Alan "Skip" Moore (born 1 January 1950) is a British musician who is best known as the fourth official drummer of 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. Despite an innovative and pioneering body of work in th ...

. He played on their second album, ''

Sad Wings of Destiny ''Sad Wings of Destiny'' is the second studio album by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, released on 23 March 1976 by Gull Records. It is considered the album on which Judas Priest consolidated their sound and image, and songs from it suc ...

'' (1976). Moore was already active in the

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

and

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

scene, and played with numerous bands, including The Young Casuals, The Other Lot, The Outer Light, Gabriel Oak, Glad Stallion, Tendency Jones and Pendulum. He was first approached by the guitarist

K. K. Downing Kenneth Keith Downing Jr. (born 27 October 1951) is an English guitarist and a former member of the heavy metal band Judas Priest. Early life and career Downing was born in West Bromwich, West Midlands. In the late 1960s, he developed a p ...

and bass guitarist

Ian Hill Ian Frank Hill (born 20 January 1951) is an English musician, best known as the bassist and the sole continuous member for the heavy metal band Judas Priest. Biography Hill learned how to play the double bass from his father, a bass player ...

in 1971, and joined in the early and unofficial phase of the newborn Judas Priest for a period of about a year, while

Al Atkins Alan John Atkins (born 14 October 1947) is an English heavy metal vocalist Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers pe ...

was still the vocalist. He left in 1972 to join the Birmingham

country rock Country rock is a genre of music which fuses rock and country. It was developed by rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These musicians recorded rock records using country themes, vocal s ...

band Sundance, with whom he recorded the album ''Rain, Steam, Speed'' (1974), and the single "Coming Down". Drummer John Hinch left Judas Priest in 1975, and Downing and Hill approached Moore again. For the second time, he joined the band, making him the only drummer in its history to have two separate stints. His first show after re-joining was in October 1975 at Slough College, London, during which the guitarist/backing vocalist Glenn Tipton introduced "our new drummer Skip" who "only had a few hours of rehearsal". In 1976, the band recorded the album ''Sad Wings of Destiny''. Despite its success, Moore decided to leave again, only this time permanently. Moore continued to play with numerous other bands and recording sessions. In 1981, he signed to Ariola Records with the band R.P.M., releasing two singles, "Now That Summer's Here" and "Lost In Space". After moving out of London, he continued to play with various "scratch bands" and session musicians. He later left music, and more or less faded into anonymity. Over the years, several musical biographers, journalists, band members and fans had tried to trace him without success. In the official biography ''The Story of Judas Priest: Defenders of the Faith'', the author

Neil Daniels Neil Daniels is a freelance British writer specialising in rock and heavy metal. Educated at Middlesex University, where he obtained a BA Honours degree in Film Studies, he has written books on Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Robert Plant, Bon Jo ...

said that, at the time it was written, Moore was the only former member of the band whom he could not trace at all.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Alan English heavy metal drummers English rock drummers Judas Priest members Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Musicians from Birmingham, West Midlands 1950 births