Biography Judas Priest - Showbiza.com/gb

Judas Priest, a leather-clad heavy-metal band, was formed by guitarist K.K. Downing and bassist Ian Hill. In 1971 frontman Rob Halford joined (he'd previously worked in theatrical lighting), having met Hill, whom his sister was then dating (and later married). The band didn't get a contract until 1974, just after guitarist Glenn Tipton joined. Its first LP was released that year, but both it and the 1976 follow-up, Sad Wings of Destiny, sold marginally.

The band to develop a following in England, and in 1977 Priest signed with Columbia, which released Sin After Sin. Produced by ex-Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover, Sin featured guest drummer Simon Phillips and an unlikely heavy-metal version of Joan Baez's "Diamonds and Rust," similar in style to Nazareth's 1973 treatment of Joni Mitchell's "This Flight Tonight." The group's songs, highlighted by Tipton and Downing's dual lead-guitar attack, were catchier and shorter than most other early-'70s heavy metal, anticipating late-decade acts like Def Leppard.

Stained Class (#173, 1978) featured new drummer Les Binks, replaced with ex-Trapeze member Dave Holland after Priest's live-in-Japan Unleashed in the East (#70, 1979). The live LP included a version of Fleetwood Mac's "Green Manalishi." Over the years Judas Priest became increasingly known for its extravagant live show, which featured Halford, in his trademark S&M gear, thundering onstage on a Harley Davidson motorcycle. The band's seventh album, 1980's British Steel (#34), was its first U.S. Top 40 entry, and a heavy metal landmark. Concise songs like "Living After Midnight" and "Breaking the Law" mated metal aggression with new-wave melodicism. Both went Top 20 in Britain.

The 1981 follow up, Point of Entry (#39, 1981), failed to build on the band's momentum, but the platinum Screaming for Vengeance (#17, 1982) broke Judas Priest in a big way stateside, and gave the group its closest thing to an American hit single, "You've Got Another Thing Comin'" (#67, 1982). The song's stylish video showed Priest performing on a laser-lit stage while a conservative business type outfitted in a trench coat and bowler hat appears to be fleeing some unseen, sinister force. At the clip's end, Tipton and Downing's guitars explode —as does the character's head, literally —leading to a powerful climax.

In 1986 Judas Priest became the unwitting object of controversy when the parents of two mentally unstable Reno, Nevada teenagers sued both the group and Columbia Records for $6.2 million, claiming that a song on 1978's Stained Class contained subliminal messages that drove their sons to shoot themselves in 1985. One died instantly; the other lived but overdosed fatally on methadone three years later. Priest was acquitted of all charges in the six-week 1990 trial. The gold Painkiller came out shortly thereafter.

Halford, who'd relocated to Arizona in the early '80s and then moved to San Diego in 1999, abruptly quit Judas Priest in December 1992 to form his own band, the grungy Fight, which was active in the mid-'90s. (Scott Travis, Priest's drummer since 1990, assisted him, but remained in Judas Priest). Later in the decade, Halford led the industrial Two, which signed to Trent Reznor's nothing label. He also briefly fronted a post-Ozzy Black Sabbath, and collaborated with Pantera. In 1998 he obliterated many a metal stereotype (and confirmed years' worth of rumors) by openly announcing his homosexuality. In 1999 he returned to metal under the name Halford and parted ways with nothing.

Tipton released a solo album in 1997. The four remaining members of Judas Priest auditioned vocalist Tim "Ripper" Owens, a longtime fan who had fronted a JP tribute act. He joined his idols after singing only a portion of one song. The group's first album sans Halford, Jugulator, peaked at #82 in 1997.

Reunion (2003–2006)

The reunited Judas Priest performing in 2005

After eleven years apart, faced with an ever-growing demand for a reunion, Judas Priest and Rob Halford announced they would reunite in July 2003, to coincide with the release of the Metalogy box set (despite Halford's earlier insistence that he "would never do it"). They did a concert tour in Europe in 2004, and co-headlined the 2004 Ozzfest, being named as the "premier act" by almost all US media coverage of the event. Judas Priest and "Ripper" Owens parted amicably, with Owens joining American heavy metal band Iced Earth.

A new studio album, Angel of Retribution, was released on 1 March 2005 (US) on Sony Music/Epic Records to critical and commercial success. A global tour in support of the album ensued. As for the band Halford, writing for the fourth release was cut off. However, after the Retribution tour in June 2006, Halford announced he would create his own record company, Metal God Entertainment, where he would release all his solo material under his own control. In November 2006 he remastered his back catalogue and released it exclusively through Apple's iTunes Store. Two new songs allegedly set for the fourth release, "Forgotten Generation" and "Drop Out", were released through iTunes as well.

VH1 Rock honours

Judas Priest in typical heavy metal attireperforming at the VH1 Rock Honors in Las Vegas on 25 May 2006.

Along with Queen, Kiss and Def Leppard, Judas Priest were the inaugural inductees into the "VH1 Rock Honors". The ceremony took place 25 May 2006 in Las Vegas,Nevada, and first aired on 31 May 2006. Their presentation was preceded by the band Godsmack performing a medley of "Electric Eye"/"Victim of Changes"/"Hell Bent for Leather", and Judas Priest themselves played "Breaking the Law", "The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Pronged Crown)" and "You've Got Another Thing Comin'", before which Halford rode a Harley onstage.

Nostradamus (2006–2010)

In a June 2006 interview with MTV.com, frontman Rob Halford said in regards to the group's concept album about the 16th-century French writer Nostradamus, "Nostradamus is all about metal, isn't he? He was an alchemist as well as a seer – a person of extraordinary talent. He had an amazing life that was full of trial and tribulation and joy and sorrow. He's a very human character and a world-famous individual. You can take his name and translate it into any language and everybody knows about him, and that's important because we're dealing with a worldwide audience." In addition to digging new lyrical ground for the band, the album would contain musical elements which might surprise their fans. "It's going to have a lot of depth", Halford said. "There'll be a lot of symphonic elements. We might orchestrate it, without it being overblown. There may be a massive choir at parts and keyboards will be featured more prominently, whereas they've always been in the background before." The album Nostradamus was released in June 2008; the band began a support tour in that same month.

In early February 2009, the band joined the ranks of bands speaking out against ticket-touting ("scalping"), issuing a statement condemning the practice of selling tickets at well above face value and urging their fans to buy tickets only from official sources. In the same month, Judas Priest continued their tour, bringing their "Priest Feast" (with support from guests Megadeth and Testament) to multiple arenas in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland in February and March 2009. From there the tour progressed to multiple venues in Sweden. Later in March 2009, Judas Priest performed in Portugal (at Lisbon on the Atlantic Pavilion), which they had not visited since 2005. The tour then continued on to Milan, Italy, and then to Paris, France; Halford had last performed with Judas Priest in Paris in 1991.

From June through August 2009, Judas Priest completed a North American tour to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the release of the album British Steel; the album was performed in its entirety on each tour date, with some other Judas Priest songs thrown into the setlist. This tour was to be a joint effort with fellow Englishman David Coverdale and Whitesnake. Unfortunately, Whitesnake would have to leave the tour after the show in Denver, Colorado on 11 August 2009 due to singer David Coverdale falling ill with a serious throat infection; he was advised to stop singing immediately to avoid permanently damaging his vocal cords.

On 14 July 2009, Judas Priest released a new live album, featuring 11 previously unreleased live tracks from the 2005 and 2008 world tours, A Touch of Evil: Live. The performance of "Dissident Aggressor" won the 2010Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance.[33]

In May 2010, Halford said that the band had been offered a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but "we've just never been there when they wanted to do the ceremony." He also revealed that a Nostradamus tour is still being contemplated: "We were in Hollywood recently and met with some producers and agents, so there are a lot of things going on behind the scenes." The Judas Priest song "Electric Eye" was used in the temp score for Toy Story 3 but was ultimately replaced by another piece of music.

Downing's retirement, Epitaph World Tour and next album (2010–present)

Judas Priest announced on 7 December 2010, that their Epitaph World Tour would be the band's farewell tour and would run up until 2012. In a January 2011 interview, Rob Halford said about the band's impending retirement that:

"I think it's time, you know. We're not the first band to say farewell, it's just the way everyone comes to at some point and we're gonna say a few more things early next year, so I think the main thing that we just want to ask everybody to consider is don't be sad about this, start celebrating and rejoicing over all the great things we've done in Judas Priest."

On 27 January 2011, it was announced that Judas Priest was in the process of writing new material; the band also clarified their plans for the future, saying that "...this is by no means the end of the band. In fact, we are presently writing new material, but we do intend this to be the last major world tour." Speaking at a press conference in Los Angeles on May, 26, of the new material Glenn Tipton said: "It's quite a mixed bag. Really, there's more sentiment on this album. In a way, I suppose, it's also our farewell album, although it might not be our last one. There are some anthems on there, which pay tribute to our fans".

On 20 April 2011, it was announced that K. K. Downing had retired from the band and would not complete the Epitaph World Tour. Downing cited differences with the band and management and a breakdown in their relationship. Richie Faulkner, guitarist for Lauren Harris's band, was announced as his replacement for the Epitaph World Tour. Downing's retirement leaves bassist Ian Hill as the only remaining founder member of the band.

On 25 May 2011, Judas Priest played during the finale of American Idol season 10 with James Durbin, making it their first live performance without K.K. Downing. The band played a mixture of two songs: "Living After Midnight" and "Breaking the Law".

On 7 June 2011, the band announced that it planned to release the box set Single Cuts, a collection of singles, later that summer.

In an August 2011 interview with Billboard, Halford explained that he and Tipton "have about 12 or 14 tracks completely mapped out" for a new studio album. He went on to say that four of those were already recorded and mixed, and suggested a new album should be out in 2012. However, the year ended without seeing a release. In another interview with Billboard in August 2012, Halford said that the band is taking its time with the album, and did not give a definite release date, saying "I'm of the attitude it'll be ready when it's ready [...] I don't think we're going to slack off. We're determined to do a lot of work and be just as dedicated as we've always been and take a lot of care and attention with all the songs. We're not going to just bang this one out, so to speak."

On 13 September, Priest announced its plans to release a new compilation album, The Chosen Few, a set of Priest songs chosen by other iconic heavy metal musicians. On 5 June 2013, Rob Halford confirmed that the Epitaph World Tour would not be the band's final tour. On 22 December 2013, Judas Priest released a short Christmas message on their official website, which confirmed that they would be releasing the new album sometime in 2014.

On 5 January 2014, the band appeared in the episode Steal This Episode of comedy cartoon show The Simpsons playing the song "Breaking the Law". Their music was referred to as "death metal", for which the producers subsequently apologised by having Bart Simpson write "Judas Priest is not 'Death Metal'" in the opening sequence chalkboard gag.

On 17 March at the 3rd Annual Ronnie James Dio Awards in Los Angeles, California, Rob Halford announced that the new album is finished:

“The Priest album is finished. It’s done. I just heard from the mastering sessions that [guitarist] Glenn [Tipton is] looking over in England, it’s finished. It’s done. It’s coming out at some point. We’ve got some more information we’re about to drop but in the process of the magic of building up expectation and tension to the climax.”.