Rob Halford, 39 Years Clean, Clear, and Still Raising Hell

At 73, Rob Halford is still proving that the Metal God bleeds the same as the rest of us, he just chooses to face the darkness head on.

As reported by Blabbermouth: during a Q&A session with former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson at Rock ’N’ Roll Fantasy Camp in Scottsdale, Arizona, the Judas Priest vocalist opened up about his 39 years of sobriety, offering rare insight into a journey defined by survival and sheer discipline.

“My first sober show [with PRIEST] was at the Tingley Coliseum in [May] 1986 in New Mexico, Albuquerque. That was my first sober show, and I was absolutely terrified. I was terrified. And the first time I sang clean and sober was just something so remarkable. [I was] so elevated, just to feel the music for the first time in its purest sense, uncluttered, in reality. And to hear yourself and your voice, what it can do, your bandmates. I didn’t need this stuff — I didn’t need any of that to get me where I am.”

That moment, Halford recalled, wasn’t just about playing the notes, it was about rediscovering them. Sobriety stripped away the noise and left only truth, he continued to reflect on how the culture around excess has changed over the decades, saying many bands now trade late nights for morning workouts.

“Our business used to have a horrible trail of losing people and people getting into really bad ways. A lot of us have recovered… You’d read these rock and roll stories about rockers doing crazy stuff… You felt like it was a rite of passage, that you had to go through that… And then you’re giving your life away for some other purpose, which you should never do.”

Halford doesn’t shy from the darker memories either, hospital trips, self loathing, and the slow climb out of addiction.

“By the grace of God go I, and one day at a time. And I never wanna wake up feeling sick and tired, which is what I used to do.”

Nearly four decades clean, Halford still fights temptation daily, but his faith and self awareness anchor him. His honesty cuts through the myth of the indestructible rock star, it’s not about preaching, it’s about surviving.