"It would be Number One all over the world... but it kills Judas Priest!”: The heavy metal legends’ secret pop project with Stock Aitken Waterman

Pop producer Pete Waterman says that a song he recorded with heavy metal legends Judas Priest should have been a smash hit - but remained unreleased because it could have ruined the band’s credibility.

Waterman was one third of the songwriting and production team Stock Aitken Waterman, who created hits in the ’80s for Kylie Minogue, Rick Astley and more.

It was in the late ’80s that the trio conducted a recording session with Judas Priest in Paris.

Three tracks were recorded, including a version of the soul ballad You Are Everything, a hit for the Stylistics in 1971.

In an interview with The Daily Star, Waterman expresses his regret that these recordings were never made public.

"Management were getting very worried that we would dominate the artist,” he says. “It would be Number One all over the world... but it kills Judas Priest. It's still sad because the whole of the Judas Priest session was amazing.”

Judas Priest singer Rob Halford has suggested that he would like to see Priest's version of You Are Everything released one day.

“I’ve got that on my phone somewhere, and it sounds great,” Halford says. “I mean, look what happened to Kate Bush with Stranger Things and Running Up That Hill. One of the greatest songs ever written. That’s what I’d love to see with those Stock Aitken Waterman tracks. You know, let the song do its job."

Halford has fond memories of working with Stock Aitken Waterman.

“That was a great day in Paris," he says. "We walked in there. They’e got this studio in Paris. And we hadn’t got a clue what we were gonna do.

“They had the idea for the cover [You Are Everything]. We got that sorted. And then the other two [tracks], they literally made them in front of our eyes.”