Judas Priest

British Heavy Metal band preceding the ‘New Wave of British Heavy Metal’ movement.

The band was formed in Birmingham, England in 1969 by guitarist John Perry (who died shortly after and was replaced by Ernie Chataway), bassist Bruno Stapenhill, drummer John Partridge, and singer Al Atkins, who created a band name from Bob Dylan’s song ‘‘. In 1970, guitarist Kenneth K. K. Downing and bassist Ian Hill joined, replacing Chataway and Stapenhill. Drummers John Ellis and Chris Campbell replaced Partridge. Later, in 1973, Rob Halford and drummer John Hinch joined to replace Atkins and Campbell, respectively. A song from the last show with Atkins and Campbell and three from Halford and Hinch’s first were released in 2019 on the compilation. A second guitarist, Glenn Tipton, was also added to the line-up in 1974.

The line-up featuring Halford, Downing, Tipton and Hill existed between 1974 and 1990. Priest went through a number of drummers (Hinch, Alan Moore, Simon Phillips and Les Binks) between its formation and 1980 when Trapeze drummer Dave Holland joined and stayed until 1988. In early 1990 Racer X drummer Scott Travis joined the band. In mid 1990 the band was taken to court over the attempted suicide of two young boys in Reno, allegedly driven by subliminal messages on its Stained Class album. The case was eventually thrown out of court.

Halford left the group in 1993 to pursue a solo career. Ripper Owens, an Ohioan tribute band singer was chosen and recorded 4 albums (2 studio, 2 live) with the band. In 2003, Judas Priest’s 1990 line-up was restored when Rob Halford returned to the group after rekindling the relationship during work on Judas Priest’s 4-CD career retrospective “Metalogy.” K.K. Downing left the band in 2009 and was replaced by Richie Faulkner. This line-up recorded two more studio albums before Tipton had to retire due to illness in 2018. For the Firepower tour he was temporarily replaced by Andy Sneap, making Hill and Halford the only remaining members from the band’s early era.