| Rob Halford |
|
| Background
information |
| Birth name |
Robert John Arthur Halford |
| Also known as |
Rob Halford |
| Born |
August 25, 1951 (1951-08-25) (age 55) |
| Origin |
 Sutton
Coldfield, Birmingham, England |
| 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."
|
Contents
- 1 Life
and career
- 2 Trivia
- 3 Discography
- 3.1 Judas
Priest
- 3.2 Fight
- 3.3 2wo
- 3.4 Halford
- 3.5 Guest
appearances
- 4 References
- 5 External
links
|
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.
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 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".
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
- 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) (2007)
Fight
- War of Words
(1993)
- Mutations
EP (1994)
- A Small Deadly Space
(1995)
2wo
Halford
- Resurrection
(2000)
- Live Insurrection
(2001)
- Crucible
(2002)
- Fourging The Furnace EP (Japan only release)
(2003)
- Halford IV (working title (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 Ballroom" (1992)
- on two occasions on November, 14th and 15th, 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"
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)
References
-
Nalbandian, Bob, Interview with Metal God ROB HALFORD.
Retrieved on 2007-07-18
-
Sill, Don (May 13, 2002), Molten
Metal: An Interview With Metal God Rob Halford.
Retrieved on 2007-07-18
-
http://www.metal-archives.com/more.php?id=97
-
Ling, Dave (December 25,
2003), JUDAS
PRIEST: The Making of 'Painkiller'. Retrieved on
2007-07-20
-
Sleazegrinder: "Reaping the Benefits", Classic Rock,
Issue 96
-
Hoaksey, Mark: "Interview with Rob Halford", Power Play
Issue 35, July 2002
External links
| v • d • e Judas Priest |
| Current
members |
| Rob
Halford | K.
K. Downing | Glenn
Tipton | Ian
Hill | Scott Travis |
| Former
members |
| Dave Holland | Tim "Ripper" Owens | Al
Atkins | Les Binks | Alan
Moore | John Hinch | Chris Campbell |
John Pattridge | John Ellis | Simon Phillips |
| Discography |
| Albums: Rocka
Rolla | Sad
Wings of Destiny | Sin
After Sin | Stained
Class | Killing
Machine | Unleashed
in the East | British
Steel | Point
of Entry | Screaming for Vengeance
| Defenders of the Faith
| Turbo
| Priest...Live!
| Ram It Down | Painkiller
| Jugulator
| Live Meltdown
| Demolition
| Live in London
| Angel of Retribution |
Compilations/Box Sets: The
Best of Judas Priest | Hero, Hero
| The Collection | Genocide
| Metal Works | The
Best of Judas Priest: Living After Midnight
Metalogy
| The Essential Judas Priest |
| DVDs: Electric Eye
| Rising in the East
| Live Vengeance '82 |
