Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford has shared the full, detailed story behind the band’s recent charity version of the Black Sabbath classic “War Pigs,” which featured a historic duet with Ozzy Osbourne. In a new, extensive interview with Audacy Music, Halford explained how the collaboration came together, his emotional reaction to singing with his “Birmingham brother,” and the band’s careful approach to tackling the iconic song.
Halford revealed that Ozzy‘s involvement was not part of the original plan, but was suggested by Sharon Osbourne after Priest had already completed their own version as a tribute.
“He did his part after we sent all the tracks and files over to Sharon,” Halford said. “And it was Sharon‘s idea. It was a great idea. She said, ‘Is there any way we can get Ozzy on here?’ And we thought, ‘This is just gonna be insane, if we can get Ozzy to be in the track as well,’ because then the idea of making it a charity single came into being.”
The project’s profits are being donated to both Cure Parkinson’s, a cause championed by Ozzy, and The Glenn Tipton Parkinson’s Foundation.
Halford said Ozzy‘s blessing was the most important part. “Especially Ozzy, who allegedly was just sitting there smiling, happy that his kind of Birmingham brothers, because we were both born and raised in the same neighborhood, we had a chance to do something together.”
For Halford personally, the duet was a profound career moment. “And for me as a singer, it was especially powerful and moving to be able to sing alongside Ozzy on that track,” he stated. “We were just happy that we could make this whole thing go up to another level. It was already doing great things as it was with the Priest interpretation, but to have Ozzy connected to it just made it even more spectacular.”
Before Ozzy’s involvement, Halford explained that Judas Priest was meticulous in its approach to covering the beloved song, wanting to honor its legacy.
“When we first came up with this idea… we knew we had to tread carefully because there’s such a beloved song for Sabbath fans, Ozzy fans all over the world,” Halford said. “So we wanted to make sure that we didn’t go too far away from the original, classic concept idea… but at the same time give it our own identity.”
He praised his bandmates for their respectful interpretations: “Scott [Travis, drums] did his best to pay homage to Bill [Ward]… The same with Ian [Hill, bass] on bass for Geezer [Butler]. Richie [Faulkner] did a fantastic job with his guitars, as did Glenn [Tipton].”
Halford also noted a “weird” but welcome similarity in their voices that made the track work. “My voice in that song is in the same kind of tone or range as Ozzy, which makes it work even better. It really feels like it was destined to be.”
Judas Priest was unable to perform at the “Back To The Beginning” farewell concert on July 5, as they were playing a 60th-anniversary show with Scorpions in Germany that same day.
