Glenn Tipton

Tipton in 1984

Tipton was born on 25 October 1947, in Blackheath, Staffordshire, to Olive and Doug Tipton. He attended Olive Hill Primary School when he was about five years old. His brother, Gary, was a guitar player for a local band called the Atlantics. Early on, Tipton was taught to play the piano by his mother.

Tipton learned to play guitar at age 19 with his first guitar being a Hofner acoustic guitar. He would then play on a Rickenbacker until he was able to afford a Fender Stratocaster.[1] This guitar would become his main live guitar until it was stolen at a show. Tipton soon bought a black Stratocaster and, later, a Gibson SG afterwards with money he received to replace his old guitar.[2] Both of these guitars can be seen when Judas Priest played on the Old Grey Whistle Test in 1975.[3][4]

Tipton lives in the village of Romsley, Worcestershire, in the West Midlands near Birmingham, England and has a state-of-the-art recording studio built next to his home. During the 1980s he also bought a property in Spain. He is or was married and has two children—Karina and Rick—born in 1981 and 1986, respectively,[5] both of whom were featured on his solo album Baptizm of Fire.[6] Tipton and former Judas Priest bandmate K.K. Downing are long-time tennis players and also both of them took up golf during an early 1980s American tour with Def Leppard.[7]

Tipton's first band was Shave 'Em Dry, with future Starfighters and Ozzy Osbourne drummer Barry Scrannage,[8] which became Merlin, later becoming The Flying Hat Band. This band soon broke up due to management issues. In May 1974, Tipton joined Judas Priest, and coincidentally Scrannage had joined the band Bullion with earlier Judas Priest members Ernest Chataway and Bruno Staphenhill. This was during the recording for Rocka Rolla, so Tipton quickly added his guitar parts to the album.[2] On Sad Wings of Destiny, Tipton showed off more of his guitar work on songs like "Tyrant", "Dreamer Deceiver" and "Victim of Changes". Tipton also presented his own songwriting on the songs "Prelude", "Epitaph" and "The Ripper". He frequently played keyboards on the early albums, although those were no longer featured on any songs after Killing Machine. He is credited with introducing a more metal sound to the band with those songs, as Rocka Rolla was composed of largely blues rock and psychedelic songs left over from the band's former frontman Al Atkins. Although Tipton wrote the lyrics for the songs shortly after joining Judas Priest, producer Rodger Bain rejected putting them on the first album as being not commercial enough. From then onward, Halford and Tipton would be the band's principal songwriters with occasional contributions from Downing.

1980's British Steel was Judas Priest's commercial breakthrough. This album combined the band's trademark heavy metal sound with pop-style song structures and hooks. "United" and "Breaking the Law" were some of Judas Priest's first guitar-driven songs not to include any solo sections. Judas Priest quickly shot to rock superstar status during the 1980s with their albums Point of Entry, Screaming for Vengeance, Defenders of the Faith, Turbo and Ram It Down, entering the 1990s with the album Painkiller.

Rob Halford left Judas Priest in 1992 and the band then separated. During their split, Tipton wrote material for a solo project he formed in the mid-1990s. His first solo effort was the album Baptizm of Fire, which was released in 1997, followed by Edge of the World in 2006. In 1996, Judas Priest reformed with new vocalist Tim "Ripper" Owens. This new version of the band recorded the albums Jugulator in 1997 and Demolition in 2001. Both of these albums experimented with new sounds that distinguished them from the records with Halford. In 2003, Judas Priest reunited with Rob Halford and toured in celebration of his return in 2004. The band released Angel of Retribution in 2005 and Nostradamus in 2008. In 2010, Judas Priest announced their Epitaph World Tour, which was to be the last major world tour, which was also their first tour without original guitarist K. K. Downing, and the first to feature his replacement, Richie Faulkner. The band later retracted this announcement, and released their seventeenth album Redeemer of Souls in July 2014, as well as supporting the album with a world tour.

On 12 February 2018, Tipton announced that he would step down from touring when he revealed that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. He stated that he was still a member of the band despite his diagnosis and would not rule out future on-stage appearances. Producer and guitarist Andy Sneap replaced him on tour.[9] On 9 March 2018, the eighteenth album Firepower was released.[10] At the 20 March 2018 show in Newark, New Jersey, Tipton joined the band on stage to perform "Metal Gods", "Breaking the Law" and "Living After Midnight",[11] then "Victim of Changes"[12] and "No Surrender"[13] on later dates. Prior to the band's performance, he expressed uncertainty regarding his future role in Judas Priest, "It's an unanswerable question, really. It's in the lap of the metal gods."[14] After performing on stage with the band, he described it as "emotional", and being overwhelmed with support from the band members and from fans worldwide, "You don’t like to see a grown man cry, but we did."[15] Tipton did not make any more appearances on the remaining dates of the band's world tour due to his illness, as explained by bassist Ian Hill.[16]

On 12 February 2018, Tipton revealed that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, with which he was first diagnosed in 2008, thus ceasing his duties to perform on tour as the disease's progression left him unable to play the more challenging material.[17] Rob Halford said that Tipton rejected the idea of having to be assisted with an additional guitarist backstage on tour for cover on some of his guitar parts or to use backing tracks. He then said that he witnessed first-hand the struggles Tipton experienced during the making of Firepower.[18] Halford later said that Tipton made his decision five days prior to his public announcement, adding that Tipton would be "with us in spirit — every show, every song" on tour, and being overwhelmed by positive support and responses from fans.[19] Bassist Ian Hill explained that Tipton faced a similar situation during rehearsals for the Redeemer of Souls Tour in 2014. At the time of the announcement, he said that Tipton made the decision to step off the stage due to his health, which caused emotional heartache for the band.[20] Tipton said that he was shocked to hear the news of his diagnosis and "made me even more determined to fight. I could still play, so I just continued recording and touring."[21] He would later say that he was "sort of shocked", describing it as "a pretty cruel disease."[22]

In June 2018, Judas Priest launched the Glenn Tipton Parkinson's Foundation in Tipton's honour, in which they would sell specially designed t-shirts featuring Tipton playing guitar on the front and with the slogan "No Surrender" on the back with the Judas Priest cross on it. Tipton explains that the foundation would help raise money in hopes of finding a cure for Parkinson's disease. He also says that a new "pioneering treatment" from his personal specialist would also help treat other sufferers of the disease.[23] Hill said that the band had known for some time that Tipton was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease before his announcement, again recalling the difficulties during the first days of the Redeemer of Souls Tour, but improved as time progressed. He says that Tipton's "as good as anyone can be given the situation. Glenn is out with us most of the time, anyway. And when he's feeling well enough he'll get on stage, and I can't promise anything, but he'll get up and do the encores with us."[24]

Tipton's daughter, Karina Greenin, took part in an annual marathon in Barcelona to help raise funds for her father's foundation, which exceeded her £3,500 goal.[25] Richie Faulkner recalled that Tipton was diagnosed during the Redeemer of Souls Tour, "maybe, actually, a bit before. So, after the 'Epitaph' tour, but before the 'Redeemer Of Souls' tour he got diagnosed, and they told him that he had it for quite a few years before that, but he didn't know. He kept it quiet, which is his business… He chose to go and check it out and they told him that it was the onset Parkinson's, and he told us. But he was able to do the 'Redeemer Of Souls' tour." He then said that the set had to be slightly changed in order to accommodate him. The band did not perform a few songs on the first part of the tour, but upon their appearance in Australia, they began to perform them due to Tipton's resurgence in his health and managed to successfully perform the entire tour, but stepped down during rehearsals for the Firepower World Tour due to the disease's progression which caused emotional heartbreak for the band.[26] Tipton expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the fans for their support for him, "particularly over the past year which has been a tough one for me.....thank you all so much! No surrender!!"[27]

Faulkner provided an update on Tipton in July 2020, saying that he was still in good spirits, but was "going a bit nuts" due to the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.[28]

Tipton performing in 2005

Tipton is known for his complex, classically influenced solos, and he has a unique guitar-playing technique.[29] Many of his solos are very difficult to transcribe, and his playing is notable for his double lead guitar trades with fellow Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing. Tipton's solos have maintained a consistent style for most of his career, but he has continuously incorporated new techniques into his playing over the years as he has developed as a guitarist. The usual arrangement on Judas Priest songs feature riffs and leads by both Tipton and Downing. Starting with Judas Priest's fourth album, Stained Class, Tipton began to dominate the band's songwriting, especially on the more commercial tracks which almost exclusively featured his guitar leads. Following the release of their sixth album, British Steel, most songs in the live set lists were Tipton's. On the whole, his solos feature in almost 60% of Judas Priest's total catalog.

In contrast to Downing, Tipton's solos tend to feature a more melodic, legato blues rock sound, making use of harmonic minor scales, Aeolian mode, pentatonic scales, and techniques such as sweep-picking arpeggios, legato picking, tremolo/alternate picking, hammer-ons, and pull-offs; moreover, the solos often showcase both accuracy and aggression. However, like Downing, his playing sometimes emphasizes speed rather than precision, and Tipton has been known to occasionally use pinch harmonics and dive bombs in his solos (for example, on Invader). Tipton also has a trademark 2-strings bend/whammy dive scream for ending the solo, as evident in solos like All Guns Blazing, Heavy Metal, Demonizer, Bullet Train, and Ram It Down. In 1978, Tipton began to incorporate tapping into his playing, which Downing promptly did as well. In the mid-1980s, both guitarists started to use the complex technique of sweep-picking, which can be notably heard on the title track of their 1990 album Painkiller. Both have continuously used these techniques ever since.

In 1997, Tipton released his solo album, Baptizm of Fire, featuring a host of well-known musicians including Billy Sheehan, Cozy Powell and Don Airey, among others where he showed his technical guitar playing abilities.

• He was ranked No. 19 on rock magazine Hit Parader's list of 100 greatest metal guitarists.
• He was ranked No. 28 on Gigwise's Top 50 Guitarists.[34]
• He was ranked No. 9 on MusicRadar's The 20 Greatest Metal Guitarists Ever.[35]
• He was ranked No. 25 on Joel Mclver's 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists.[36]
• Sun Kil Moon released a song titled "Glenn Tipton" on their album Ghosts of the Great Highway.
• In the popular video game Guitar Hero II, a playable character called Izzy Sparks, wears clothes very similar to the ones Glenn Tipton used under the Screaming for Vengeance tour 1983.
• Kerry King of Slayer has stated that Tipton is one of the most underrated guitarists in the world. He stated that Tipton is one of his earliest guitar influences.[37]
• Jeff Waters: "Glenn Tipton, along with partners KK Downing and Rob Halford, has come up with the most killer metal riffing, with elite, groundbreaking, original songwriting, and with blues-influenced lead guitar shredding. Judas Priest and Tipton's work are arguably more worthy of the term metal than any other, with Tony Iommi and Black Sabbath their only close rivals".[38]
• Dave Mustaine: "Glenn Tipton is my Guitar Hero. I even bought a Fedora Hat because I saw Glenn Tipton wearing it on Sad Wings of Destiny era. Though it didn't look as cool as it looked on him." (actually it is KK Downing that is wearing the Fedora on the back cover).

• Official Glenn Tipton website