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Artist
K.K. Downing
12+ albums
hard rockclassic rockRockPearls
about
Kenneth Keith Downing Jr. (born 27 October 1951) is an English musician. He is a former guitarist of heavy metal band Judas Priest. Downing was born in West Bromwich, West Midlands. In the late 1960s, Downing developed a passion for rock music and the guitar, which led to his being kicked out of his home at age 15 and dropping out of school soon afterwards. He is a mostly self-taught guitarist. He was heavily influenced by Jimi Hendrix, whom Downing said he was "very quick to recognize" as the future. He was also influenced by John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and Eric Clapton Downing performed on every Judas Priest album from Rocka Rolla to A Touch of Evil: Live. Downing started his first band, a pop band called Stagecoach, between the age of 17 and 18 with his second cousin Brian Badhams on bass guitar (now with The Elkie Brooks Band) and drummer Martin Philips. The trio "mainly jammed a few Cream songs and a few 12-bar blues". Downing has an aggressive, rock-influenced guitar style featuring solos and dual leads with fellow Judas Priest guitarist Glenn Tipton. His solos remained of this style for most of his career, but he incorporated various techniques into his playing over the years. As opposed to Tipton, his solos tended to incorporate a more raw, rough-edged sound, making use of techniques such as pinch harmonics, dive bombs, and tremolo picking, and often focusing on speed, technical accuracy and melody. From Stained Class onward, Tipton became increasingly dominan
