Judas Priest Guitarist Reveals New Details About His Health Audio Ink Radio

Judas Priest Guitarist Reveals New Details About Scary Health Incident

2025-04-04

Judas Priest guitarist Richie Faulkner is sharing more details about the scary health incident that he experienced a few years ago. – Author: Charles Ken, Photo by Anne Erickson

Judas Priest guitarist Richie Faulkner has been very candid about his health, and now, he’s sharing more details about the scary health incident that he experienced a few years ago.

Faulkner underwent emergency heart surgery in 2021, following a terrifying heart incident during Judas Priest’s performance at Louder than Life Festival. In a new interview, Faulkner says that following the heart surgery, he also suffered a stroke that resulted in brain damage and has impacted his ability to play guitar.

Richie Faulkner of Judas Priest

During the band’s 2021 appearance at Louder than Life in Louisville, Kentucky, Faulkner’s aorta ruptured onstage, and that led him into a major, 10-hour emergency surgery that saved his life.

Faulkner, thankfully, has been healthy and active with the band following the surgery and keeps touring with Judas Priest. However, in a new video interview with Premier Guitar, he dropped the bombshell that he actually had another health incident after that heart surgery in a stroke.

“We went back out on the road in 2022 and have kind of been on the road since,” he said in the interview. “But there’s a bit of collateral damage. Well, not a lot of people know — some nearest and dearest, they know about it. So about a month after the incident, I went back in and we were walking the dog in the neighborhood back here [in a suburb of Nashville, Tennessee], and I had the dog. [My girlfriend] Mariah had [our daughter] Daisy.”

He added that he “felt it come, I felt it, and it came over me and I knew it was coming and it came over me and my face went. I couldn’t talk. And Mariah was there. She took the dog, she had the baby, and she was holding me up. The neighbors were running out.”

So, he went back to the hospital, which didn’t make him happy, since he had just been at the hospital for such a long time. They told him that it was a TIA, which means transient ischaemic attack. That’s a mini stroke.

They put him on some meds, and then, Faulkner said it turns out that it was an actual stroke. He also says that Mariah believe she had one in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, even though he doesn’t recall “anything.” He does remember some “small ones happening after the event,” such as in the bathroom where he felt “fuzzy” and “sort of fell over.”

How Judas Priest’s Guitarist Learned He Had a Stroke

“I think they were the TIAs, the mini ones. And the hospital said is when you have those, the danger is that there’s a big one coming or a normal stroke coming,” he added. “So that seems to be what happened — when we were out walking the dog, that’s what happened. And it was obvious…”

He also said that it happened when he was back on the road, too. “There was something in my right hand — I thought it was my rings; I wore these stupid rings for some reason. And I thought it was that. So I took the rings off. I thought it was impeding something. I was changing my picks. There was something different.”

He said that tests uncovered that he had “some damage on the left side of the brain, which affects the right side. Now, fortunately, I don’t play guitar with my foot, so that’s fine. I can get away with that. But my hand, obviously, that’s our engine room. And everything started clicking into place in regards to what I was feeling on stage. There was something that was wrong. Something was impeding, something wasn’t right.”

He continued, “So, as I said, we’d done some more tests. They found the damage.” They also said it was a stroke, not a TIA, and that he had brain damage.

“There’s stuff that I used to play — I used to think something and it would come out,” Faulkner said. “And now I’m up there struggling to play a rhythm pattern. ‘I can’t do it. I can’t. I’m gonna quit. I can’t do it.’ And then you have a good one. So who wants that? But that’s the way it is. That’s the truth. So that’s what I struggle with. That’s the collateral damage.”

Faulkner didn’t share this story at first but then felt like it was important to get it out there. He’s a great guitarist and person, and we hope he’s in 100% health soon.

Author
Recent Posts

Charles Ken

Meet the expert - Charles Ken is a graduate of Michigan State University where he studied writing and history. He's a longtime music buff and covers classic rock for Audio Ink Radio. Contact him at ken@audioinkradio.com.