Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford has revealed that he battled prostate cancer.
In a new chapter for the paperback edition of his 2020 autobiography Confess, the 70-year-old rocker revealed he had prostatectomy surgery in July 2020 and underwent radiation treatments this past April and May after more cancer was discovered.
"It’s been a draining year, I can’t deny it, but I’m delighted to have come through it,” Halford wrote. He said he only told his partner Thomas Pence and some family members about his cancer.
Halford, who said he started to experience symptoms in 2017, shared his reaction to the diagnosis. “I felt a combination of shock, horror, and oddly, relief,” he wrote.
This past weekend, Halford shared a pair of photos from his time in hospital in an Instagram post that he captioned: "Thanks for all the love maniacs and guys get your prostate checked."
In September, Judas Priest guitarist Richie Faulkner suffered an acute cardiac aortic dissection while performing “Painkiller” at a music festival in Kentucky. “From what I’ve been told by my surgeon, people with this don’t usually make it to the hospital alive,” the 41-year-old shared on social media.
Judas Priest scrapped the rest of the current leg of its 50 Heavy Metal Years tour while Faulkner recovers, including shows on Nov. 2 in Halifax, Nov. 4 in Laval, QC and Nov. 5 in Hamilton, ON.