Les Binks, Former Drummer for Judas Priest, Dead at 73

Les Binks, who spent two years drumming with Judas Priest during the late Seventies, has died. He was 73.

Judas Priest confirmed Binks’ death in a statement shared on Instagram. A cause was not revealed, though a funeral notice said Binks died “peacefully at hospital in London.”

“We are deeply saddened about the passing of Les and send our love to his family, friends, and fans,” Judas Priest wrote. “The acclaimed drumming he provided was first class — demonstrating his unique techniques, flair, style and precision. Thank you Les — your acclaim will live on.” 

Though his tenure in the band was short, Binks left an indelible mark on Judas Priest. His exacting, dynamic style of play — as swift as it was pummeling — helped define the sound of Judas Priest’s 1978 album Stained Class, 1979’s Killing Machine (also known as Hell Bent for Leather), and their live album Unleashed in the East. When Judas Priest was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022, Binks was on hand to accept the prize and perform with the band.

Binks was born and raised in Portadown, Northern Ireland, and began drumming when he was five. After playing in various bands throughout his adolescence, he moved to London in 1972 and quickly found work as a touring and session musician. He drummed for Eric Burdon of the Animals; scored a couple of minor hits with the English pop band Fancy; and played on The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper’s Feast, an ambitious concept album/rock opera spearheaded by Deep Purple’s Roger Glover.

It was through Glover — who co-produced Judas Priest’s 1977 album Sin After Sin — that Binks was tipped to join the burgeoning metal greats for a world tour that same year. (Binks stepped in for Simon Phillips, who’d replaced Alan Moore during the Sin After Sin sessions.) 

Following the tour, Binks stuck with the band and was soon contributing to the sessions for their next album, Stained Class. He notably earned a writing credit for “Beyond the Realms of Death,” after coming up with the track’s lead guitar riff. As Binks recalled in a 2017 interview, he felt that all the songs Priest had been writing were “up tempo,” and they “needed to introduce some light and shade with a big rock ballad that started softly with acoustic guitar and built up to an explosive metal riff.”

Following the success of Stained Class — it reached Number 27 on the U.K. album charts, and was certified  Gold in the United States — Judas Priest returned to the studio for Killing Machine (which was released in the U.S. as Hell Bent for Leather). That album featured the band’s most successful single to date, “Take On the World,” a “We Will Rock You”-inspired anthem that prominently featured Binks’ drumming.

“The rhythm is just multi tracked foot stomps and hands slapped on thighs for the back beat, but it worked so brilliantly,” he said. “[ I came up with a simple rhythm part which is basically sixteenth notes on double bass drums, eighth notes on the floor toms and the snare on two and four for the first bar then two, three and four for the second bar repeated. I think we double tracked that four times so it’s the equivalent of four drum kits.”

Along with the two studio albums, Binks also drummed on Judas Priest’s wildly successful 1979 live album Unleashed in the East, which was recorded in Tokyo in February of that year. But, according to Binks, tensions between him and Judas Priest’s manager, Mike Dolan, emerged, with the drummer claiming that Dolan did not want to properly compensate him for his work on the live record. 

“Contrary to what you may have read, we had no musical or personal differences at all,” Binks said of his relationship with his former bandmates. “We shared the same musical direction and goals for the future of Judas Priest, and the reason I left was nothing to do with the band, but a lot to do with the despicable con man and rip-off merchant Mike Dolan.” 

After leaving Judas Priest, Binks continued to drum with a variety of bands, including Lionhearted, Tytan, and Raw Glory. In the late 2010s, he began performing classic Judas Priest songs from his era in the band live, including some shows with other former Priest members, like K.K. Downing and Tim Owens. One of Binks’ last live performances was with Judas Priest at the 2022 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.