Ian Hill retires from Judas Priest after more than five decades, and Davey Rimmer takes over on bass

Judas Priest bassist Ian Hill has retired from the band with immediate effect. The band shared the news on 9 October 2026 alongside a personal message from Hill, and named Uriah Heep bassist Davey Rimmer as his successor.

Hill is the longest-serving member of the British metal pioneers. He has played on every Judas Priest studio album, most recently 2024's Invincible Shield, and is widely regarded as the last link to the band's earliest days in Birmingham around 1970.

Why now

In his message, Hill wrote that for a long time his answer to how long he could keep going had been "until my performances suffer", and added: "I hate to say it, but that time has come." He described arthritis that has been advancing for years and is now in an advanced state in his shoulders, his right hand and both knees.

The immediate trigger was an injury on the band's recent European run. Hill tore a tendon in his left shoulder at the Brussels show, which left him unable to lift his arm high enough to reach the neck of his bass. Rimmer covered for him at the band's London date, the Eventim Apollo show on 21 September 2026, and the band described that arrangement at the time as temporary. Hill has said specialists think surgery may not be needed, but there is no guarantee he would regain the strength for a full stage show.

What happens next

Rimmer is known for his years with Uriah Heep and for Elegant Weapons. Hill called him the obvious choice, and the band's statement wished Hill well and welcomed Rimmer "into the Priest family".

The live schedule is quiet. There are no more Judas Priest shows in 2026, and the next date on the calendar is Tons of Rock in Oslo, Norway, in June 2027, with more dates possible. The current touring line-up around Rimmer is singer Rob Halford, guitarists Richie Faulkner and Andy Sneap, and drummer Scott Travis.

For anyone coming to the band fresh: Judas Priest helped define the leather-and-studs look and the twin-guitar attack of heavy metal in the 1970s, and Hill's steady, driving bass sat under almost all of it. If you want to hear what he gave the band, start with the classic run of British Steel and then jump forward to Invincible Shield, and notice how little the foundation moved across 50 years.