Glenn Tipton

Glenn Tipton
Glenn Tipton in 2005
Background information
Birth name	Glenn Raymond Tipton
Born	(1947-10-25) 25 October 1947 (age 69) Blackheath, England
Genres	Heavy metal, speed metal, hard rock
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Guitar, vocals, keyboards
Years active	1968–present
Labels	Columbia, Atlantic
Associated acts	Judas Priest, The Flying Hat Band
Website	Official website
Notable instruments
Hamer Signature Models Gibson SG ESP LTD GT-600

Glenn Raymond Tipton (born 25 October 1947) is an English Grammy Award-winning guitar player and songwriter. Often noted for his complex playing style and classically influenced solos, he is best known as one of the lead guitarists for heavy metal band Judas Priest.

Tipton was born on 25 October 1947, in Blackheath, Staffordshire, to Olive and Doug Tipton. He 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, Tipton was taught to play the piano by his mother.

Tipton 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 . This guitar would become his main live guitar until it was stolen at a show. Tipton soon bought a black Stratocaster and, later, 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 in 1975.

Tipton lives in the village of Romsley, Worcestershire, in the West Midlands near Birmingham, England and has a state-of-the-art recording studio built next to his home. During the 1980s he also bought a property in Spain. He is or was married and has two children—Karina and Rick—born on 1981 and 1986, respectively, both of whom were featured on his solo album Baptizm of Fire Tipton and fellow guitarist K.K. Downing are long-time tennis players and also both of them took up golf during an early 1980s American tour with Def Leppard

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. He frequently played keyboards on the early albums, although those were no longer featured on any songs after Hell Bent For Leather. He is credited with introducing a more metal sound to the band with those songs, as Rocka Rolla was composed of largely blues rock and psychedelic songs left over from the band's former frontman Al Atkins. Although Tipton wrote the lyrics for The Ripper, Epitaph, and Prelude shortly after joining Judas Priest, producer Rodger Bain rejected putting them on the first album as being not commercial enough. From then onward, Halford and Tipton would be the band's principle songwriters with occasional contributions from Downing.