DORO PESCH Picks ROB HALFORD As Her ‘Rock God’: ‘He Was Such A Great Inspiration’

German metal queen Doro Pesch was the featured guest on BBC‘s “The Rock Show With Johnnie Walker” during the “Rock God” segment. Doro picked JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford and stated about her choice (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I was a big, big JUDAS PRIEST fan, and I was so lucky to do a nice tour with JUDAS PRIEST in 1986. It was my first big tour and Rob Halford was such a god. He was such a great inspiration. I loved his voice, his style, his attitude and everything about Rob, and he was so metal and I loved it so much.

“Now I can say I’m so grateful and I’m so happy on [my] new album, ‘Conqueress – Forever Strong And Proud’, there are two duets on it with Rob Halford. One song I chose — it is [JUDAS PRIEST‘s] ‘Living After Midnight’, because I liked the ‘British Steel’ album so much. And Rob said he would like to do a song with me, and I was totally excited and it’s a great song. We did a metal version of the song, a great duet. It’s ‘Total Eclipse Of The Heart’, a Jim Steinman production. [Welsh singer] Bonnie Tyler sang [the original], and I love the song and it came out so great.

“I definitely can tell you I still love JUDAS PRIEST and I still adore Rob Halford so much.”

The official Mirko Witzki-directed music video for Doro‘s version of “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” can be seen below.

“Conqueress – Forever Strong And Proud” was released on October 27, one day before Doro‘s 40th-anniversary concert at the Mitsubishi Electric Halle in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Doro‘s breakthrough came in August 1986 when WARLOCK played at the Monsters Of Rock festival in Castle Donington, the legendary open air festival where legends like the SCORPIONS, BON JOVI, MOTÖRHEAD, DEF LEPPARD and OZZY OSBOURNE performed.

“We played at Monsters Of Rock, and it really got going right after that,” Doro said. “People started giving us a chance. So we got to tour with my heroes JUDAS PRIEST. I quit my job for it and after that everything just went like in a dream. I moved to New York in 1986 where we recorded the album ‘Triumph And Agony’ which became a huge hit worldwide. I still love the album very much. Playing all these songs feels great; they are for always on our setlist.”

Doro continued: “Then we went on tour with DIO, who I admired so much. After that a big, long tour with MEGADETH in the USA followed. The videos were played on MTV and ‘Headbanger’s Ball’, and I miss that so much today. TV was super important. I had also the chance to host ‘Headbanger’s Ball’. I loved it all. They were absolute highlights of my life.”

Like many great metal artists, Doro had to cope with the changing times during the 1990s as grunge became the sound of the decade and the traditional metal experienced a downward slide. Once again, Doro proved her commitment to the music she loves and lives by, delivering albums that played with newer, heavier styles without sacrificing the power and sacrificing the passion that had originally made them so successful.

In 2022, Doro received the Lifetime Achievement Award, having previously received an Echo, the Metal Goddess Legend Award in Las Vegas, the Legend Award in England and Germany, the Angel Of Rock Award in England and awards as “sexiest woman alive”, to name just a few. She was also voted Best Female Vocalist in Spain for 30 consecutive years and was inducted into the Hall Of Heavy Metal History in the United States. Doro has played over 3,500 concerts in more than 60 countries and sold over 10 million records worldwide in her long and successful career.

Doro Pesch photo credit: Jochen Rolfes for Nuclear Blast