Da Capo PressFounding Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing has written a memoir titled Heavy Duty: Days and Nights in Judas Priest, which will be published September 18.
In the book, Downing recalls his struggles growing up poor in Birmingham, U.K., and how he discovered playing music as an escape from his abusive and mentally ill father. K.K. left school at age 15 to pursue his musical dreams, which eventually made him a guitarist in arguably one of the most influential and beloved heavy-metal bands ever.
Downing, along with frontman Rob Halford and co-lead guitarist Glenn Tipton, wrote such classic songs as “Breaking the Law,” “Livin’ After Midnight,” “Hot Rockin’,” and “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’.”
The memoir will delve deep into Downing’s 40-year-plus tenure in Judas Priest, the hedonistic lifestyle he came to experience, and the complex relationships and conflicts he had with his band mates. The book also will include the rocker’s recollections of tours with fellow heavy-metal legends like AC/DC and Iron Maiden, and will examine the contentious rivalry that developed between Priest and Maiden. In addition, the autobiography will look back at the period in the 1980s where Judas Priest became the target of a U.S. parental group that sought to censor the band.
Perhaps most significantly, Heavy Duty will feature Downing candidly and definitively discussing why he decided to retire from Judas Priest in 2011.
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