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Rob Halford

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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."[1] [2]

Life and career

Halford was born in Sutton Coldfield in Warwickshire, England. 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. [3]

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. [4] 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 . [5]

After a 20-year career with Judas Priest that saw the band achieve international fame, Halford announced to the band on July 4th 1991 that he was leaving the band. He first formed the band Fight with Judas Priest drummer Scott Travis, recording two albums between 1993 and 1995. 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 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 among 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".[6] In July of 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.

Trivia

  • In the October 2006 issue of "Classic Rock" magazine he stated the only songs on his iPod are his own work and Queen (of which he has their entire catalog).
  • Among his many tattoos is the Marvel Comics Punisher skull.

Discography

Judas Priest

Fight

2wo

Halford

Guest appearances

References

  1. ^ Nalbandian, Bob, Interview with Metal God ROB HALFORD, retrieved 2007-07-18
  2. ^ Sill, Don (May 13, 2002), Molten Metal: An Interview With Metal God Rob Halford, retrieved 2007-07-18
  3. ^ http://www.metal-archives.com/more.php?id=97
  4. ^ Ling, Dave (December 25, 2003), JUDAS PRIEST: The Making of 'Painkiller', retrieved 2007-07-20
  5. ^ Sleazegrinder: "Reaping the Benefits", Classic Rock, Issue 96
  6. ^ Hoaksey, Mark: "Interview with Rob Halford", Power Play Issue 35, July 2002
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