Becky Baldwin Named Mercyful Fate’s New Bassist Following Joey Vera’s Departure

Moments ago, heavy metal standard-bearers Mercyful Fate announced the lineup change that everyone was pretty much expecting after Armored Saint bassist Joey Vera left the band and named Becky Baldwin their full-time replacement.

The announcement was made on the band’s social media accounts, where they gave the Birmingham, England native a chance to express her excitement and introduce herself to fans.

“It is a great honor to now be a permanent member of Mercyful Fate. I can’t wait to join the recording of the new Album. When I joined as a stand-in on the 2022 U.S. Tour, the acceptance and encouragement from the fans was exceptional. A huge thanks to the band, team and fans for the warm welcome. See you in Chile and Brazil this coming April.”

As she explained in her statement, Baldwin got her first taste of life with Mercyful Fate as a stand-in during the 2022 North American tour. At the time, Vera had outstanding touring commitments with Armored Saint and couldn’t commit to the string of Mercyful Fate dates.

As we’ve reported in the past, there’s a new Mercyful Fate album in the works. Now that the question of who will play bass moving forward is cleared up, we can only hope that this means we’ll begin hearing new Mercyful Fate music sooner, rather than later. Fingers crossed!