Early Life and Career
Glenn Raymond Tipton was born on October 25, 1947 to Olive and Doug Tipton. Glenn attended Olive Hill Primary School when he was about five years old. His brother, Gary, was a guitar player for a local band called the Atlantics. Early on, Glenn was taught to play the piano by his mother, but he was never fully committed to his practice. Glenn learned to play guitar at age 19 with his first guitar being a Hofner acoustic guitar. He would then play on a Rickenbacker until he was able to afford a Fender Stratocaster. This guitar would become his main live guitar until it was stolen at a show. Glenn soon bought a black Stratocaster from someone for a cheap price. Tipton also bought a Gibson SG afterwards with money he received to replace his old guitar. Both of these guitars can be seen when Judas Priest played on the Old Grey Whistle Test. Tipton's first band was Shave Em' Dry, which became Merlin, which became the Flying Hat Band. This band soon broke up due to management issues. In May 1974, Tipton joined Judas Priest. This was during the recording for Rocka Rolla, so Tipton quickly added his guitar parts to the album. On Sad Wings of Destiny, Tipton showed off more of his guitar work on songs like Tyrant, Dreamer Deceiver and Victim of Changes. Tipton also presented his own songwriting on the songs Prelude, Epitaph and The Ripper. Epitaph and Prelude include some of Tipton's work on keyboard instruments. The year 1980's British Steel was Judas Priest's commercial breakthrough. This album combined the band's trademark heavy metal sound with pop-style song structures and hooks. United and Breaking the Law were some of Judas Priest's first guitar-driven songs not to include any solo sections. Judas Priest's popularity progressed through the 1980s with their albums Point of Entry, Screaming for Vengeance, Defenders of the Faith, Turbo, Ram It Down and Painkiller. Rob Halford would leave Judas Priest in 1992 and the band would separate. Judas Priest would later return with Tim "Ripper" Owens in 1997. This new version of the band recorded the albums Jugulator and Demolition. Both of these albums experimented with new sounds that distinguished them from the records with Halford. Around this time, Tipton released his first solo album, Baptizm of Fire in 1997. The follow-up album Edge of the World was released in 2006. In 2003, Judas Priest would reunite with Rob Halford and release Angel of Retribution in 2005 and Nostradamus in 2008. In 2010, Judas Priest announced their Epitaph World Tour, which is to be the last major world tour. Despite the announcement, Judas Priest still wishes to record another album and possibly more in the future.
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