Dave Hill

Dave Hill
Dave Hill in 1981
Background information
Birth name	David John Hill
Born	(1946-04-04) 4 April 1946 (age 70) Holbeton, Devon, England
Origin	Walsall, Beechdale, Staffordshire, England
Genres	Glam rock, hard rock
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instruments	Sam Lee Custom guitar with Gibson neck and some later John Birch bridge mods, "Superyob" John Birch custom guitar, and of late uses a Gibson Les Paul double cut away Gold top, also backing vocals
Years active	1966–present
Associated acts	Slade

David John "Dave" Hill (born 4 April 1946) is an English musician, who is the lead guitarist and backing vocalist in the English glam rock group, Slade. Hill is known for his flamboyant stage clothes and hairstyle. The music journalist Stuart Maconie commented "he usually wore a jumpsuit made of the foil that you baste your turkeys in and platforms of oil-rig-derrick height. All of this though paled in comparison with his coiffure, a sort of demented tonsure with a great scooping fringe. He even had one around 1973 outfit famously called his 'Metal Nun' suit but later styles were much toned down."

Born in Holbeton, Devon, the son of a mechanic, he moved with his parents to Penn, Wolverhampton when he was a year old. There he attended Springdale Junior school and Highfields Secondary school. He bought his first guitar from a mail order catalogue and received some guitar lessons from a science teacher at his school. He then formed a band called The Young Ones with some school friends. He worked in an office for Tarmac Limited for over two years after leaving school.

He originally played with drummer Don Powell in a band called The Vendors, whose name was then changed to The N' Betweens. The pair then met bass player Jimmy Lea and singer Noddy Holder, whereafter Slade was born.

Though Hill is left-handed, he played and still plays guitar right-handed. Hill's best known guitar was the "John Birch Superyob" that was built in 1973. The guitar was used by Madness guitarist Chris Foreman in the video for Madness' song "Shut Up" and is now owned by Marco Pirroni of Adam and the Ants.