Judas Priest's Rob Halford eyes 2020 release for memoir that will 'shock' readers

The 68-year-old Metal God first revealed he’d commenced work on the memoir in an interview with New Zealand’s Stuff back in March and joked that, such is the breadth of its subject matter, it could “end up like The Lord of the Rings”.

"(The book has) been rattling around in my head forever,” Rob explained at the time. “As you move on in life and have had the wonderful good luck, fortune and gratefulness to spend 50 years in a glorious band like Judas Priest, the main thing is you want to be to tell your side of the story from the horse's mouth, as opposed to something that has been knocked up by somebody else from a bunch of interviews and so forth.”

Rob continued: "Just because of the way I am and because I'm the lyricist of the band – a bit like my mate Bruce (Dickinson of Iron Maiden fame) – I think mine will end up like The Lord of the Rings. Between my early childhood, adolescent years and the place where I'm at now, I think we're talking about three heavy metal tomes."

Now, in a fresh interview with Ultimate Classic Rock, Rob says fans can expect a brutally honest read.

“There’s no point in putting a book together if you don’t have full disclosure, in my opinion,” he explained. “Since I’ve been clean and sober, I’ve probably been more honest and truthful about myself than I ever have been. You only get a chance to do it once and do it properly.”

Saying he’s “excited” but also “apprehensive” about the project as it moves along, Rob continued: “I don’t want it to be an autobiography - I want it to be more of a memoir.

“It’s going to have a lot of things in there that you’re going to go, ‘Oh, I’m not really interested in that.' You’re also going to go, ‘Oh my God, I never knew he did that!’ But it’s going to make you feel happy, it’s going to make you feel sad. It’s going to make you feel angry, it’s going to shock you. It’s going to have all of the things that I think have been in most people’s lives.”

Asked about when it might see the light of day, Rob replied: “I think we’re hoping for it to be released sometime toward the back end of 2020, hopefully.”

Rob Halford will release his second Christmas album ‘Celestial’ on Friday 18th October.

Released as Rob Halford With Family & Friends, and it contains eight hard rocking interpretations of festive favourites alongside four original tracks.

He released his first Christmas album, ‘Halford III - Winter Songs’, with his titular band Halford, a decade ago.

Judas Priest meanwhile are special guests to Ozzy Osbourne on his rescheduled No More Tours 2 UK arena tour in early 2020. Tickets are on sale from Planet Rock Tickets now.

They play the following shows:

JANUARY 2020
Nottingham Motorpoint Arena – Fri 31st

FEBRUARY 2020
Dublin 3Arena – Sun 2nd
Manchester Arena – Wed 5th
Newcastle Utilita Arena – Fri 7th
London The O2 – Mon 10th
Glasgow SSE Hydro – Wed 12th
Birmingham Resorts World Arena – Fri 14th