Rob Halford: biography, personal life, photo

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

This man once made an invaluable contribution to the development of metal culture, and for his powerful vocal abilities he received the nickname Metal God. Rob Halford is known as the frontman of the cult band Judas Priest. Moreover, he has a solo project, and also writes songs, music and successfully produces.

Here will be presented photos of Rob Halford, taken in the best of times, which are direct evidence that it was he who invented the image of the modern metalhead. From the article you will learn that this is a very interesting brutal character of the foreign stage.

Rob Halford's biography

The real name of the musician is Robert John Arthur, and he was born in the English town of Sutton Coldfield on August 25, 1951. However, soon the family, along with little Rob, moved to Walsall, which is located near Birmingham. The musician's house is still there.

The living legend's parents were middle-class: his father worked as a steelworker at a factory, and his mother raised the kids in a kindergarten. Soon Rob Halford had a sister, Sue, and a brother, Nigel. Therefore, it became difficult for parentsgive your firstborn enough time.

Wild Youth

Robert was "so-so" as a student. What interested - taught, the rest defiantly truant. Therefore, along the road of knowledge, he proudly rode on clumsy triplets. Of course, he also had excellent marks, but he received them only for his favorite subjects: his native language, literature, history and, of course, music. The youngster could be characterized as a simple truant, rather than a bully or a weakling.

Robert's talent for music became noticeable when he was still an eight-year-old boy and sang in the school choir. However, he began to actively develop his vocal skills when he was already a teenager.

He made his first band Thakk at the age of 15, and one of the school teachers became the lead guitarist. Most often, the guys performed cover versions of songs from such bands as Free, The Yardbirds, The Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix. At that time, Helford did not even dream that he would someday become a rock legend. After leaving school, he did not know where to go and what education to get.

Job Search

Because in his youth, Rob Halford did not yet know his own destiny, he looked for a job in a completely standard way - leafing through newspapers in search of the right ad. One day, he came across an advertisement that there were vacancies at the Wolverhampton Grand Theater. Going there, he was accepted into the staff, where he became an apprentice illuminator. In addition, it was he who tried himself as an actor, playing several small roles in theatricalproductions.

He only stayed there for a few short years. However, if you believe the words of Halford, then just then he felt an ardent desire to speak to the public. Simply put, the scene bewitched him once and for all! But the fear of remaining unknown Robert Arthur drove him further, forcing him to think of a faster and more effective way to perpetuate his name.

Career start

Rob Halford felt a certain attraction to music, but after leaving the theater, the future seemed vague and uncertain to him. He seemed to be standing at a crossroads and could not choose the right path. Soon Robert gathered a team of musicians and named it Lord Lucifer, which was later renamed Hiroshima. According to the vocalist, this was his first real experience as a rock musician. However, the group lasted only a year, after which Robert Arthur turned into hardened Rob Halford from Judas Priest.

Fate has found its hero

It was 1973, the musicians of Judas were looking for a new vocalist (to replace the departed Alan Atkins) and drummer (instead of Chris Campbell). It so happened that Robert's sister (Sue) at that time was the bride of the band's bass guitarist Ian Hill and nominated her brother for the role of frontman.

The audition took place in a small apartment in Birmingham where all the members gathered. Hearing the voice of Rob Halford, the guys gladly accepted him into their team. In addition, during the conversation it turned out that they have a lot in common, and musical preferencesmatched. A little later, Robert pulled up his former Hiroshima colleague John Hinch to replace the drummer.

After the line-up was staffed with the "right" people, Judas Priest set to work with particular zeal. During hard rehearsals at Holy Joe School, it suddenly became clear that Halford was quite good at playing the harmonica, and this could add "zest" to their sound.

Time passed, and the guys wrote albums one after another and gave concerts, but it was Defenders Of The Faith, released in 1984, that brought them real popularity. Vinyl gave them not only worldwide fame, but also the largest profit that the Judas could ever earn. And the heaviest in terms of sound and the most difficult in terms of performance technique was an album called Painkiller, released in the 90s. In total, during the time of Rob Halford, Judas Priest musicians released 15 studio albums that sold like hot cakes around the world.

Leaving the group

In July 1992, at the Judas press conference in Los Angeles, Rob suddenly announced the creation of his own team with the meaningful name Fight. And so, in 1993, he said goodbye to his "comrades in the shop", but, as it turned out later, only to return a few years later.

Before he left, an unfortunate incident occurred while supporting Painkiller. Halford, as always wrapped in leather and hung with iron, drove onto the stage in his Harley, but the clouddry ice knocked him off the right path, and he crashed into a drum kit elevator. From the blow, the musician briefly lost consciousness, but still worked out the concert program in full, and then went to the clinic in the ambulance. After some time, he left the group, but before that he denied the newspaper duck about the presence of HIV infection.

Solo career

Because Halford left the Judas just as the popularity of metal music was waning, he decided to try his hand at a new genre. However, the experiments did not lead to anything, as the fans did not accept Rob in a new role. Fight did not last long and did not find due success. After the disbandment of his group, Robert formed a new one, giving it the name "Halford", and returned to heavy again. Only after that did he regain his former glory.

Judas Priest was a little sicker without him, so 2003 was the date of their happy reunion. But the solo project called Halford continued to exist.

Vocals

Rob Halford is one of the strongest voices in heavy music, which are subject to "counter-high" notes. A charismatic vocalist can work in a fairly wide vocal range - and this is exactly the quality due to which he ended up in Judas Priest at one time.

According to Rob's producer Roy Zee, the singer can sing in 16 different voices. There is even a story that at one of the concerts there was a problem with the microphone, but this did not stop Halford from shouting over the Judas playing at full capacity.through the amplifier. Moreover, the high voice of the vocalist never breaks into falsetto, and this is worth a lot.

However, the aged Halford once mentioned in his interview that it has become difficult for him to cope with complex compositions, he cannot physically master some songs. Rob considers world-class rock stars such as Robert Plant, Frank Sinatra and David Byron to be his teachers.

Contribution to metal culture

To whom do metalheads owe their characteristic image? Not everyone knows that such an entourage arose thanks to Rob Halford. In clips and on stage, he is wrapped in black leather, adorned with studs and steel chains. This was originally only available in a sex toy store.

In his youth, Robert worked part-time in such institutions. Thinking through his stage image, he decided that such a style would be successful for a warrior of the apocalypse. And he did not lose, because pretty soon all adherents of heavy metal began to dress like this, and adherents of the black direction went even further, adding black and white makeup and armlets with giant nails.

Private life

Rob Halford is a gay person, which he admitted back in 1998. At that time it was a very bold and decisive step, but despite everything, he revealed the truth about himself, breaking the hearts of his fans.

However, this did not affect the popularity of Halford and the Judas, but only increased interest. In 1986, the musician gave up alcohol and drugs when he realizedthat he doesn't need them to write music.