Chris Slade, Former AC/DC Drummer, Announces Retirement at 79

Chris Slade, the Welsh drummer whose career spanned AC/DC, David Gilmour and Tom Jones, announced his retirement from drumming on 22 August 2026 in a video posted to the Facebook page of his solo band, the Chris Slade Timeline. Slade, who is 79, cited his age and health as the deciding factors. Yahoo Entertainment

Slade said he suffered a "small stroke" about seven years ago that has since worsened. He has been drumming professionally since the age of 16, when he began working with Tom Jones. "I'm nearly 80 years old," Slade said in the video, explaining that the cumulative toll on his body had made it impossible to continue at the level he expected of himself. Rolling Stone

A month before the retirement announcement, Slade revealed that the Chris Slade Timeline had to pull out of the Brudstock Festival after he fell and badly injured his ribs, requiring a hospital visit. That incident followed the lingering effects of the stroke, which he said had gradually worsened over the intervening years. Rolling Stone

Slade's career reads as a map of British rock and pop. He started as a teenager with Tom Jones, went on to work with David Gilmour, and joined AC/DC in 1989. He played on "The Razor's Edge," the 1990 album that marked the band's commercial comeback, and toured with them through the early 1990s. He left in 1994 when AC/DC reteamed with their classic-era drummer Phil Rudd. Two decades later, in 2015, Slade returned to AC/DC when legal issues forced Rudd to take an extended leave of absence. Rolling Stone

In recent years, Slade focused on his own group, the Chris Slade Timeline, which features James Cornford on guitar, Andy Crosby on bass, and Michael Clark on keyboards and rhythm guitar, according to a 2020 Rolling Stone interview. The band's setlist drew from across Slade's six-decade career. Rolling Stone

In the retirement video, Slade admitted to a note of envy toward performers like the Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney, who continue working into their eighties. He said he wished his body had allowed him the same. Rolling Stone

Slade did not announce any farewell shows. The video, posted on 22 August, stands as his formal goodbye to a profession he began at 16.