Robert John Arthur Halford was born on 25 August 1951 in Sutton Coldfield. He grew up in nearby Walsall, where he was raised on the Beechdale housing estate. His early influences included Little Richard, Janis Joplin, and Robert Plant.

Halford was introduced to Judas Priest bassist and co-founder Ian Hill by his sister Sue, who was dating Hill at the time. Halford, a manager of a porn cinema, joined the band as singer, bringing with him drummer John Hinch from his previous band Hiroshima. Halford and Hinch played their first show with Judas Priest in May 1973 at the Townhouse in Wellington. The show was recorded and part of it released in 2019 on the compilation “Downer-Rock Asylum” on the Audio Archives label.

In 1974, he made his recording debut on the band’s first album Rocka Rolla. He continued to front Judas Priest throughout the 1970s and 1980s. In 1990, Halford emerged with all-new tattoos, including a bent Judas Priest cross on his right arm and ring around his other, as well as a few on his shoulders. He also began shaving his head.

In Halford’s autobiography Confess, he explained that during Judas Priest’s British Steel Tour with Iron Maiden in 1980, he once made an attempt to seduce vocalist Paul Di’Anno one night in his hotel room as they carried on getting drunk together, “but I was too pissed to try anything, and he was too pissed to even know what I wanted to try. I think that was definitely for the best.”

He says that he has been clean and sober since entering a rehabilitation facility following a painkiller overdose in 1986, stating that, before that point, he heavily abused drugs and alcohol. He made an energetic recovery and his live performances during the subsequent Fuel for Life Tour was described as some of his strongest ever.

He was born and raised in a Christian household, and said that his upbringing “has become more important since I became clean and sober on 6 January 1986. That was 25 years ago and I think that’s probably more important to me now, on a daily basis.”

On the last date of the tour for Painkiller in August 1991 at a show in Toronto, Halford rode onstage on a large Harley-Davidson motorcycle, dressed in motorcycle leathers, as part of the show. The motorcycle malfunctioned and he collided with a half-raised drum riser and fell off of it, breaking his nose in the process. He was left unconscious for a short time while the band was performing the first song. After regaining consciousness, Halford returned and finished the show. He then announced his departure from Judas Priest, and also sued their label, Sony, for restrictive practices. Halford left the band in May 1992.

Halford performed as the vocalist for Black Sabbath for three shows. He replaced Ronnie James Dio for two nights in November 1992, when Dio elected not to open a show for Ozzy Osbourne. Halford also filled in for Osbourne in Black Sabbath on 26 August 2004 (one day after Halford’s 53rd birthday) at an Ozzfest show in Camden, New Jersey, since Osbourne could not perform due to bronchitis.

Halford joined Pantera on stage twice. The first performance was in 1992 where he sang on the songs “Metal Gods” and “Grinder”, and again in 1997 where he sang on “Grinder”.

Shortly after Halford’s departure, he formed the band Fight with Judas Priest drummer Scott Travis, bassist Jack “Jay Jay” Brown and guitarists Brian Tilse and Russ Parrish. The first album War of Words was released in 1993, followed by the Mutations EP in 1994. A tour took place in support of the album in 1994. The second album A Small Deadly Space was released in 1995, with a tour taking place in support of that album as well. While War of Words was a straightforward, tough and solid metal record, A Small Deadly Space had a grungier sound, making it less appealing to fans who had developed a taste for War of Words. As the band were preparing to being work on the third album, they split-up, thus ending their business with their label Epic Records. A brief reunion with half of the original members took place on 20 December 1997 for a one-off performance before disbanding once again. In a 2015 interview, Halford contemplated Fight’s reformation.

Halford joined Metallica on stage three times where they performed the song “Rapid Fire”; in 1994 on the last date of the Shit Hits the Sheds Tour, in 2011 at The Fillmore for the band’s 30th anniversary celebration and in 2013 at the fifth annual Revolver Golden Gods awards in Los Angeles.

In 1997, Halford collaborated with guitarist John Lowery to form an industrial-influenced project called 2wo. They released their only album Voyeurs in 1998, which was released on Trent Reznor’s Nothing Records label.

Halford joined queercore band Pansy Division on stage in July 1997 to perform the song “Breaking the Law”.

In 1998, Halford publicly revealed his homosexuality on MTV. He broke down in tears saying, “It’s a wonderful moment when you walk out of the closet. Now I’ve done that and I’ve freed myself. It’s a great feeling for me to finally let go and make this statement—especially to The Advocate, because this magazine has brought me so much comfort over the years. Obviously this is just a wonderful day for me.” Halford later explained that he did not have a plan or an agenda when coming in to do his interview with MTV. He mainly spoke about and promoted the Voyeurs album he made with ex-Marilyn Manson guitarist John 5, was when he slipped out his sexuality after being asked a question from the studio’s producer. He cited it being “kind of a big leap forward.”

In 1999, Halford returned to his metal roots and formed a solo band. The album Resurrection was released in 2000 to critical acclaim. The band embarked on a tour with Iron Maiden and Queensrÿche to support the album. A live album titled Live Insurrrection was released in 2001. It was followed up by the second album Crucible in 2002. In 2010, Halford released a live DVD titled Live in Anaheim and the third studio album Halford IV: Made of Metal.

Halford’s reunion with Judas Priest came about from years of speculation about when he was no longer in the line-up, at least since the release of the Resurrection album, which some critics claimed sounded more like Judas Priest than the band’s previous album Jugulator (1997). Halford initially ruled it out, but then reconsidered, stating in 2002 that “Gut instinct tells me that at some point it will happen”.

Halford made an appearance in the 2002 film Spun where he played a retail clerk at a sex shop.

In July 2003, Halford returned to Judas Priest and embarked on a tour in 2004 in celebration of his return. The band released Angel of Retribution in 2005. A world tour accompanied the release and marked the band’s 30th anniversary. In 2008, Nostradamus was released.

In 2006, Halford split with Sanctuary Records and founded Metal God Entertainment to produce and license any future material. All Fight and Halford material were released in remastered format, which also includes DVDs from both bands.

In early 2008, Halford expressed a desire in making a black metal album, citing encouragement from former Emperor frontman Ihsahn.

Halford provided voice-over for the characters General Lionwhyte and the leader of the Fire Barons on the 2009 video game Brütal Legend. The Baron’s appearance and personality is based on Halford.

Halford had a brief cameo in a 2010 commercial for Virgin Mobile, where he appeared as a priest. His line in the commercial is “Let us pray”, which is a reference to the song “Let Us Prey/Call for the Priest” from Judas Priest’s 1977 album Sin After Sin.

In an interview with Motor Trend, Halford revealed that he has owned a variety of classic cars, including a 1970s Aston Martin DBS, a Chevrolet Corvette, and a Mercury Cougar. He did not gain his driver’s licence until the age of 38. In 2010, he stated that his main car was a 2006 Cadillac DTS.

In 2011, Judas Priest embarked upon what was billed as their final world tour as a group, titled the “Epitaph” tour. Subsequent to the tour’s announcement, Halford stated that he would continue to move forward with his solo band.

Despite the “final tour” announcement in 2011, Halford and Judas Priest (minus K. K. Downing, who left the group prior to the Epitaph tour) recorded another album, Redeemer of Souls, which was released in 2014, the album supported by a concert tour.

Halford underwent back surgery in 2013 and umbilical hernia surgery in 2014.

As of 2014, Halford divided his time between homes in the United States and his hometown of Walsall.

Halford joined Babymetal on stage on 18 July 2016 at the Alternative Press Music Awards in Cleveland where they performed a medley of “Painkiller” and “Breaking the Law”.

In 2017, Judas Priest began to work on another studio album with Halford. The album Firepower was released 9 March 2018.

In March 2019, Halford told New Zealand news outlet Stuff that he was working on an autobiography, the idea having been “rattling around in my head forever.” He said that his principal motivation in writing a book would be “to tell your side of the story from the horse’s mouth, as opposed to something that has been knocked up by somebody else from a bunch of interviews and so forth.” Halford joked that “between my early childhood, adolescent years and the place where I’m at now,” the result would be a trilogy like The Lord of the Rings. The autobiography, titled Confess, was originally announced to be published in October 2020, but received its official date for 29 September 2020 via Hachette Books. In August 2020, Halford confirmed that he had completed an audiobook version of the publication, to be made available at the same time as the physical release.