JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford recently reflected on sharing the stage with Dolly Parton November 5 at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony
Halford, along with other Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame inductees Pat Benatar, Annie Lennox and DURAN DURAN‘s Simon Le Bon, joined Dolly for an all-star jam performance of the country singer’s hit “Jolene“.
In a new interview with the San Antonio Current about what it was like performing with Parton, Rob said: “I knew that there was going to be an opportunity a few weeks before the event. Again, it was just kind of floating around that she was going to do this song at the end of the show and bring all of her friends onstage with her. And I didn’t realize that we were going to be so connected. I sang one chorus with Dolly Parton and the world’s gone nuts. And I can appreciate that now. I didn’t understand it at first. And now these days have gone by, and people are going, ‘Where’s the album with Dolly and The Metal God?’
“I’ll tell you something about her: she’s been here forever, a bit like Her Majesty the Queen, who left us recently. What I mean by that is when Dolly walks into the room, you feel this regal presence. She’s just got this aura about her personality. She’s a genuinely beautiful light of love and caring and philanthropy and humanity. It’s all real, man. It’s all very real. There are some people who are very different on and off stage. Well, no, not with Dolly. That’s Dolly’s thing. So, for me to have that opportunity, I was just blessed and honored and thrilled. I know her work because I’ve lived as long as Dolly, and I was aware of Dolly as a young person growing up and seeing her on British television. She’d come over and do these British variety shows. And here I am, this kid from a public housing estate in the West Midlands in England, and I’m standing next to Dolly fucking Parton, who is now a rock chick.”
Earlier this year, when JUDAS PRIEST received their third nomination for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, Halford told Billboard that, “I must do a duet with Dolly Parton! … If Lionel [Richie] and PRIEST get in, I think we’ll both be dancing on the ceiling together.”
JUDAS PRIEST received the Musical Excellence Award at the ceremony, which saw PRIEST members Halford, Ian Hill (bass), Glenn Tipton (guitar) and Scott Travis (drums), along with former members Downing, Binks and late drummer Dave Holland get inducted into the Rock Hall.