English group consisting of Noddy Holder (born 15 June 1950, Walsall, England) (el g, lead vo); Dave Hill (el g, vo); Jim Lea (el b, p, v, vo) and Don Powell (dm). Hill and Powell were co-founders in 1964 of the beat group The Vendors (and shortly afterwards The In-betweens) in Wolverhampton.

In 1966 the group gradually expanded the line-up, and Lea and Holder (ex-Steve Brett & The Mavericks) joined. Via Kim Fowley, the group signed with Columbia and in August 1966 released the single You Better Run. In 1965 the original group had released an EP in France.

In 1969 the group changed its name to Ambrose Slade and recorded the LP Beginnings on Fontana the same year. In the autumn of 1969 the group's management was taken over by Chas Chandler (ex-Animals and ex-manager of Jimi Hendrix).

Chandler changed the group's name to Slade and in 1970 got them released from Fontana to come to Polydor, where Slade had their breakthrough with Bobby Marchan's Get Down And Get With It in May 1971. The record was the start of a series of big hits in the period 1971-76 that attempted to turn the spelling error into an art form -Coz I Luv You, Gudbuy T'Jane, Look Wot You Dun, Mama Weer All Crazee Now, Cum On Feel The Noize and Skweeze Me Pleeze Me.

The hits gave Slade the courage to try the USA, where, after an unsuccessful tour, they returned to a flourishing punk scene that left no room for "old" names like Slade.

Slade played raw, unpolished rock with Holder's grating urchin voice in the foreground. The group was well known for its energetic stage show, and their strength as a live band gave them their second breakthrough at the Reading Festival in 1980; shortly afterwards they were in the charts again with the EP Slade Alive At Reading '80.

Slade have since had much success with the younger, HM-oriented audience. At the end of the 80s not much was heard from the group, which took a break for other activities: Holder as a radio host on northern radio stations, Lea as a producer for others and with one-shot projects with names like The Dummies and China Dolls. Hill composed and Powell sold antiques.

In 1990 Lea and Holder, with the group The Mission, under the name The Metal Gurus, re-recorded Slade's Christmas classic Merry X-mas Everybody. In 1991 Slade again signed with Polydor, which released Wall Of Hits with old hits and two new songs.