K.K. Downing (L) and Rob Halford. (WENN.COM file photo)

Rock forever? Not for Judas Priest’s K.K. Downing.

The 59-year-old guitarist has left the veteran British metal band on the eve of their final world tour, Judas Priest revealed Wednesday.

“It is with regreat that Judas Priest announce that K.K. Downing has formally retired from the band and will therefore not be joining them on their forthcoming Epitaph Tour,” according to a statement on the band’s website. “The band respect his decision and naturally all wish him well.”

The rest of the group — singer Rob Halford, guitarist Glenn Tipton, bassist Ian Hill and drummer Scott Travis — “thought long and hard about how to proceed (and) unanimously agreed that they should go ahead with the tour and not let the fans down all around the world,” the statement reads.

Downing will be replaced by 31-year-old British guitarist Richie Faulkner, who has been playing in a band with Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris’s daughter Lauren Harris.

Priest’s Epitaph Tour — which will see them playing songs from every studio album, along with songs they’ve never performed live — begins in June. No Canadian dates have been announced yet.

In an interview last year, Downing gave me no hint he was thinking of leaving the band, but admitted he does “think about a solo album a lot. It's something I want to do. But when it will be, I don't know."

Of course, in the same interview, he also said that if he weren’t a musician, his dream jobs would be “golf pro, porn star — or anything between.” So there you go.

darryl.sterdan@sunmedia.ca

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