Chris Slade
Drummer (AC/DC, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, The Firm)
Christopher Slade Rees was born in Pontypridd on 30 October 1946 and grew up at Rhydyfelin, just outside the town. He took up the drums as a boy and, like a great many Pontypridd musicians of his generation, found his first professional break with the town's most famous son, Tom Jones, drumming with his backing band in the 1960s as Jones was becoming an international star.
In 1971 he became a founding member of Manfred Mann's Earth Band, playing on eight studio albums between 1972 and 1978, including the years of Blinded by the Light and Davy's on the Road Again. In the mid-1980s he joined Paul Rodgers and Jimmy Page in The Firm, and at the end of the decade he toured with Gary Moore and worked with David Gilmour.
In November 1989 he joined AC/DC, playing on The Razors Edge in 1990 and the huge world tour that followed, including the Live album recorded on it. He later spent six years with Asia, leaving in 2005, and in 2015 he was recalled to AC/DC to replace Phil Rudd for the Rock or Bust World Tour, staying until Rudd returned in 2020.