Glenn Tipton/ Judas Priest diagnosed with Parkinson's

Parkinsons is second only to cancer in my estimation. Just a bastard of a malady. I wonder how long Glenn has been living with its effects. Perhaps a weird thing to wish, but I kind of hope it's only now starting to affect him in terms of his motor skills. Medication can still reverse that for a while - until you get acclimated and then you're back where you started. At his age, that would at least mean he could live normally and pass in full grasp of his faculties.

Unfortunately, if he's been medicated for this for years, the span of time where the treatment regimes restore lost faculties shrinks a bit...

In either case, wishing him all the best and that he has many healthy years in front to look forward to without the stresses of touring.

 

He was diagnosed with it around 10 years ago. From what I understand, he can still play some of the easier songs, but the more difficult ones are the reason he won't be participating in the tour.

 

Terrible news. My father suffered from Parkinson's and it is a nightmare of a disease. Unfortunately if he's already been living with it for a decade Glenn is likely nearing the end stages, which are particularly rough. Sending positive thoughts his way...

 

Terrible news and the timing of this is awful given the recent death of Pat Torpey. I hope he gets A+ care.

The damn rock HOF did not put Deep Purple in until after Jon Lord had passed. I hope they don't make the same disrespectful error with Judas Priest.

 

Ouch, this one hurts more than most. He was the first guy in Priest that I identified with back in 1984. I wanted that Live in Memphis 82 leather jacket to say nothing of those guitar skills. Yeah, and the hair too!

I checked the archives here and I said as far back as March of 2016 that something was physically wrong with Glenn. Some really sloppy playing (I was always yammering on about the Painkiller solo intro) and one time onstage in the last couple of years he wore a cap and looked oddly disengaged.

I ended up so jazzed about the passion and energy that Ritchie brought to the band but now I'm just feeling like they should stop. I wonder if anyone floated the idea of doing this as a final tour, getting KK back and moving Ritchie over to the Tipton spot in the order. Ritchie could handle Glenn's stuff, he's a monster player. Obviously Glenn could make appearances as he sees fit.

 

Terrible disease. My father passed from complications from it.

Best wishes for Glenn, hope he spends quality time with family and loved ones.

 

Goddamn, that sucks.

At least he gave us all that great music.

 

What I posted in the hard rock/heavy metal thread:

That is sad news. Glenn is 71 believe it or not (or will be this year). There has been a noticeable decline in his playing, posture, and look for several years now. I would think that this would mean the end of the band sometime soon. He and Ian Hill have been the only two constants throughout the years (yes, I realize he is technically not an original member), but has been the driving force in the band since he joined.

 

Another somber reminder that our heroes are aging, getting sick, and dying. Enjoy the music and the memories. We are all slowly going out one way or another.

 

Who is Andy Sneap?

 

Andy Sneap - Wikipedia

And while I like Sabbat and some of his production-work, I'm saying 'no thanks' to this.

 

He’s produced and engineered a lot of albums. He’s also co producer of this newest Priest album. Tom Allom produced it.

 

It would be nice if they invited KK back. It’s gonna be to strange for me to not even see one of them on stage. I guess they didn’t wanna announce this until the tour was actually about to start in fear of losing ticket sales.

 

Sad to hear this news. Glenn's always been a class act.

 

Great idea, but KK has made it quite clear he’s finished.

 

I agree. I cannot fathom the band without Tipton or Downing. When KK quit it was weird enough but with neither onstage we’re very close to tribute band territory. Enough is enough.

 

I don't really want to speculate what's going on behind the scenes here, but I thought it was very strange that Glenn supposedly was 'staying behind to finish working on the album', as their Facebook account had it some weeks ago.

 

KK`s Memoir tell all book is coming out soon in a few months.

This is sad news though.Especially if you`ve seen people progress with Parkinsons.
Priest will be playing live in CT Mohegan Sun Casino.

 

Yeah, that was really the end for me. Those two guys together made up 66.7% of the band's appeal to me, I guess.

 

Yeah, absolutely. The twin guitars of Tipton and Downing plus the banshee wails of Halford were the selling points of the band. Now, one remains and is a shadow of his former self (as was Tipton in recent years).

That said, there will be people who say, “if they want to keep making music and people still want to go see them, who are you to say?”

My answer: more power to them and their fans, but I’m out. I’ll still enjoy their back catalog though.

 

Amen to that.

 

Right on. They should have gone in this year. No comparison between Bon Jovi and Priest. Hopefully next year they will do the right thing.

Funnily Bon Jovi got a huge amount of fan votes. People love 'em. They were far and away the most popular fan wise. But, for me, music wise i see no comparison. Priest blows em' out of the water.

 

Sad to hear. I saw the reunion lineup 3x times and caught the Redeemer of Souls lineup their last time through the Austin area. Was pretty likely to try and catch this tour when it comes through TX, but now I am not sure what I'll do. At this point I would be a buyer for a Halford tour built around the Resurrection album. Maybe that is in the cards for 2020 as a 20th anniversary gimmick.

 

Damn shame. Glenn had seemed a bit off lately - this certainly explains why.

Not seeing KK or Glenn on stage anymore makes it seem a lot less Priest-like, if at all. JP was one of my first (1980), and best, concerts (Iron Maiden opened up for them).

I've seen them numerous times since over the years, but I think I'll sit this tour out and let those memories serve instead.

 

I immediately thought about what you said about his decline when i saw this thread's headline.