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K.K. DOWNING

As seen in "Defenders Of The Faith" tour

Born Kenneth Downing on October 27, 1951 in West Bromwich, England. Founder Member of Judas Priest. K.K.'s Influence is Jimi Hendrix.

Number 157 of Top 200 Rock Guitarist

K.K. had the hardest upbringing of the band members. A high school dropout at 15, living in a working-class Midlands family did not offer much hope for the future. Then he was kicked out of the house once music became his only ambition. Even after multi-platinum success, his parents still do not approve of K.K.'s career choice and it is rumored he hasn't spoken to his them since. ( "I didn't 'always want to be' much of anything at all! School didn't interest me, sports didn't interest me - not even music, until I was well into my teens... We were poor. My dad, Kenneth Sr., was a laborer. He had to support my mum, Margaret, my sisters Margaret and Linda, me and my brother Adrian... My parents never thought I'd amount to anything; kicked me out when I was 16. I used to lock myself in my room and play music." - K.K. Downing )

"I have no plans to retire at the moment, though my mum's still saying , 'Come on, son, settle down and get a proper job.' But we've still got some metal in us. Until the furnace runs down, we'll keep going." - K.K. Downing

"The Second K in K.K.'s name stands for Kevin or Killer, Anything you want me to be" - K.K. Downing

K.K. was also know as the Sex-Symbol of the band : "I never thought about it - but it doesn't bother me... The girls always seemed to like the guys who played in bands. I've never been able to figure out why that is, but I've given up trying. I've totally succumbed to the notion that men who play guitars are totally irresistible to the most beautiful women in the world. It seemed irrelevant how well you played; as long as you could get a gig and stand on stage, the girls would just be drawn to you like a magnet... I'm turned on by women's lips - there's something about them... [but I'm turned off by] chain smokers." - K.K. Downing.