Rob Halford

Rob Halford

Robert John Arthur Halford (born August 25, 1951) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist for the heavy metal band Judas Priest. Halford is known for his multi-octave range, high-pitched screams, leather-clad image and showing up on stage on a motorcycle (usually a Harley-Davidson). His stud-leather style has been widely adopted by heavy metal performers and fans around the world.

As a result of his enormous influence on rock and metal music, Halford has been nicknamed the "Metal God."

Life and career

Halford was born and raised in Walsall, a town to the northwest of Birmingham, in England's West Midlands. He sang for numerous bands including Athens Wood, Lord Lucifer, Abraxas, Thark and Hiroshima. In May 1973, he joined Judas Priest after being suggested to them by his sister Sue, who was dating bass player Ian Hill.

Between 1974 and 1990, Rob Halford recorded 14 albums with Judas Priest, along the way becoming the archetypal heavy metal singer. Around 1977 he began to cultivate his now famous leather-clad and sunglasses-wearing persona and began riding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle on stage during live performances. The stunt caused a memorable accident during the '91 Toronto date of the Painkiller tour when he hit a half-engaged drum-riser occluded by clouds of dry ice. He broke his nose and fell off the motorcycle, tumbling off-stage. After regaining consciousness, Halford returned and performed the whole concert. In the band's Behind the Music episode, Rob named the accident as one of the events that caused the rift between him and the rest of the band that would eventually force them apart. While Halford is certainly the best known figure in rock for the leather outfits and on-stage motorbike, this aspect of his act had actually been pioneered some years earlier by Eric Bloom of Blue Öyster Cult.

After a 20-year career with Judas Priest that saw the band achieve international fame, Halford announced to the band on July 4 1991 that he was leaving the band, suing their label, Sony, for restrictive practices, on his way out. He first formed the band Fight, which was originally intended as a side project, with Judas Priest drummer Scott Travis, bassist Jay Jay and guitarists Brian Tilse and Russ Parish recording two albums between 1993 and 1995: "War of Words" (1993) and, after Parish's departure and his replacement by Mark Chausee, "A Small Deadly Space" (1995). While the first one was a straightforward tough and solid metal outing, the latter had a slightly grungier sound, making it less appealing for fans who had developed a taste for his debut. In between both albums, Fight released a EP, "Mutations", featuring "War of Words" studio versions, live cuts and alternate mixes Immediately before this, he had recorded a track called "Light Comes Out of Black" for the 1992 movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The song featured music provided by Pantera, although their contribution is uncredited. After Fight, he collaborated with guitarist John Lowery in an industrial-influenced project called 2wo which was produced by Trent Reznor(mainman for Nine Inch Nails) and released on his Nothing Records label.

In 1998, Halford revealed he was homosexual in an interview on MTV. His sexual orientation had always been known to the rest of Judas Priest and came as little surprise to fans as his sexual orientation was somewhat of an open secret among fans and the heavy metal press. The response from the heavy metal community has been widely accepting.

Halford returned to his metal roots in 2000 with his band Halford and the widely acclaimed album Resurrection (2000), produced by Roy Z. A live album in 2001 was followed up by 2002's Crucible. That same year, Halford had a small role in the film Spun in which he played a gay sex store clerk.

A reunion with Judas Priest had been speculated on for some time, at least since the release of the Resurrection album which some critics claimed sounded more like Judas Priest than that band's previous album Jugulator (1997). Halford himself had never ruled it out, claiming in 2002 that "Gut instinct tells me that at some point it will happen". In July 2003, the singer returned to his former band and they released Angel of Retribution in 2005. The world tour that accompanied the release marked the band's 30th anniversary.

Rob Halford has also performed as the vocalist for Black Sabbath at three shows. He replaced Ronnie James Dio for two nights in November 1992, when Dio elected not to open a show for Ozzy Osbourne. Dio's contract had actually expired with the conclusion of the Dehumanizer tour and he saw no reason why he should do these two shows, given the things Ozzy had said about him over the years. Halford stepped in, having first spoken to Dio, with whom he has a good relationship. He also replaced Osbourne in Black Sabbath on August 25, 2004, his 53rd birthday at an Ozzfest show in Camden, New Jersey, since Ozzy could not perform due to bronchitis.

In the October 2006 issue of "Classic Rock" magazine Rob Halford stated the only songs on his iPod are his own work and Queen (of which he has their entire catalog).

Discography

Judas Priest

• Rocka Rolla (1974)
• Sad Wings of Destiny (1976)
• Sin After Sin (1977)
• Stained Class (1978)
• Killing Machine (1978) (released as Hell Bent for Leather in the USA 1979)
• Unleashed in the East Live (1979)
• British Steel (1980)
• Point of Entry (1981)
• Screaming for Vengeance (1982)
• Defenders of the Faith (1984)
• Turbo (1986)
• Priest...Live! (1987)
• Ram It Down (1988)
• Painkiller (1990)
• Metalogy Box-set (2004)
• Angel of Retribution (2005)
• Rising In the East DVD (2005)
• Live Vengeance '82 DVD re-release (2006)
• The Essential Judas Priest Compilation (2006)
• Nostradamus (Concept Album) (2008)

Fight

• War of Words (1993)
• Mutations EP (1994)
• A Small Deadly Space (1995)
• War Of Words - The Film (Nov 2007)

2wo

• Voyeurs (1997)

Halford

• Resurrection (2000)
• Live Insurrection (2001)
• Crucible (2002)
• Fourging The Furnace EP (Japan only release) (2003)
• Metal God Essentials Vol 1 (2007)

Guest appearances

• Krokus – Headhunter vocals on "Ready to Burn" (1983)
• Surgical Steel - "Surgical Steel"-Demo, vocals on "Smooth And Fast" (1984)
• Hear 'n Aid (1986)
• Ugly Kid Joe – America's Least Wanted vocals on "Goddamn Devil" (1992)
• Skid Row – B-Side Ourselves vocals on "Delivering the Goods" in a live version (1992)
• the same outfit also performed for a "Live In Studio" session on the MTV show "Headbanger's Ball" (1992)
• on two occasions on November, 14th and 15th,1992 Rob Halford took over vocals during the set of Black Sabbath who played a double performance at the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa, Los Angeles, CA (1992)
• Bullring Brummies, a studio session line-up that came together to contribute to the Nativity In Black tribute compilation album of Black Sabbath cover songs (1994)
• whilst playing their concert in Miami, FL, Metallica asked Rob Halford on stage to perform a version of "Rapid Fire", originally recorded by Judas Priest on "British Steel (album)" in 1980 (1994)
• Queens of the Stone Age – Rated R vocals on "Feel Good Hit of the Summer" (2000)
• Furious IV– Is That You (2002)
• Spun - Motion Picture (2002), "Pornclerk" character
• Brütal Legend - Microsoft Xbox 360 and the Sony PlayStation 3 "Voice Over Work as General Lionwhyte" (Coming in 2008)

References

http://www.chud.com/index.php?type=mastercontrol&id=12156

External links

• Rob Halford Official Website
• Judas Priest Official Website
• Rob Halford MySpace Discussion Group
• [1]