Judas Priest bassist Ian Hill has announced his retirement, stepping down from the British metal stalwarts after 57 years of service.
Described as “the backbone of Judas Priest” in an official statement, the 74-year-old has made the tough decision to leave the group.
Hill, the band’s third bass player after a series of early line-up changes, joined in 1970, and has played on every single one of Priest’s 19 studio albums, from 1974’s Rocka Rolla to 2024’s Invincible Shield.
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“For a long time now, when asked ‘how long can you continue,’ I’ve always answered, ‘until my performances suffer,” he says in an official statement. “I hate to say it, but that time has come.
“For some years now, I’ve been struggling with the onset of the evil arthritis, which is now in an advanced state in my left shoulder and right hand, established in my right shoulder, and present in both knees. I’ve been fighting this with painkillers, gels, and recently with cortisone injections in my shoulder and hand.”
Treatments, he says, made it possible for him to lay down his punching basslines on the band’s latest album. Since then, he has doubted his ability to take the music onto the road.
“We asked our good friend Davey Rimmer from Uriah Heep and Elegant Weapons to learn the set list to stand in for me if I had to pull out, which I did for the London show,” he says of their recent European tour.
“This was due to me snapping a tendon in my left shoulder, as if I didn’t have enough problems with it, just before the encore during the Brussels show two days before [September 18, 2026].”
Reluctantly stepping aside as the band flattened the English capitol’s Eventim Apollo has been a wake-up call for Hill, who says, “I’ve neglected my family life for 57 years.”
“I’ve decided to retire and spend the remaining years making up for it,” he adds. “There’s not a day goes by where I don’t give thanks for the incredible journey I’ve lived through, and it just remains for me to say that I love you all, and thank you for the life you’ve let me live.”
![Judas Priest Live - You've Got Another Thing Comin' [1983 Tour] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ahaFSKWJS_8/maxresdefault.jpg "Judas Priest bassist Ian Hill retires after 57 years, names replacement 19")
With the news, Hill confirms that Rimmer will take his spot in one of Britain’s most important metal bands.
Longstanding guitarist Glenn Tipton, meanwhile, has already retired from touring as age catches up with him, but is still proving a riff machine in the studio alongside Richie Faulkner. It means that vocalist Rob Halford is the only member to have played on Rocka Rolla left touring with the group.
