Judas Priest’s Rob Halford says Ozzy Osbourne should be knighted

Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford has shared that he thinks Ozzy Osbourne deserves to be knighted.

• READ MORE: Ozzy Osbourne: a rock’n’roll showman like no other

Speaking to Classic Rock magazine recently, – and reported via Louder Sound – Halford voiced his support for the decade-long campaign to get the Prince of Darkness and former Black Sabbath frontman knighted.

“If one person deserves a knighthood, it’s Ozzy Osbourne,” Halford said to Classic Rock. “Just for the joy he’s given people over the years.”

Halford, like many others, is of the belief that Osbourne – a forefather of the metal genre – is well-deserving of knighthood for his contributions to the music industry. Osbourne has been the subject of a knighthood campaign dating back to 2014 that attracted over 20,000 signatures that year. The campaign page is currently unavailable.

Osbourne himself has said that he supports the idea of being knighted, saying later that year: “I’ve heard about that. Getting knighted? I can’t imagine anything better. And my wife [Sharon] would become a Lady, which would be pretty cool. But I’m not gonna get upset if it doesn’t happen. I never thought I’d get further than Aston [in Birmingham, England, where he was born].”

Elsewhere in his chat with Classic Rock, Rob Halford recalled being introduced to Queen Elizabeth via Cilla Black, and their conversation about heavy metal music. “I was standing in line with Cilla, who I’d met earlier, waiting to meet the Queen. Cilla has met her before, and she says, ‘This is Rob Halford, he’s flown in from Finland to be here.’ And the Queen said, ‘You play music? What kind of music do you play?’”

He continued: “So I said, ‘Heavy metal.’ And she said, ‘Oh, heavy metal? Why do they have to play so loud?’ So I just went, ‘So you can bang your head, your majesty.’ It was such a lovely night, talking about heavy metal to the Queen.”

Judas Priest are set to release their 19th studio album, ‘Invincible Shield’ on March 8 – you can pre-order it here.

In more recent news, Ozzy’s wife and manager Sharon Osbourne recently revealed that the Black Sabbath icon is planning “two more shows to say goodbye” before he fully retires from performing live.

“He won’t tour again but we are planning on doing two more shows to say goodbye as he feels like, ‘I have never said goodbye to my fans and I want to say goodbye’,” she told journalist Jane Moore (via Music News).

Sharon continued: “His voice is still absolutely perfect. And all the time he has been off he still does his singing lessons. Even if you don’t like his music, you can’t not like Ozzy.”