’s marriage ‘fantastic’ before gushing over the love they had for one another.
‘We replaced Ozzy at Reading Festival, we weren’t even on the bill’, he said. ‘Ozzy couldn’t do it, his band wasn’t ready so we got asked.
‘It was literally a day or two before and we found out. Sharon managed us for a short period and I played with Black Sabbath when they were nobody.
‘It was suggested that Sharon would be very good and that we should go on the road with Ozzy in America because he’s massive. So off we went with Sharon and she was brilliant.
‘She was great at dealing with the record companies and promotion. She’s great and they had a fantastic marriage, you could tell always that there was a great love there, a great love. She was very experienced, very helpful.’
This year marks 35 years since the current lineup of Slade – Noddy Holder, Don Powell, Jim Lea and Dave – took to the stage for one final time before they split in 1991 (pictured L-R)
As the sole founding member still in Slade, Dave continues to play the occasional show with his current bandmates Russell Keefe, John Berry (pictured) and Alex Bines
The guitarist has rubbed shoulders with countless stars over the years, making friendships with A-listers from Sir Paul McCartney to Noel Gallagher and the late Ozzy Osbourne
Speaking about his close friendship with best pal and former bandmate Noddy, he said: ‘Noddy has probably been the closest person to me.
‘We’re more than friends, It’s a very deep relationship. We spent probably the best years of our lives, doing something we love together.
‘He comes down here quite frequently, and we go to an Italian restaurant. He was here just over two weeks ago, I was showing him all the guitars and we were talking about things.’
Dave is showing no sign of slowing down or retiring any time soon as he said ‘the buzz’ he still gets from performing is a feeling like no other.
He said: ‘If I thought I couldn’t do it properly, I wouldn’t do it or because I thought I didn’t like it. I’ll get myself checked out to make sure things are in order in my body because when I walk on stage, I always sweat a lot because I move around.
‘For me, it’s still the buzz. A lot of people will continue doing what they love doing until they leave us and I’m probably one of them, but I don’t have any perception of how long I’m going to live. All I know is, we’re in the now.’
Joining Slade at the festival will be Rewind favourites Kim Wilde, Soul II Soul, Roland Gift, The Trevor Horn Band, Blancmange, Bow Wow Wow, Peter Wylie (The Mighty Wah!), Tony Hadley, Nik Kershaw, Tunde (Lighthouse Family,) The Undertones, The Beat (featuring Ranking Jnr.,) Tom Robinson, Toyah, and Lotus Eaters’ Peter Coyle.
