Judas Priest bassist Ian Hill is opening up about the painful circumstances that forced him to retire from the legendary heavy metal band after more than five decades.
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The 74-year-old musician announced his departure Oct. 9, citing worsening arthritis and a serious shoulder injury that made performing increasingly difficult. During a recent interview with Ukrainian music personality Vladyslav Stadnyk, better known as Metal Pilgrim, Hill explained that his health problems had been interfering with his performances for several years.
The bassist revealed that arthritis was affecting his shoulders, thumb, hands and knees. Despite using medication and cortisone injections to manage the discomfort, his condition continued deteriorating.
Hill said he had considered retirement following the band's previous tour but ultimately decided to continue performing. However, an exhausting stretch of European concerts changed everything. According to Blabbermouth, Hill recalled that Judas Priest played six concerts in eight days, leaving little opportunity for his injured shoulder to recover.
"It's funny the way it came about," he said. "IRON MAIDEN said, 'Do you fancy doing a four-week tour of America this year?' And I said, 'Well, yeah, that sounds okay, a four-week tour of America, quick four weeks.' Then they pulled out. In the meantime, we'd put in Bloodstock in Britain, which is the festival in Britain. So you can't tool up to do one show. So the next thing, 'Oh, we'll do one or two dates in Europe around Bloodstock.' And nine weeks later... And that's what did it. We did six shows in eight days. That was running up to Brussels, so that's when the tendon snapped. Because we were averaging maybe a day on, a day off, day on, day off, so the crew could get to the next gig and what have you. And, of course, it was recovering on the days off. Obviously, I wasn't doing anything, so it recovered. And then, of course, you go on stage and you aggravate it all over again. But then it was sort of, like I say, six shows in eight days, and I'd never had time to recover."
Judas Priest Legend Speaks out
Things reached a head while on tour. During a performance in Brussels, Belgium, he experienced a sudden, sharp pain in his shoulder shortly before the encore. Hill had snapped a tendon. Although he managed to finish the concert, the injury left him unable to lift his arm sufficiently to play his instrument.
"'That's it. That's the end of it.' And for the encores, I had to actually get my elbow and rest it on my stomach and pull the bass back so I could get down to the bottom of the neck. And it's easing off a lot now. I can sort of lift it and do things that I couldn't do immediately after that. I mean, I couldn't move it at all. From the elbow down, everything was fine. It worked a treat, but I just could not move my shoulder. And that's why I had to miss the London show. I physically could not play the bass," he explained.
The injury forced the legend to miss Judas Priest's Sept. 21 concert in London, with Uriah Heep bassist Davey Rimmer stepping in as his replacement. Following consultations with medical specialists, Hill realized that continuing to tour could jeopardize future performances.
