Rob Halford is a musician with an unusually strong voice. He made a great contribution to the development of metal culture and became the founder of the stage image of metalworkers, introducing fashionable leather hammers with rivets, heavy chains.
Childhood and youth
Rob Halford was born on August 25, 1951 in the English city of Sutton Coldfield. His real name is Robert John Arthur. When Rob was a kid, his family moved to Walsall, where he is a musician and currently resides.
Robert's father was a steelworker, and my mother worked in kindergarten. The family grew up with three children. Rob Halford did not study well at school. He enjoyed visiting only those subjects that he liked: his native language and literature, music. He often skipped other lessons. His character was rebellious, but sometimes the boy went into himself and became shy, quiet.
Relatives to music found his relatives at a very young age, when Rob sang in the school choir. But he began to develop abilities as a teenager. At the age of 15, he organized the group "Thakk". One of the school teachers became the guitarist in the collective. The musicians actively rehearsed, performed in front of the public, but their work was not successful.
After leaving school, Rob Halford did not know who he wanted to be, which way to choose. Flipping through the newspaper, he found an ad stating that workers were needed at the Wolverhampton Grand Theater. He worked there for several years, helping set up lighting equipment. In the theater, he managed to take part in mass scenes and after that he realized that he would very much like to connect his life with shows and music.
Music career
After leaving the theater, Robert Arthur tried to work with several teams:
- "Lord Lucifer";
- Hiroshima
- "Judas Priest".
Participation in the Judas Priest was a real success for him. Together with this rock band, he subsequently conquered the world. In 1973, the founders of the group were looking for a new vocalist and Robert's sister at that time met with one of the musicians. She advised to consider the candidacy of her brother. They liked Rob right away. In the band "Judas Priest" he took with him the guitarist from the previous group, in which he sang.
Already in 1974, the first song "Rocka Rolla" was recorded. Soon, the musicians recorded the album of the same name, followed by other collections:
- "Sad Wings of Destiny";
- "Stained Class";
- "Stained Class";
- "Point of Entry".
The band’s ninth studio album was Defenders of the Faith. This record was a resounding success. Despite the fact that the musicians played in a very heavy style, their albums sold well. In some compositions, they used guitar synthesizers in recordings.
The pseudonym Rob Halford appeared just at the beginning of the musician’s collaboration with Judas Priest. Fans liked not only heavy music, but also Rob's unique style, his love of shocking. Halford can be called a trendsetter of the time. Leather jackets with rivets, leather pants, chains and other attributes of people who love hard rock - all this was invented by Rob.
At the beginning of the 90s, at one of the concerts, the musician drove onto the stage on a motorcycle and crashed into a drum stand. After the concert, he was hospitalized and already then the first rumors began to appear about Rob leaving the group. In 1994, this event really took place. Halford announced his desire to perform independently.
After Rob left the popular band, he created the Fight band. At that time, interest in melall music began to subside, and Halford tried to try his hand at something new. It was not a radical change in image and musical style, but nevertheless, the performances of his group were not similar to those that his fans are used to seeing.
Feeling disappointed by fans, Rob left Fight and created a new band, Halford. The musician returned to heavy metal. He began to collaborate with famous musicians of that time who performed heavy music.
The Halford team and its work were very popular, but this team was far from the former glory of Judas Priest. Talk about reuniting with the rock band has been going on for many years. In 2003, this happened and Rob Halford began to perform again with "Judas Priest", which pleased the fans. But he did not leave his own project and still continues to release solo compositions.
Rob Halford's success lies in his charisma and excellent vocal abilities. A musician can sing in a wide musical range. He takes even super-high notes and his voice is considered one of the most outstanding among heavy metal performers. The producer of the musician told how at one of the concerts there were problems with the microphone, but Rob sang without him and his voice was heard even against the background of sound coming from the speakers.
Rob Halford is not only a successful musician, but also a versatile personality. He starred in a movie, wrote a book, and in 2009 launched his own clothing line. T-shirts from the “metal god” are in constant demand not only among fans, but also among young people who want to dress fashionably and stylishly.
