During an appearance on MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn‘s “No Fuckin’ Regrets With Robb Flynn” podcast, founding JUDAS PRIEST guitarist K.K. Downing, who turned 70 last month, discussed the fact that he has never been married. He said: “I’ve kind of made a mess of the whole thing, really. I’ve gotta take the blame. ‘Cause they can’t all be wrong,” he explained, referring to his former girlfriends.
Downing went on to say that he found it especially difficult to settle down during PRIEST‘s heyday in the late 1980s.
“It was hard to make a commitment when you go to the next town and you meet some nice girls,” he said. “And then you get to a certain age, and things change [laughs] — things change a lot.”
Back in 2003, one of K.K.‘s ex-girlfriends, who once lived with the rocker at Astbury Hall in Astbury, near Bridgnorth, U.K., had made a claim for around £200,000 compensation after splitting up with the star because she said she had quit a promising career in pharmacy to look after his £2 million country home near Bridgnorth. She claimed she had run the estate while K.K. was touring with PRIEST and was therefore entitled to part of his fortune for investing time and skill in Astbury Hall instead of her career. But a Birmingham County Court judge dismissed her claim and also ordered her to pay costs.
Downing left PRIEST in 2011 amid claims of band conflict, shoddy management and declining quality of performance. He was replaced by Richie Faulkner, nearly three decades his junior.
In 2019, Downing said that he reached out to JUDAS PRIEST about taking part in the band’s upcoming 50th-anniversary tour but that their response was that they were not interested in including him in the celebrations.
In 2018, Downing revealed that he sent two resignation letters to his bandmates when he decided to quit JUDAS PRIEST. The first was described as “a graceful exit note, implying a smooth retirement from music,” while the second was “angrier, laying out all of his frustrations with specific parties.”
Downing later said that he believed the second letter was “a key reason” he wasn’t invited to rejoin PRIEST after Glenn Tipton‘s decision to retire from touring.
Last year, Downing announced the formation of KK’S PRIEST, in which he is joined by former JUDAS PRIEST singer Tim “Ripper” Owens, guitarist A.J. Mills (HOSTILE), bassist Tony Newton (VOODOO SIX) and drummer Sean Elg (DEATHRIDERS, CAGE).
KK’S PRIEST‘s debut album, “Sermons Of The Sinner”, was released on October 1 via Explorer1 Music Group/EX1 Records.
