Powell died on 5 April 1998 following a car crash while driving his Saab 9000 at 104 mph (167 km/h) in bad weather on the M4 motorway near Bristol. He had been dating a married woman who was having problems with her husband. Upset, she phoned him and asked him to come quickly to her house which was approximately 35 miles (56 km) away. As he was driving to her house, she phoned him again and asked "Where are you?" He informed her he was on his way and she then heard him say "Oh shit!" followed by a loud bang.
But he didn't become part of ELP, as ELP had broken up in 1979. In 1985 he joined up with Keith Emerson and Greg Lake as a member of Emerson, Lake & Powell. While I could see where the confusion sets in, he was never a part of the original ELP, but he was part of a semi-reconstituted ELP, in name only. 🙂
Different name, but was called ELP, and they did one tour, covering old ELP and Nice tunes and (it sez here) a Lake-era King Crimson tune, so, regardless of the nomenclature, they were ELP with a different drummer. It’s difficult to believe that they just chose the drummer on ability, good though he was.