Al Atkins

1947: Born in the Black Country

Alan John Atkins is born on 14 October in West Bromwich, a town of foundries and factories at the industrial heart of England. Heavy rock would grow out of this same corner of the Midlands.

1963: Behind the drum kit

Pulled in by the beat boom, and with a drum kit his father bought him, he starts out as a drummer who sings. His first band, The Medallions, includes school friend Bruno Stapenhill. They wear matching grey trousers and blue jackets and play pubs, weddings and clubs. Next comes The Reaction, a trio playing Small Faces and Who songs.

1965: Out front

In The Bitta Sweet he gives up the drums to front the band. They open for Davy Jones and the Lower Third, soon to become David Bowie's band, plus Long John Baldry, Cat Stevens and Steampacket with Rod Stewart. They share bills with Robert Plant's Band of Joy. Al gets to know Plant while working at a garage, and the two jam blues together, Plant on guitar and Al on harmonica. Al writes his first song, “Sugar Tree Park”.

1967: Getting heavier

Sugar Stack, Blue Condition, then the Jug Blues Band, each one heavier than the last. His final gig with Jug is at Wolverhampton Civic Hall, on a bill with Spooky Tooth and Slade. He walks away from a three-month tour of Morocco with Evolution when he learns he'd be driving the bus.

1969: Judas Priest

Al and Bruno form a heavy band with drummer John Partridge and guitarist John Perry. Perry dies at 18 before the band gets going, and 17-year-old Ernie Chataway takes his place. Bruno suggests the name, from Dylan's “The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest”.

A showcase at the George Hotel in Walsall wins them a deal with Immediate Records. Their demo is two of Al's songs, “Good Time Woman” and “We'll Stay Together”.

• Al Atkins, vocals
• Bruno Stapenhill, bass
• Ernie Chataway, guitar
• John Partridge, drums

1970: A new band, the same name

Immediate goes out of business before anything is recorded. On a tour of Scotland the drummer drops out and Al drums and sings in a three-piece. A night-time snowstorm on a Scottish mountain later becomes the song “Winter”. By the middle of the year the band has split.

That autumn, at Holy Joe's rehearsal rooms in Wednesbury, Al hears K.K. Downing, Ian Hill and John Ellis playing without a singer. They are about to call themselves Freight. Al joins and suggests his old band's name instead. The new Judas Priest plays its first gig on 6 March 1971, shares a bill with Black Sabbath at the Masonic Hall in Walsall on 26 May, and that July records two of Al's songs, “Mind Conception” and “Holy Is the Man”.

• Al Atkins, vocals
• K.K. Downing, guitar
• Ian Hill, bass
• John Ellis, drums

1972: On the road

Signed to IMA, the management agency run with Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi, Priest play more than 150 gigs in a year. They open for Status Quo, Thin Lizzy, UFO, Family, Supertramp and Budgie. The set runs “Spanish Castle Magic”, “Winter”, “Holy Is the Man”, “Never Satisfied” and the long closer “Caviar and Meths”. Chris “Congo” Campbell is on drums.

1973: Passing it on

His last gig with the band is opening for Budgie at St George's Hall in Liverpool. In May, with no record deal, and as the only member married with a child to support, Al leaves and takes a job at the Post Office garage in Sutton Coldfield.

A few months later Downing and Hill come to his door and ask to keep the name and the songs. He says yes. Rob Halford joins, and Al's songs go on to Priest's first two albums.

1974: Lion

Within months he's singing again, in Bruno Stapenhill's new band, which Al names Lion. They start out playing jazz-rock and get heavier. They record at Pelsall in 1975 and, in the punk years, open for the Sex Pistols at Barbarella's in Birmingham, and for The Stranglers. Lion run until about 1978.

Meanwhile his songs reach the world. Rocka Rolla (1974) carries “Winter”, “Never Satisfied” and “Caviar and Meths”. Sad Wings of Destiny (1976) carries “Victim of Changes” and “Dreamer Deceiver”. See the songs

• Al Atkins, vocals
• Bruno Stapenhill, bass
• Harry Tonks, guitar
• Jim Perry, then Pete Boot, drums

1988: The studio years

Through the eighties he builds his own studio and produces young Birmingham bands. In 1988 he forms a new band and starts writing again, with Bruno and with guitarist Paul May, who has played on every Al Atkins album since. That year he's filmed recording his own version of “Victim of Changes”.

1990: Solo

Judgement Day opens a run of solo records. Dreams of Avalon follows, then Heavy Thoughts (1994) for Gull, Priest's first label, with the full-length “Caviar and Meths”. On Victim of Changes (1998) he re-records the early Priest songs with former Priest drummer Dave Holland.

2007: Demon Deceiver, a book and Holy Rage

Demon Deceiver brings in Budgie's Simon Lees, with guests including Diamond Head's Brian Tatler and Bernie Tormé. In 2009 he publishes his autobiography, Dawn of the Metal Gods, written with Neil Daniels with a foreword by Ian Hill and recollections from Bruno Stapenhill, Ernie Chataway and John Ellis, and launches it on BBC radio. His band becomes Holy Rage, who share a bill with former Rainbow singer Graham Bonnet in California and release their album in 2010.

2011: The Atkins/May Project

Paul May asks him to sing on two tracks of a solo album. Al sings the lot. As the Atkins/May Project they release Serpents Kiss (2011), Valley of Shadows (2012), Empire of Destruction (2014), Anthology (2015) and The Final Cut (2020).

2017: Reloaded

His own songs, reclaimed. “Victim of Changes” becomes a duet with Primal Fear's Ralf Scheepers. Ian Hill plays bass on “Winter” and “Never Satisfied”, with Roy Z, John McCoy, Stu Marshall and others. The album closes with an extract from an early Priest demo with Downing and Hill.

2024: Back on vinyl

Ancient Grease Records starts releasing his 1970s recordings with Lion's “Rain” and “All That I Want”, recorded in 1975. Sleaszy Rider reissues Reloaded and Serpents Kiss. Judas Priest's 50th-anniversary Rocka Rolla puts his three co-writes back in the shops.

2026: The first Priest recording, found

The 1971 demos of “Mind Conception” and “Holy Is the Man” resurface and are written up as the earliest known Judas Priest recording, with Al on vocals.