Editing Judas Priest (section)

=== Origins (1969–1974) ===
Judas Priest were formed in 1969 in [[Birmingham]],<ref name="Bowe">{{harvnb|Bowe|2009|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=-hIN6L4zyTgC&pg=PA27 27]}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Regeniter|first=Anna|date=2018-03-12 |title=Reise Know-How CityTrip Birmingham|language=de |publisher=Reise Know-How Verlag Peter Rump|isbn=978-3-8317-4930-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5gh4DwAAQBAJ&q=birmingham+Judas+Priest&pg=PA81}}</ref> England, by lead vocalist [[Al Atkins]] and bassist Brian "Bruno" Stapenhill, with John Perry on guitars and John "Fezza" Partridge on drums. Perry took his own life at age 18,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/original-judas-priest-singer-talks-about-his-early-songwriting-contributions-to-band/|title=Original JUDAS PRIEST Singer Talks About His Early Songwriting Contributions To Band|date=22 June 2008|website=Blabbermouth.net|access-date=30 April 2021}}</ref> and amongst the replacements the band auditioned was future Judas Priest guitarist [[K. K. Downing|Kenneth "K. K." Downing]]; at the time, they turned him down in favour of 17-year-old multi-instrumentalist Ernest Chataway, who had played with Birmingham band [[Black Sabbath]] when they were still called Earth.{{sfn|Popoff|2007|p=2}} Stapenhill came up with the name Judas Priest from [[Bob Dylan]]'s song "[[The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest]]" on the album ''[[John Wesley Harding]]''.{{sfn|Popoff|2007|pp=2–3}} Partridge was replaced in 1970 by drummer Fred Woolley, who later re-joined Chataway and Stapenhill in the band Bullion.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.brumbeat.net/judaspri.htm |title=Judas Priest early years|website=Brumbeat.net|access-date=30 April 2021}}</ref> No member of that early line-up lasted long enough to play on the band's recordings, though several songs co-written by Atkins appeared on their first two albums.{{sfn|Popoff|2007|p=2}}

The band recorded a two-song demo "Good Time Woman" and "We'll Stay Together" and eventually gained a three-album recording contract with the label Immediate in late 1969 after a gig in [[Walsall]],{{efn|The gig was on 25 November 1969, and [[Led Zeppelin]] vocalist [[Robert Plant]] was in the audience.{{sfn|Popoff|2007|p=3}}}} but the label went out of business before an album could be recorded, and the band split in 1970. Late in the year, Atkins found a [[heavy rock]] band called Freight rehearsing without a singer, made up of K. K. Downing on guitars, his childhood friend [[Ian Hill|Ian "Skull" Hill]] on bass, and drummer John Ellis.{{sfn|Popoff|2007|p=3}} He joined them, and they took on Atkins' defunct band's name. Their first gig was on 6 March 1971. Ellis quit later that year and was replaced with [[Alan Moore (drummer)|Alan Moore]]. Early shows included [[Jimi Hendrix]] and [[Quatermass (band)|Quatermass]] covers, and in 1972, the set list included the originals "Never Satisfied", "Winter", and the show-closer "Caviar and Meths".{{sfn|Popoff|2007|p=4}} July 1971 also saw them making a [[Single (music)|45 rpm]] demo of "Mind Conception" with "Holy is the Man" on the B-side for the Zella Records label.

Moore left and was replaced with Chris "Congo" Campbell and the band joined the management agency of [[Black Sabbath]] guitarist [[Tony Iommi]], Iommi Management Agency.{{efn|The Iommi Management Agency changed its name to Tramp Entertainments in 1973.{{sfn|Popoff|2007|p=5}} }} Atkins continued to write material for the band—including "Whiskey Woman", which became the base for the Judas Priest staple "[[Victim of Changes (song)|Victim of Changes]]"—but as finances were tight and he had a family to support, he played his last gigs with the band in December 1972 and left the band in May 1973.{{sfn|Popoff|2007|pp=5–7}} Campbell left soon afterwards, later to surface in the band Machine,<ref>{{Cite web|title=MACHINE|url=https://www.boredteenagers.co.uk/MACHINEwithnames.htm|access-date=2020-08-27|website=Boredteenagers.co.uk}}</ref> and the band enlisted two members of the band Hiroshima: drummer [[John Hinch (musician)|John Hinch]] and vocalist [[Rob Halford]], the brother of Hill's girlfriend.{{efn|Hill and Sue Halford were married from 1976 to 1984 and have a son together.{{sfn|Wang|2008}} }} Halford and Hinch played their first show with the band in May 1973 at the [[Townhouse (Great Britain)|Townhouse]] in [[Wellington, Shropshire|Wellington]]. The show was recorded and part of it released in 2019 on the compilation ''Downer-Rock Asylum'' on the Audio Archives label along with one live song from the Atkins era.

Judas Priest made their first tour of continental Europe in early 1974 and they returned to England that April to sign a recording deal with the label [[Gull (record label)|Gull]].{{sfn|Popoff|2007|p=8}} Gull suggested adding a fifth member to fill in the band's sound; they took on as a second lead guitarist [[Glenn Tipton]],{{sfn|Popoff|2007|p=8}} whose group [[The Flying Hat Band]] were also managed by Iommi's agency.{{sfn|Popoff|2007|p=5}}