Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford has long been hailed as the Metal God, a title earned not only through his legendary work with Priest but also through his ties to heavy metal's greatest names. Among those moments etched in metal history are the times Halford stepped in to front Black Sabbath, filling in for both Ronnie James Dio and Ozzy Osbourne.
In a recent conversation with Ultimate Classic Rock, Halford reflected on those surreal experiences. The first time came when Halford was asked to stand in for Ronnie James Dio. Fortunately, the singer had the luxury of preparation.
"We were able to prepare because Tony, Geezer, and Bill were on tour, and they came through Phoenix. We actually jammed somewhere here in the valley. We prepared for that one. I found out the other day that Ozzy was on the side banging his head while we were working.
I did not know about that, but a close friend of mine said, 'Yeah, I was standing by Ozzy while he was giving everybody the thumbs up.'"
The second time was much more spontaneous. During Ozzfest 2004 in New Jersey, Halford received an unexpected call from Sharon Osbourne while staying in Philadelphia.
"I'm in my hotel room in Philadelphia, and Sharon calls me up, and she goes, 'Robbie, can you help us out? Ozzy's lost his voice.' I said, 'Yeah, what do you want me to do?' 'Can you sing for him?' I said, 'Yeah, anytime.' She goes, 'Tonight.' I said, 'Tonight?!'"
With little time to prepare, Halford improvised: "We were together, Priest and Sabbath, on that tour. So I'm like, 'Oh my God!' She goes, 'Oh, you know all of the Sabbath songs!' I said, 'I do, but talk about short notice!' I asked her, 'Can you hand a courier the last couple of shows on VHS and I'll check it out on the way to the venue?'
"So on the drive from the hotel in Philly to the venue in the back lounge of the bus, I just sang along with the show. That was the only kind of prep that I had. Of course, I did the Priest show and then straight afterwards, changed my shirt and went out and did the Sabbath show."
