Ex-JUDAS PRIEST/ICED EARTH Singer TIM OWENS: JON SCHAFFER 'Hated That I Was Called The RIPPER'

Denise Grollmus from the Cleveland Scene has written an extensive article on singer Tim "Ripper" Owens (YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, BEYOND FEAR, ex-JUDAS PRIEST, ICED EARTH),featuring quotes from a number of Tim's associates from the Ohio metal scene. A couple of excerpts follow.

On trying out for JUDAS PRIEST:

Owens was driven to a studio in Wales. "I was so starstruck. They were just sitting there, eating breakfast, hanging out, playing music. It was surreal."

The band told him to relax, that he wouldn't have to sing until the next day. But Owens demanded to perform then and there. "I was so freaked out," he says. "I hadn't sung JUDAS PRIEST in months, and I just wanted to get it over with."

He launched into "Victim of Changes", a complex song with incredibly high notes. "Whiskey woman, don't you know that you are driving me insane," Owens sang in his perfect falsetto.

The band offered him the job before he'd finished. But Owens insisted on singing one more tune, "The Ripper", a JUDAS PRIEST classic. "That's how I got my nickname," he says.

On his split with PRIEST:

"Everyone thought it was a sad day," Owens says. "But it wasn't. I never would have quit PRIEST, but it was the right thing for Halford to come back and for me to move on."

On ICED EARTH:

While Owens was comfortable being bossed around, he wanted to tour more. He also didn't like [ICED EARTH mainman Jon] Schaffer's constant derogatory comments about his time in JUDAS PRIEST. "He hated that I was called the Ripper," Owens says. "He said that my era of PRIEST just sucked and that the songs were bad. It was tense."

After one more album, Schaffer replaced Owens with [his predecessor], just last year. "It was two weeks before Christmas, and he sent this press release out," Owens says. "I didn't even know he was going to announce it. I was pretty upset by how it was handled."

Read the entire article at www.clevescene.com.