Ian Hill retires from Judas Priest: “Thank you for the life you’ve let me live”

Judas Priest bassist Ian Hill has announced his retirement from the band after 56 years. The band made the announcement on social media and in a press release, with Hill confirming that he will be stepping down due to his ongoing battle with arthritis in a lengthy post. Uriah Heep’s Davey Rimmer will fill in for the rest of the band’s tour dates after stepping in for Hill during their show at London’s Eventim Apollo last month. “Hello everyone, for a long time now, when asked ‘how long can you continue’ – I’ve always answered ‘until my performances suffer’. I hate to say it, but that time has come,” Hill began. “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 painkilling pills, gels, and recently with cortisone injections in my shoulder and hand,” he added. “Although, I was able to put bass lines to the songs for the new album, there were questions whether I’d be able to complete the recent European tour without incident, so we asked our good friend Davey Rimmer from Uriah Heep, and of course E...