Judas Priest Announce Retirement of Bassist Ian Hill, Reveal Replacement

Judas Priest have announced the retirement of their longtime bassist Ian Hill, who is exiting the band due to various physical setbacks. The 74-year-old Hill joined Judas Priest in 1970, and has played on all of their studio albums. He is being replaced by Davey Rimmer, a member of both Uriah Heep and Judas Priest guitarist Richie Faulkner’s band Elegant Weapons. The band introduced a message from Ian by stating, “It is with heavy hearts that we are sending out this personal message from our Ian….he has been the backbone of Judas Priest for so long and will be greatly missed by us all….we wish him well in his retirement and welcome Davey into the Priest Family.” The personal message from Ian reads as follows: “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. 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 m...