So Far, So Good

A lot of momentous events spurred me on to write my autobiography. Reaching seventy, surviving a stroke and seeing my grandkids born. Then Slade, as a touring band, being big again. These all made me stop and think, and for once, instead of racing forward, I looked back.

For the first time I asked myself 'how come Slade, at their peak, were so huge?'

Instead of just re-tracing my life and enjoying all the great moments and cataloguing our successes and achievements, I want to know how Slade became the biggest band in the UK in the seventies and massive all over Europe and Australia.
Slade didn't become a success over night. We'd been on the road, working hard, for years before our first hit, but then, in the very early seventies, we were huge. Our success and impact was often compared to that of The Beatles. That's still mind blowing to this day.

We had six roller coaster years of mega hits, huge tours and were constantly on the TV, radio and in the press. Totally amazing stuff and I still feel so lucky and proud to be part of that. So much was going on. We never questioned why we so successful or ever thought that it would stop. We were very much 'in the moment'.

Then, after the break up of the first group, Don and I were so busy with taking the new Slade on the road. Even in our seventies, we're still busy touring, playing parts of the world which we've never visited before and seeing loads more fans than we ever did in the seventies and eighties. It's been a real eye-opener.

In writing my autobiography I've finally had chance to stand back, look at what Slade did and, in some ways, work out how Slade became so successful. This is obviously not just about the band; our music and our 'look', which are important, but is about many other things.

Slade's success is about the culmination of lots of things happening at the right time. Also, Slade is, and always has been, about two things: the band, and our fans. We are one.