Ian Hill has ended his run with Judas Priest after 55 years, and Davey Rimmer will take over on bass. Hill said the decision follows a long stretch of physical decline, turning a single lineup change into a major shift for a band whose recorded history stretches across 19 studio albums.
Hill joined in 1970 and became the only performer to appear on every one of those albums, from Rocka Rolla in 1974 to Invincible Shield in 2024. He also said he has neglected his family life for fifty seven years, a blunt line that makes this retirement read less like a stage announcement and more like a hard personal reset.
Davey Rimmer in Judas Priest
Rimmer is not stepping in cold. He already filled Hill's place last month, when Hill missed his first-ever Judas Priest show because of a badly damaged tendon in his left arm. That trial run gives the band a ready-made handoff, and it narrows the immediate disruption to how the bass parts will be handled from show to show.
Hill called Rimmer the obvious choice and said, “The obvious choice for my replacement is Davey.” He added, “He's a great bassist, and a genuinely nice bloke who'll fit the job perfectly, and I wish him the very best of luck!” That matters because this is not a temporary fill-in framed as an emergency; it reads like a deliberate succession plan.
Brussels and London
Hill also said he snapped a tendon in his left shoulder before the encores during the Brussels show two days before the London show, and that he could not lift his arm enough to reach the neck of his bass. He described advanced arthritis in his left shoulder, right hand, both shoulders, and both knees, then added that specialists suggested he might get away without surgery.
The contradiction sits there plainly: he has retired, but the medical picture is not a simple surgery-or-no-surgery story, and his own account leaves room for recovery without a clean return to full performance. Judas Priest’s next show is currently set for June 2027 in Oslo, Norway, so the practical question is whether Rimmer becomes the permanent bassist for that date and every one after it.
June 2027 in Oslo
Judas Priest said, “It is with heavy hearts that we are sending out this personal message from our Ian,” and added, “He has been the backbone of Judas Priest for so long and will be greatly missed by us all....we wish him well in his retirement and welcome Davey into the Priest Family.” That language puts the band on record as treating this as a final personnel change, not a pause.
For listeners, the main takeaway is simple: the low end in Judas Priest now belongs to Rimmer, starting with the long runway to June 2027. Hill’s departure closes the book on the only member to play every studio album, and the band now has to prove that a historic lineup can absorb a change this large without losing shape.
