TIM 'RIPPER' OWENS: 'I Never Really Planned On Being A Musician; I Just Got Lucky'

In a recent interview with Monterrey Rock, former JUDAS PRIEST and current KK'S PRIEST frontman Tim "Ripper" Owens reflected on his journey to becoming a professional singer. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET):  "My parents had a lot of great music. I remember, as a little kid I would listen to my dad's '50s music that he'd listened to when he was young, like DION AND THE BELMONTS and Elvis [Presley] and things like that. But my dad's music in the '70s, when I was a kid, was THE ROLLING STONES and AEROSMITH and BACHMAN–TURNER OVERDRIVE, Alice Cooper. So I got to listen to a lot of good stuff. I loved singing Elvis as a kid. And then my brother and I got a KISS record in the mid-'70s, 'Rock And Roll Over', and I think that's how it kind of started. But I used to always sing."

He continued: "When I grew up, I was in all the choirs in school and sang in all the choirs and the musicals in school. So, I did all that. Then I remember when I put on a JUDAS PRIEST record, I realized that style of singing was really easy for me — the high notes and the way that the vocals were. Singers like Ronnie Dio and and ANTHRAX, Joey Belladonna, and stuff, that was harder. Singers like METAL CHURCH singer David Wayne and Rob Halford was easy. And I would always sing it. Then I learned how to sing Ronnie Dio's style and I worked on my voice. But I loved singing and performing as a kid. I didn't plan on doing it for a career, though. I worked in a law firm and I had [other] jobs and I always did stuff, so I never really planned on being a musician. I just got lucky. JUDAS PRIEST found a videotape of me, and I got lucky. Then I made a career out of it. But I always loved doing it as a kid, growing up. I always loved music."

KK'S PRIEST is led by another ex-PRIEST member, guitarist Kenneth "K.K." Downing.

In addition to Downing and Owens, KK'S PRIEST features guitarist A.J. Mills (HOSTILE),bassist Tony Newton (VOODOO SIX) and drummer Sean Elg (DEATHRIDERS, CAGE).

KK'S PRIEST's summer/fall 2024 North American tour with ACCEPT began on August 31 in Los Angeles, California, visiting a slew of major cities in the USA and Canada — such as Toronto, Montreal, New York and Nashville — before coming to an end in San Francisco, California on October 7.

KK'S PRIEST's first-ever U.S. headlining tour, which featured support from L.A. GUNS and BURNING WITCHES, kicked off on March 7, 2024 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and concluded on March 24, 2024 at Keswick Theatre in Glenside, Pennsylvania.

KK'S PRIEST's sophomore album, "The Sinner Rides Again", came out in September 2023 via the Austrian label Napalm Records.

KK'S PRIEST made its live debut on July 6, 2023 at Downing's KK's Steel Mill in Wolverhampton, United Kingdom.

KK'S PRIEST released its debut album, "Sermons Of The Sinner", in October 2021 via Explorer1 Music Group/EX1 Records.

Owens joined PRIEST in 1996 and recorded two studio albums with the band — 1997's "Jugulator" and 2001's "Demolition" — before PRIEST reunited with Rob Halford in 2003.