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Al Atkins | |
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| Born | 14 October 1947 West Bromwich, West Midlands, England |
| Genres | Heavy metal, blues rock, hard rock |
| Occupation(s) | Vocalist |
| Years active | 1964–present |
Alan John Atkins (born 14 October 1947) [1] is an English heavy metal vocalist, best known for being the original lead vocalist and founder of Judas Priest.
Atkins formed what would become Judas Priest in 1969. With a wife and young daughter to support, Atkins was forced to drop out of Judas Priest "to get a 9-to-5 job" in May 1973. [2] Atkins' position as lead vocalist was succeeded by Rob Halford, who has remained the bands singer since. With Atkins out of the group, no founding members of the band remained (original members Brian "Bruno" Stapenhill, and John Partridge had left the band in 1970, and John Perry committed suicide in 1969).
As of 2012, Atkins fronts the band Atkins/May Project, which also features guitarist Paul May. [2] A press release dated 21 May 2011 stated that Atkins would be contributing session vocals for the heavy metal opera project, Lyraka. [3] In 2013, Atkins recorded a solo album of his favorite songs written between his days in Judas Priest and his Holy Rage days.
Lyraka
Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Despite an innovative and pioneering body of work in the latter half of the 1970s, the band struggled with indifferent record production and a lack of major commercial success until 1980, when the album British Steel brought them notable mainstream attention.
Robert John Arthur Halford is an English heavy metal singer. He is best known as the lead vocalist of Judas Priest, which was formed in 1969 and has received accolades such as the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance. He has been noted for his powerful and wide ranging operatic vocal style and trademark leather-and-studs image, both of which have become iconic in heavy metal. He has also been involved with several side projects, including Fight, Two, and Halford.
Timothy S. "Ripper" Owens is an American heavy metal singer who currently performs with KK's Priest, Spirits of Fire, the Three Tremors and A New Revenge. He first gained attention as the lead singer of Judas Priest and then Iced Earth. He took the nickname "Ripper" from the Judas Priest song "The Ripper" during his time in the tribute band British Steel.
Demon Hunter is an American Christian metal band from Seattle, Washington, formed by brothers Don Clark and Ryan Clark in 2000. Ryan is the band's only remaining original member, as Don left in 2009. As of the 2010s, the band has sold over 600,000 albums.
Gamma Ray is a German power metal band from Hamburg, founded and fronted by Kai Hansen after his departure from power metal band Helloween, in 1989. He is the band's lead vocalist, guitarist and chief songwriter. Between 1990 and 2014, Gamma Ray recorded eleven studio albums.
David Holland was an English drummer, born in Northampton, England. Holland is best remembered for his time with the bands Trapeze from 1969 to 1979 and Judas Priest from 1979 to 1989.
Sad Wings of Destiny is the second studio album by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, released on 26 March 1976 by Gull Records. It is considered the album on which Judas Priest consolidated their sound and image, and songs from it such as "Victim of Changes" and "The Ripper" have since become live standards. It was the band's only album to feature drummer Alan Moore.
Rocka Rolla is the debut studio album by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, released on 6 September 1974 by Gull Records. It was produced by Rodger Bain, who had made a name for himself as the producer of Black Sabbath's first three albums. It is the only album to feature drummer John Hinch.
Ram It Down is the eleventh studio album by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, released on 13 May 1988 by Columbia Records. It was the band's last album to feature longtime drummer Dave Holland, and was promoted in Europe and North America with the Mercenaries of Metal Tour.
Sin After Sin is the third studio album by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, released on 8 April 1977 by Columbia Records. Produced by Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover, it was the band's major label debut, their first album for the label, and their only album to feature drummer Simon Phillips, a studio musician who replaced original drummer Alan Moore for the recording sessions.
Graham Bonnet is an English rock singer. He has recorded and performed as a solo artist and as a member of several hard rock and heavy metal bands including Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group, Alcatrazz, and Impellitteri. He is known for his powerful singing voice but is capable of also singing soft melodies. His singing has been noted as "very loud" by both his contemporaries and himself, and he claims to be a self-taught singer with "no discipline for lessons". Bonnet's visual style, considered uncharacteristic of hard rock musicians, has been described as being a cross between Don Johnson in Miami Vice and James Dean.
Halford is an American heavy metal band formed in 1999 by British singer Rob Halford, who is best known as the lead vocalist for heavy metal band Judas Priest. Halford formed the band to return to his heavy metal roots. His two previous projects were a "street metal"-style band called Fight and the industrial metal band 2wo.
John Frederick Hinch was a British drummer from Lichfield, Staffordshire. From 1973 to 1975, he was the drummer in an early line-up of heavy metal band Judas Priest. Hinch was a jazz-rock styled drummer with a very compact style.
Mark Robert Boals is an American heavy metal vocalist and occasional bassist, best known for his vocals with Yngwie Malmsteen. He is currently a member of the band Foundry.
"Victim of Changes" is a song by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, featured on their 1976 studio album Sad Wings of Destiny. Adrien Begrand, writing for PopMatters, claimed the song changed the course of metal history. Vocalist Rob Halford's performance is considered one of his finest ever. The guitar work is noted as well; Bob Gendron praised the song's "landslide riffs" in the Chicago Tribune. The song has come to be regarded as one of the band's classics, and Martin Popoff listed it at No. 17 in his "Top 500 Heavy Metal Songs of All Time".
Veronica Freeman, also known by her stage name "The V", is an American singer and the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Benedictum. Her most recent album with Benedictum is Obey, released through Frontiers Records in 2013. In 2015, she released her first solo album, Now or Never, which includes two songs written and produced by Stryper frontman, Michael Sweet.
Sacred Steel is a German heavy metal band.
Neil Daniels is a freelance British writer specialising in rock and heavy metal. Educated at Middlesex University, where he obtained a BA Honours degree in Film Studies, he has written books on Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Robert Plant, Bon Jovi, Linkin Park and ZZ Top.
Rise to Remain was an English, London-based heavy metal band formed in 2006 and disbanded in 2015. The band made appearances at Download Festival, Sonisphere Festival and extensively toured the UK and Europe. The band released three EPs, the majority of which were "viral" releases, via their MySpace. On 16 March 2011 they signed their first major recording contract with EMI records, which was accompanied by the launch of their website and a free single download entitled "The Serpent". Their debut album, City of Vultures, was released on 5 September 2011, nearly a year after they had started work on recording the album. It was produced by revered metal producer Colin Richardson and Carl Bown. In 2014, the band released a new single entitled "Over and Over", which would be their last musical release.
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