Artist · EveryDisc catalogue

Judas Priest

A British heavy metal band that, along with such groups as Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, and Uriah Heep, defined the sound of 1970s heavy metal and also had a huge influence on the further development of this style as a whole. Over 40 years of their career, the musicians have sold about 50 million albums worldwide. The founders of the band are guitarist Kenneth Downing and bassist Ian Hill, the only constant member. The "classic" Judas Priest lineup, which also includes vocalist Rob Halford and guitarist Glenn Tipton, with a break in 1993–2003 when Halford left the band, existed for 25 years (until Downing's departure in 2011). The drummer position has always been the collective's relatively unstable link (over 40 years of existence, the band has gone through 9 drummers). The band's name is a pun on the emotional exclamation "Jesus Christ!". The idea to name the collective that way appeared thanks to Bob Dylan's song "The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest" (1967).