Rob Halford
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Rob Halford |
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| Rob Halford | ||
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| Background information | ||
| Birth name | Robert John Arthur Halford | |
| Also known as | Rob Halford | |
| Born | August 25, 1951 | |
| Origin |  Sutton
Coldfield, Birmingham, England |
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| Genre(s) | Heavy Metal | |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter | |
| Years active | 1973 - present | |
| Website | Official website | |
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."
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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.
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
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
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". 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 3 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.
| Judas Priest |
|---|
| Current members |
| Rob
Halford | |
| Former members |
| Albums: Rocka
Rolla | Sad
Wings of Destiny | Sin
After Sin | Stained
Class | Killing
Machine | |
| Compilations/Box Sets: The
Best of Judas Priest | Hero, Hero
| The Collection | Metalogy | |
| DVDs: |
| videos lyrics discography biography article music mp3 gallery pictures |