John Frederick Hinch (19 June 1947 – 29 April 2021) was a British

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

from

Lichfield Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west of B ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

. From 1973–1975, he was the drummer in an early line-up 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 ...

. Hinch was a jazz-rock styled drummer with a very compact style.

Biography

Hinch played in several Birmingham rock bands, including the Pinch, the Generation, and the Bakerloo Blues Line, later Bakerloo. With vocalist

Rob Halford Robert John Arthur Halford (born 25 August 1951) is an English heavy metal singer. He is the lead vocalist of Judas Priest, which was formed in 1969 and has received accolades such as the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance. He has b ...

he played in the band Hiroshima from 1972 to 1973. In May 1973 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 pa ...

and bassist

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 ...

, the founding members of Judas Priest, were looking for other musicians to complete the line-up for their band, after vocalist Alan Atkins and various temporary drummers had left to pursue other musical projects. They approached Halford and Hinch after they saw them playing live with Hiroshima.

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 heavy metal band Judas Priest. Early life and ...

later joined as second guitarist, establishing the first official line-up of Judas Priest, and in 1974 they recorded their first album, ''

Rocka Rolla ''Rocka Rolla'' is the debut studio album by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, released on 6 September 1974 by Gull Records. It was produced by Rodger Bain, who had made a name for himself as the producer of Black Sabbath's first three ...

''. Hinch was also the driver and the road manager of the band. Hinch's drumming managed tempo and style changes from swing to jazz and rock, using a single bass drum. Hinch always used traditional jazz-rock drum kits with a snare drum, single bass drum, single tom-tom, and single floor tom, in contrast to his numerous successors who used big kits and equipment. Differences and conflicts, particularly with Glenn Tipton, made Hinch leave: his place was taken by Alan "Skip" Moore (who previously played with the band during their "on the road" days). Hinch decided to pursue a career in musical management, working with

Jameson Raid The Jameson Raid (29 December 1895 – 2 January 1896) was a botched Raid (military), raid against the South African Republic (commonly known as the Transvaal) carried out by British colonial administrator Leander Starr Jameson, under the emplo ...

Uli Jon Roth Uli Jon Roth (born Ulrich Roth; 18 December 1954) is a German guitarist who became famous for his work with the hard rock band Scorpions and is one of the earliest contributors to the neoclassical metal genre. He is also the founder of Sky Aca ...

, Fashion, Steel, The Bureau, and

Zeno Zeno ( grc, Ζήνων) may refer to: People * Zeno (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Philosophers * Zeno of Elea (), philosopher, follower of Parmenides, known for his paradoxes * Zeno of Citium (333 – 264 BC), ...

. In recent years he was contacted by several musical biographers and interviewers and spoke about Judas Priest, particularly in a 1995 interview included in ''The Best of Judas Priest – The Insight Series''. Hinch can be seen in the video of the songs "Rocka Rolla" and "Dreamer Deceiver" (both from ''

The Old Grey Whistle Test ''The Old Grey Whistle Test'' (sometimes abbreviated to ''Whistle Test'' or ''OGWT'') is a British television music show. The show was devised by BBC producer Rowan Ayers, commissioned by David Attenborough and aired on BBC2 from 1971 to 1988. ...

'') in the collection ''Metal Works 1973–1993''. He was among the members of the band who separately collaborated with author Neil Daniels for the release of the biography ''Judas Priest Defenders of the Faith''. Hinch was married from July 1987 to April 2010 to Jane Dayus (host of '' Wedding SOS''). They had a son, Fraser, who is a TV movie director. Hinch died on 29 April 2021, after falling ill the previous day. Tributes included that paid by Halford, who stated, "His style was strong, direct and unique. I'll be blasting ''Rocka Rolla'' today!" KK Downing also paid tribute, saying, "John was always so dependable and did everything to the best of his ability, including his drumming which looking back can only be described as faultless."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hinch, John 1947 births 2021 deaths English heavy metal drummers English rock drummers Judas Priest members People from Lichfield