Richard Ian Faulkner (born 1 January 1980)
is an English guitarist best known as one of the lead guitarists for the
heavy metal band
Judas Priest
Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Judas Priest have also been referred to as one of the p ...
since 2011, replacing original member
K. K. Downing. He has also performed with
Lauren Harris,
Christopher Lee,
Voodoo Six, Deeds, and Ace Mafia.
Biography
Early life and career
Faulkner was born in London,
and lived in
Stockholm
Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
, Sweden, where he worked as a sausage seller between 1995 and 2000, and learned to speak Swedish while living in the country.
His inspiration to pick up a guitar was watching recordings of
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...
's concerts at the
Monterey Pop Festival
The Monterey International Pop Festival was a three-day music festival held June 16-18, 1967, at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California. The festival is remembered for the first major American appearances by the Jimi Hendrix Ex ...
in 1967 and at the
Atlanta Pop Festival in 1970.
Faulkner got his first guitar when he was around 7 or 8 years old.
His father played guitar and was a fan of Hendrix and bands like
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...
and
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally for ...
, and used to show him a few chords.
The first song he learned to play on guitar was
The Troggs
The Troggs (originally called the Troglodytes) are an English beat music band formed in Andover, Hampshire, in May 1964. Their most famous songs include the US chart-topper " Wild Thing", " With a Girl Like You" and " Love Is All Around", al ...
' 1966 single "
Wild Thing".
When Faulkner was about 13 years old, he connected with the owner of a local music shop who played in a cover band, covering material from
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris (musician), Steve Harris. Although fluid in the early years of the band, the line-up for most ...
to
Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy are an Irish rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. The band initially consisted of bass guitarist, lead vocalist and principal songwriter Phil Lynott, drummer Brian Downey, guitarist Eric Bell and organist Eric Wrixon although Wr ...
to
UFO. He asked Faulkner to play a couple of songs with him at some gigs, which was his introduction to the world of gigging.
In the early stages of his career, Faulkner played in bands such as Dirty Deeds,
Voodoo Six (which he co-founded with bassist
Tony Newton),
Ace Mafia,
Parramon,
and
Lauren Harris' band.
His first signed band was Deeds, and their album, 2002's ''Blown'', was produced by Iron Maiden bassist
Steve Harris.
With Faulkner on guitar, the Lauren Harris band was the opening act on Iron Maiden's
Somewhere Back in Time World Tour
Somewhere Back in Time World Tour was a concert tour by the Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Iron Maiden in 2008 and 2009, focused on the band's 1980s material, in particular songs from ''Powerslave'', ''Somewhere in Time (Iron Maiden album) ...
in 2008.
Steve Harris told Faulkner that if anything would have happened to any of his bandmates, he would have chosen Faulkner as a replacement.

Faulkner has also arranged music for actor
Christopher Lee's heavy metal album ''
Charlemagne: The Omens of Death''. Lee's team sent Faulkner some songs that were very orchestral and symphony-based and asked him to arrange them into metal songs. Both Lee and his team gave Faulkner a free creative rein for any ideas he felt the songs needed.
The album was released on 27 May 2013, Lee's 91st birthday.
Judas Priest
On 20 April 2011, Faulkner was appointed as the successor of guitarist
K. K. Downing in heavy metal band
Judas Priest
Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Judas Priest have also been referred to as one of the p ...
. A mutual friend, guitarist Pete Friesen, recommended him to the band. Friesen and Faulkner had played together in a cover band in London called Metalworks, which coincidentally is also the title of a
Judas Priest compilation released in 1993. They called him on a wrong phone number, so they sent him two emails. Faulkner thought they were junk mail, so he deleted them. The band began to track him down and eventually got his real phone number. When Faulkner got a call from the band's management, he thought it was a joke. He went to
Glenn Tipton
Glenn Raymond Tipton (born 25 October 1947) is an English guitarist. Often noted for his complex playing style and classically influenced solos, he is best known as one of the lead guitarists for the Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Judas P ...
's house the next day to meet him and
Rob Halford was present as well. They had a discussion and Faulkner played a few pieces for them. They sent him a few tracks because they wanted to hear what he would play on those tracks on the solos, and they went from there. Faulkner returned about a week later and they offered him the gig. He kept it a secret for a month until the official announcement.
Faulkner's first performance with Judas Priest occurred on 25 May 2011 on the TV show ''
American Idol
''American Idol'' is an American Music competition, singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle (company), Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It a ...
'', where the band performed "
Living After Midnight" and "
Breaking the Law" with
James Durbin. Faulkner's first album with Judas Priest was ''
Redeemer of Souls'', released in 2014.
Vocalist Rob Halford and guitarist Glenn Tipton have credited Faulkner with saving Judas Priest. Halford said in a 2015 interview; "Let's face it, to some extent Richie saved Judas Priest, because if we hadn't have found him at the crucial time that we were looking for a guitar player, things could have turned out quite differently."
In 2015, Faulkner was awarded the
Dimebag Darrell Shredder Award by the readers of British magazine ''
Metal Hammer
''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions published by different companies available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' featu ...
'' at their annual
Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards
The following is a list of the ''Metal Hammer'' Golden Gods Awards winners.
History
The awards were conceived by Chris Ingham, John O'Sullivan & Dave Bianchi, and first held at the Kentish Town Forum in London 2003. The show was owned by Future P ...
.
On 9 March 2018, Judas Priest released their second album with Faulkner, ''
Firepower'', which debuted and peaked at No. 5 on the
Billboard 200
The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists. Sometimes, a rec ...
chart, becoming the band's highest charting album.
Personal life
Faulkner is in a relationship with Mariah Lynch, the daughter of guitarist
George Lynch. The couple's first child, a daughter, was born on 8 July 2020.
On 27 September 2021, Judas Priest had to postpone their "50 Heavy Metal Years Tour" in the United States due to Faulkner undergoing major emergency heart surgery. The band announced on social media that they will look to reschedule the tour following updates from Faulkner's doctors. In a statement shared on Judas Priest's official website on 5 October 2021, Faulkner explained that when the band was performing "
Painkiller
An analgesic drug, also called simply an analgesic, antalgic, pain reliever, or painkiller, is any member of the group of drugs used for pain management. Analgesics are conceptually distinct from anesthetics, which temporarily reduce, and in s ...
" at
Louder Than Life in Kentucky on 26 September 2021, his aorta ruptured and started to spill blood into his chest cavity. Faulkner's doctor told him he had an
aortic aneurysm
An aortic aneurysm is an enlargement (dilatation) of the aorta to greater than 1.5 times normal size. Typically, there are no symptoms except when the aneurysm dissects or ruptures, which causes sudden, severe pain in the abdomen and lower back ...
and complete
aortic dissection, which is often fatal. Faulkner was taken to a nearby hospital, the Rudd Heart & Lung Center (which is only 4 miles away from the venue), and quickly went into what turned out to be a 10½ hour emergency open heart surgery where five parts of his chest were replaced with mechanical components. Faulkner said that this was totally unexpected for him since he had no history of a bad heart, no clogged arteries nor high cholesterol, and then urged the fans to get themselves checked.
Influences
Faulkner has cited bands like
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...
,
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally for ...
,
Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy are an Irish rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. The band initially consisted of bass guitarist, lead vocalist and principal songwriter Phil Lynott, drummer Brian Downey, guitarist Eric Bell and organist Eric Wrixon although Wr ...
,
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris (musician), Steve Harris. Although fluid in the early years of the band, the line-up for most ...
,
Judas Priest
Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Judas Priest have also been referred to as one of the p ...
,
UFO,
Rainbow
A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...
,
and
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...
as his early musical influences, as well as guitarists such as
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...
,
Brian May
Sir Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, animal welfare activist and astrophysics, astrophysicist. He achieved global fame as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist of the rock band Queen ...
,
David Gilmour
David Jon Gilmour ( ; born 6 March 1946) is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter who is a member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined in 1967, shortly before the departure of the founder member Syd Barrett. By the early 1980s, Pink F ...
,
Eddie Van Halen
Edward Lodewijk Van Halen ( , ; January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020) was an American musician. He was the guitarist, keyboardist, backing vocalist and primary songwriter of the rock band Van Halen, which he founded with his brother Alex V ...
,
Dave Murray,
Randy Rhoads,
Zakk Wylde,
Kirk Hammett,
and
Michael Schenker
Michael Schenker (born 10 January 1955) is a German guitarist. He played in the rock band UFO and leads the Michael Schenker Group (MSG). He was an early member of the hard rock band Scorpions, a band co-founded by his elder brother Rudolf S ...
as major influences on his guitar playing.
Equipment

Faulkner is known for his use of
Gibson and
Epiphone
Epiphone () is an American musical instrument brand that traces its roots to a musical instrument manufacturing business founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos in İzmir, Ottoman Empire, and moved to New York City in 1908. After taking over ...
Flying V
The Gibson Flying V is an electric guitar model introduced by Gibson (guitar company), Gibson in 1958. The Flying V offered a radical, "futuristic" body design, much like its siblings: the Gibson Explorer, Explorer, which was released the same ...
model guitars,
equipped with his signature EMG 57/66 active pickups. His first Gibson was an Epiphone Flying V with locking trem.
Faulkner has also used a
Gibson Les Paul Custom with EMG 81/85 active pickups.
In March 2018, Epiphone released Faulkner's signature Flying V guitar.
;
Effects
*Voodoo Lab Ground Control Pro Programmable MIDI Foot Controller
*
Dunlop JC95 Jerry Cantrell Signature Cry Baby Wah Pedal
*MXR M101 Phase 90 Phaser Pedal
*MXR M148 Micro Chorus Pedal
*Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor Pedal
*Boss DD-7 Digital Delay Pedal
*MXR M169 Carbon Copy Analog Delay Pedal
*Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner Pedal with Bypass
*Electro-Harmonix Micro POG Polyphonic Octave Generator Pedal
;
Amplifiers
*Engl Powerball II
*ENGL cabs with Celestion Vintage 30 speakers
;
Strings and picks
*Ernie Ball Power Slinky strings (.011-.048)
*Dunlop strings (.011-.050)
*InTuneGP picks (2 mm)
Discography
;Guest appearances
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Faulkner, Richie
1980 births
Living people
21st-century English guitarists
English heavy metal guitarists
English rock guitarists
Judas Priest members
English lead guitarists
Musicians from London