Akron rocker Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens hits the road with K.K. Downing and KK’s Priest

Tim “Ripper” Owens knew where he wanted to go on his day off.

“I still live in Akron,” he said. “I’ve never moved, really. All my family and friends are here. I’m gone so much, so I like to come home.”

The 56-year-old singer had just returned from two weeks in Australia and barely had time to catch his breath in Ohio before flying to Miami for the Monsters of Rock Cruise. After getting back on dry land, he hit the road with KK’s Priest for the band’s first U.S. headlining tour, which will bring him back home Wednesday, March 20, for a concert at the Cleveland Agora with famed guitarist K.K. Downing.

“This past month has been a whirlwind,” Owens said.

In May, the group will fly to Europe to play before tens of thousands of fans at rock festivals in Belgium, Germany, Spain, Romania and England.

Owens dreamed of this life while growing up in Kenmore, and now he’s living the dream.

Just a kid from Akron

His interest in music began at an early age.

“It was always rock,” he said.

As a child in the 1970s, he listened to the records of his parents, Troy and Sherri Owens: Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Then he moved on to Kiss.

Owens and his best friend, Tom McAlister, formed a band, actually a duo, when they were about 8 or 9 years old.

“I think my guitar had four strings and he played on boxes,” Owens said. “We named ourselves TNT — Tim and Tom. … We just mimed to Kiss songs.”

Eventually, Owens’ brother, Troy Jr., introduced him to the British band that would change his life: Judas Priest.

The soaring vocals of Rob Halford, the searing guitars of K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton, the throbbing bass of Ian Hill, the thundering drums of Dave Holland … the heavy sound just blew him away.

Owens bought Judas Priest albums, sang along to Judas Priest songs and plastered his bedroom walls with Judas Priest posters. His first concert was Judas Priest on April 6, 1984, at the Richfield Coliseum during the “Defenders of the Faith” tour.

It turned out this kid could sing.

At Kenmore High School, he spent four years in choir, including two years of singing Renaissance madrigals, and belonged to the men’s glee club and band. He joined swimming, baseball, golf and track, and served as a gym assistant, library assistant, office helper and hall guard.

Under Owens’ list of school activities in the 1985 senior yearbook, it noted: “Prefers Judas Priest, Heavy Metal, Listening to Rob Halford, all heavy metal guitar players.”

After graduation, he found a job, but music kept calling to him. By day, he worked as a purchasing agent for the Akron law firm of Buckingham, Doolittle and Burroughs. By night, he rocked.

Rocking at Ramon’s and Ron’s

Owens liked to hang out at local clubs, including Ramon’s, the Akron Agora and the Temple Tavern, later known as Ron’s Crossroads, where the music scene was thriving.

“Oh, yeah, that was a great time,” Owens said. “The first place I ever played was a Temple jam on a Sunday.”

He joined the metal cover band Dammage Inc., later known as Brainicide, where the setlist was heavy on Judas Priest. One of his favorite songs to wail was “Victim of Changes.”

“I have a really weird story, and it’s the truth,” Owens said. “ … I had this dream that Judas Priest asked me to come do soundcheck because Rob wasn’t feeling well, and they wanted me to sing ‘Victim of Changes.’ ”

In the 1990s, he sang with U.S. Metal and Winters Bane, an original group that doubled as the Judas Priest tribute band British Steel. When Halford left Judas Priest in 1992, the group went on hiatus, but British Steel continued to book shows. Owens wore studded leather onstage and belted out songs in the style of Halford.

A 1995 video of Owens singing at a gig in Erie, Pennsylvania, caught the attention of Judas Priest’s members. They couldn’t believe his voice, and he couldn’t believe his ears when the band’s manager called him.

“It was kind of crazy,” he said.

In February 1996, the 28-year-old Akron singer caught an overnight flight  and met his metal idols at a recording studio in Wales. Owens tried not to seem starstruck as he exchanged pleasantries before the audition.

“When I got to England, they asked me to sing ‘Victim of Changes,’ ” he recalled.

That song! Owens knew it by heart. His strange dream had come true.

He wailed his head off and won the job before hitting the final high note.

‘Ripper’ joins Judas Priest

While going through the group’s classic songs, including “Living After Midnight,” “Breaking the Law,” “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’ ” and “Electric Eye,” Owens delivered a searing rendition of “The Ripper” and earned himself a new nickname, Tim “Ripper” Owens.

He made his public debut with Judas Priest in a sold-out concert at the Cleveland Agora on Feb. 15, 1998. The Ohio crowd went wild.

“MTV was at that show, Kurt Loder and all this stuff,” Owens said. “It was a big deal.”

Owens had jumped from a tribute band to the actual band. He performed with Judas Priest for nearly 10 years, recording the albums “Jugulator” and “Demolition,” and touring the world. His story served as the loose inspiration for the 2001 movie “Rock Star” starring Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston.

The Kenmore kid went from having Judas Priest posters on his bedroom walls to being one of the guys in those photos.

“The worst part about making Judas Priest was that I lost my idols,” he said. “I gained family and friends, but I lost those guys who were untouchable on my wall.”

It ended in 2003 after Judas Priest reunited with Halford. Owens went on to sing with Iced Earth, Yngwie Malmsteen, Dio Disciples, The Three Tremors and other groups, and recorded two solo albums.

He entered the Akron bar and restaurant business in 2010, lending his name to the Ripper Owens Tap House on Waterloo Road and Ripper’s Rock House on Manchester Road, a live music venue that later rebranded as Tim Owens’ Traveler’s Tavern after being featured on the Spike TV series “Bar Rescue.” He closed up shop in 2016.

K.K. Downing and KK’s Priest

In 2020, Owens formed KK’s Priest with K.K. Downing, who had left Judas Priest a decade earlier. The two remained friends over the years and were happy to work together again.

Owens said Downing, 72, whom he knows as Ken, is a consummate professional with an amazing work ethic.

“It’s amazing how energetic he is and how fun he is to be around,” Owens said. “This guy was one of the godfathers and the founders of heavy metal.”

Even though the two are buddies and bandmates, Owens occasionally slips into fan mode while watching the guitarist perform onstage.

“There’s still times I think to myself, ‘Wow. That’s K.K. Downing.’ ”

KK’s Priest has released two albums, “Sermons of the Sinner” (2021) and “The Sinner Rides Again” (2023), both on Napalm Records. The band, which also features guitarist A.J. Mills, bassist Tony Newton and drummer Sean Elg, kicked off the U.S. tour this month.

“We do half a set with KK’s Priest songs and half a set with some classic Judas Priest songs,” Owens said. “We try to make it a nice setlist for everybody. It’s a big catalog.”

As a special treat for fans, the group might even play a song or two from “Jugulator” or “Demolition.”

“Those are great records and I love them,” he said.

As proved in YouTube videos from the early concerts, Owens’ voice is in fine form. He said he goes to the gym, works out, drinks a lot of water, refrains from alcohol and gets adequate rest.

“I’m singing better than I’ve sang in my life right now,” he said.

Metal Hall of Fame induction

What a year it’s already been. In January, Owens was inducted into the Metal Hall of Fame with enshrinees such as Mick Mars, Sebastian Bach, Carlos Cavazo, Eddie Trunk and Penelope Spheeris.

“It’s pretty amazing for me to be here,” Owens told the crowd in Anaheim, California. “I was just a kid from Akron, Ohio, that loved Judas Priest.”

Now he’s looking forward to playing the Cleveland Agora, the place where he made his Judas Priest debut 26 years ago.

“And to think that all these years later I’m back with KK’s Priest,” he said. “It brings back a lot of memories.”

Tim Owens is coming home.

He hopes to see a lot of familiar faces in the crowd. He promises that fans will have a good time.

“It’s a rockin’ show,” Owens said. “We sound great. It’s fun.

“I can’t wait to play Cleveland.”

Mark J. Price can be reached at mprice@thebeaconjournal.com

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This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens living the dream with K.K. Downing and KK’s Priest