Rob Halford Names The First Rock And Roll Icon He Listened To

Often ranked as one of the best metal acts of all time, Judas Priest’s Rob Halford recently talked about the first rock icon he ever listened to in an interview on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame YouTube channel.

Judas Priest emerged in 1969, and with a career span of over 50 years, the band was first nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of fame in 2018. They were later also nominated in 2020 and are finally inducted in 2022. This year, they are receiving the Award of Excellence in the music industry, and the band’s singer Rob Halford is excited about it.

Because Judas Priest has been active for over five decades, they became a light bearer for those who came after them. Their contemporaries were bands like Deep Purple and Black Sabbath, who already had a spot in the Hall of Fame before Judas Priest. Halford recently attended the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s YouTube channel and talked about their induction.

While he feels fantastic to have been inducted finally, he also reminisced about the iconic names that inspired him to be a musician in the first place. He recalled when he got his first record player and coincidentally listened to Little Richard. Known as the architect of rock and roll, it made a permanent mark on Halford’s mind, and that first moment became unforgettable for him even though he was only ten years old.

Here is what Halford said about listening to Little Richard for the first time:

“Oh man, you’ve just thrown out some incredible names. The first one that hit me was Little Richard. Let me quickly tell you a story. When I was a little kid, my aunt gave me an old record player that she didn’t want to use anymore. She said, ‘Here, it’s a gift.’ I was maybe 10. In the record player, there was a record player with 45 singles, and in those singles were Bill Haley & the Comets, Elvis Presley, and Little Richard. For whatever reason, I put Little Richard on first, and when I heard his voice, even as a kid, it just sent a jolt of electricity through me, and here we are all these decades later, talking about that great entertainer.”

You can watch the interview below.