Former AC/DC drummer CHRIS SLADE announces his retirement from drumming:
“With a heavy heart, it's bye for now'”
20-03-2026
Welsh drummer Chris Slade, who has spent the past 60 years playing with everyone from Tom Jones to MANFRED MANN, THE FIRM and AC/DC, has announced his retirement from drumming.
On Saturday, August 22, Slade released a video message via his social media in which he said: ”Hello, everybody. It’s with a heavy heart that I’m announcing my retirement from drumming.
“I’m near enough 80 years old. I’ve been drumming, professionally, since I was 16 with Tom Jones. I’ve had a good innings. And thank you all for coming to the shows. And I’d like to thank the other members of my solo band also, THE CHRIS SLADE TIMELINE, and all you lot for coming to the shows and having a good time. We know you have, ’cause you told us you have, which was, to get that feedback, is great. So please stay on THE CHRIS SLADE TIMELINE on Facebook, ’cause I’ll be posting, we’ll be posting stuff from now and again to try to keep you interested.
“So, what happened was that I had a stroke, as you probably know, about seven years ago — a small stroke, but it’s got worse,” Chris admitted. “And I’m afraid that has screwed me up. I’m really jealous of people like THE ROLLING STONES or Paul McCartney who are going well into their 80s, and I wanted to do that. But it looks like I can’t. So, as I say, with a heavy heart, it’s bye for now.”
Last October, Chris was asked by Anthony Bryant of The Hair Metal Guru about the possibility of writing an autobiography. The 79-year-old musician responded: “Oh, I’ve been writing the book — when I bring it out, I am gonna say, ‘This has taken me 80 years to write this.’ … I’ve been trying to write this book, and I have been writing this book, all the way for decades. And I get down to it now and again. I realize I have to get it finished now, though, because I’ve only got 20 or 30 years. (Laughs)”
Slade previously discussed the possibility of releasing a book in 2024 during an interview with Scott Itter of Dr. Music. He said at the time: “It’s virtually written, but I’ve been writing it for about 20 years, to be honest. So, it’ll come out one day. If I’m not here, it’ll come out. And I think it’s quite enjoyable. It might be three volumes, actually — I’m not sure. I don’t know how many words you need for a book; I haven’t looked into that yet. But it just needs collating now. I’ve got half of it done. Well, I finished a section just a few weeks back. And I hadn’t got out of the ’60s yet.”
He continued: “I wanted to write it myself, in my own words. And some people heard it. My missus has read it, and she thinks it’s all right. And she would tell me if it’s not, and I would get a ghost writer in. So I wanted to do it without a ghost writer. I really enjoyed Keith Richards‘s book, but that was a ghost writer also. But I really enjoyed it ’cause it sort of mirrored my experiences, ’cause we we’re from the same time. My first professional gig with Tom Jones was supporting THE ROLLING STONES.”
Slade originally followed Simon Wright in AC/DC‘s lineup, joining in time to play on “The Razor’s Edge”. When Rudd returned in 1995, Slade was shown the door and harbored some bad feelings about that for a while.
In 2024, Slade spent time promoting the latest album from THE CHRIS SLADE TIMELINE, “Timescape”, which arrived in July of that year.
AC/DC released their last album ‘Power Up’ in November 2020 under Columbia Records. the band has been on and off touring in promotion of the album across the whole world ever since.
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