As
BLABBERMOUTH.NET exclusively
reported earlier today, former
JUDAS PRIEST/
ICED EARTH singer
Tim "Ripper" Owens has now officially joined
YNGWIE MALMSTEEN's band. The legendary Swedish guitarist announced the news to the
Guitar World staff today when he came to the magazine's New York headquarters for an exclusive interview and photo shoot.
Malmsteen and
Owens are hard at work on a new CD, which is currently scheduled for a July release.
Owens and
Malmsteen previously collaborated on a cover of
OZZY OSBOURNE's
"Mr. Crowley", which appeared on the
"Flying High Again: The World's Greatest Tribute to Ozzy Osbourne", released in March 2006 via
Magick Records. Listen to the track on
YouTube.
Owens recently worked with
QUEENSRŸCHE guitarist
Michael Wilton on demo recordings for the new
SOULBENDER album (
Wilton's side project). One of the demo cuts can currently be heard on the
SOULDBENDER MySpace page.
Owens's predecessor,
Doogie White, was a member of
Yngwie Malmsteen's band for six and a half years.
Doogie joined
Malmsteen's band in September 2001 and recorded two albums with the legendary Swedish guitarist:
"Attack" (2002) and
"Unleash the Fury" (2005).
"I had a long chat with
Yngwie today and it is clear that he wants to move musically in a new direction,"
Doogie said in a statement that was released to
BLABBERMOUTH.NET earlier today. "It's great news that he will be expanding on his
undoubted talents both as a writer and guitarist. I just want to thank,
publicly,
Yngwie and the many band members past and present
that I have worked with. It seems appropriate that we started our
working relationship in South America in September 2001 and finished in
South America in December 2007. Now, anyone need a singer??"
