Judas Priest singer and self-styled Metal God Rob Halford is considering recording an album of Tony Bennet cover versions.
Halford is a huge fan of late jazz and pop crooner Bennett, who passed away in 2023 at the age of 96.
And now, at the age of 73, Halford believes he has earned the right to make any kind of album he feels like making – even if it would be a huge shift from what fans are used to hearing from him.
He tells UCR: “There’s so many musical things I want to do. I was singing Tony Bennett in the shower the other day and I listened to my voice and I’m going, ‘Do I dare to consider something like this?’
“And then I go, ‘I’m an old man, I can do what I f***ing want!’ And I love Tony Bennett. I was sad, like a lot of us were, when he passed. He was an icon and a beacon.
“I love all kinds of singers. My love for what the voice can do is always so attractive to me – the ideas, the imagination, like Lady Gaga doing her thing in Vegas when she does the jazz side of stuff.
“So, yeah, I’d love to do that. I don’t know how I would go about it, but I better get a move on if I’m going to do something like that.”
Halford admits such a move wouldn’t have been a real consideration when he was younger. But he feels that the world would be more open to it now.
“I wouldn’t have dared to have done this back in the day. Your label said, ‘No, this is who you are. Don’t deviate!’ Management said, ‘No, this is who you are. Don’t deviate!!’
“Now you can do whatever you want, regardless of where you’re at. I think we’re in a beautiful time where there’s acceptance of music and understanding the joy of music, without barriers. It’s wonderful.”
In a similar move, Creed and Alter Bridge guitarist Mark Tremonti has had success with his covers of Frank Sinatra’s work.