Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford recently joined an interview with Metal Hammer in which he talked about the time he left Judas Priest and said this resulted in a communication breakdown.
Rob Halford joined Judas Priest back in 1973 and played his first show with the band in the same year. In 1974, Halford made his recording debut with the Priest on their first album, ‘Rocka Rolla,’ and continued fronting the band throughout the 1970s and 1970s.
In 1991, after the ‘Painkiller’ album tour, Halford decided to focus on his solo career. He then left the band, writing a statement to reveal his interest in solo projects. Although many thought his genuine desire was to quit the band, Halford claimed this was an issue about miscommunication.
In an interview with Metal Hammer, Rob Halford addressed his departure and said he was not the first frontman to leave a band. He then described this as the ‘Lead Singer’s Disease.’ Moreover, Halford said that his decision to leave the band resulted in a communication breakdown.
Halford then stated that Judas Priest members were quite exhausted following the Painkiller Tour. The singer added that he told his bandmates that he wanted to pursue a solo career and do something different, so it wasn’t an unexpected or cunning decision.
In the interview, Metal Hammer‘s Stephen Hill asked Rob Halford the following:
“What sort of mindset were you in when you left Priest in 1992?”
In response to this, Halford said:
“Let me start by saying I’m not the first lead singer to leave a band. I call it LSD: Lead Singer’s Disease. I always have to emphasize that it was a classic case of communication breakdown.
After the Painkiller Tour, we were like dead dogs; we were exhausted. I’d said years before that at some point, I might want to wander off and do something different, and they’d all given me their blessing. It wasn’t cunning or unexpected; it was just the way things went.”
Following his departure in 1991, Halford rejoined Judas Priest in July 2003 and embarked on a tour with the band in 2004 to celebrate his return. Since then, he has contributed to the band’s success with his talented musicianship.
