- Al Atkins
Alan John "Al" Atkins (born
October 11 ,1947 inWest Bromwich ,Birmingham ,England ) is ahard rock vocalist, perhaps best known for his association withJudas Priest . He began his musical career in 1966, singing in a succession ofblues-rock outfits before forming a band in 1967, named Judas Priest (named after theBob Dylan song "The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest "). Featuring a musical direction unrelated to the future metal band, this band lasted until 1969, developing a small following in Birmingham before splitting up over creative differences.By this time, bands such as
Led Zeppelin andBlack Sabbath were emerging, and Atkins was interested in pursuing a similar direction. Fellow Birmingham musiciansK.K. Downing andIan Hill had similar musical interests, so they teamed with Atkins to form a new band called Freight. Atkins did not like the name, so he suggested they be called Judas Priest, as he had rights to the name. After gaining a following in Birmingham, the Atkins-led Priest recorded a demo in 1971, which attracted the attention ofTony Iommi 's management but failed to endear them with any of London's major record labels. Though the gigs began to improve, the band also had to contend with higher overhead, and no record deal was in sight.As Atkins had a young daughter to support, he was forced to leave Priest in 1973 in favor of a day job. He was replaced by
Rob Halford , who found himself singing many songs that were originally written by Atkins. Consequently, the album "Rocka Rolla " gives a portrait of Atkins' original vision for the band. Atkins eventually formed another band, "Lion" and went solo after it dissolved. Atkins has retained close ties to his former Priest bandmates, who assisted him on "Victim of Changes", which featured rerecorded versions of songs he had written in the early 1970s.olo discography
* "Judgement Day" (1990)
* "Dreams of Avalon" (1992)
* "Heavy Thoughts" (1994)
* "Victim of Changes" (1998)
* "Demon Deceiver" (2007)External links
* [http://www.alatkins.com Official Al Atkins site]
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