Black Sabbath
Although they were despised by Rock critics and virtually ignored by radio station programmers, Black Sabbath was the top Heavy-Metal band of the seventies, selling over eight million albums before lead singer Ozzy Osbourne departed for a solo career in 1979. Mixing ear splitting volume and ominous pronouncements of doom and gloom, the group took the Blues-Rock sound of forerunners like Cream, Blue Cheer and Vanilla Fudge to a whole other level, giving birth to a musical style that has continued to attract fans decades later.
The band was formed in 1968 by four teenage friends from Aston, England; Anthony "Tony" Iommi (b. Feb 19, 1948) on guitar; William "Bill" Ward (b. May 5, 1948) on drums; John "Ozzy" Osbourne (b. Dec 3, 1948), lead vocals; and Terence "Geezer" Butler (b. Jul 17, 1949), on bass. They originally called their Jazz-Blues band Polka Tulk, later renaming themselves Earth, then in 1969, to Black Sabbath. The final moniker came from the title of a song written by bassist Geezer Butler, a fan of occult novelist Dennis Wheatley.
Performing extensively in Europe, they soon attracted attention for their live performances and record labels began to show interest. Phillips Records signed them in 1969 and in January 1970, the Phillips subsidiary Fontana released their debut single, a cover version of Crow's "Evil Woman (Don't Play Your Games With Me)", which failed to chart. The following month, another Phillips subsidiary, Vertigo, released Black Sabbath's self-titled debut album, which soared into the U.K. Top Ten. Warner Brothers Records licensed the band's recordings for release in America and the LP was issued in May, 1970. By August it had cracked the Top 40, topping out at #23 and remained on the charts for over a year, selling more than a million copies.
A second album, "Paranoid" was released in September 1970 and went straight to the top of the U.K. chart. The title track, issued as a single in advance of the LP, reached #4. In the U.S., where the first album had just begun to sell. "Paranoid" was held back until January 1971. By March, despite receiving virtually no air-play, it broke into the Top Ten and remained on the Billboard Hot 200 for over a year, eventually selling over four million copies. The title track and one called "Iron Man" were issued as singles, but neither made the U.S. Top 40. "Master of Reality", the third album, came in August 1971 and reached the Top Ten on both sides of the Atlantic, selling over a million copies. "Black Sabbath, Vol. 4" was next, issued in September 1972 and also became a Top Ten million-seller. Rick Wakeman of the British progressive Rock band Yes recorded one track for the next L.P., "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" (November 1973). Considered by some to be the band's signature album, it went on to become Black Sabbath's fifth straight Top Ten hit and million-seller.
In spite of the band's name, as well as songs dealing with death, destruction and apocalypse, the group insisted their interest in the black arts was nothing more than innocuous curiosity, and in time Black Sabbath's princes-of-darkness image faded. After some managerial troubles that idled them for much of 1974, they returned in July, 1975 with their sixth album, "Sabotage". The effort was immediately welcomed in their home country, but in the U.S., the musical climate had changed when Disco and dance oriented music captured the attention of record buyers. The L.P. cracked the Top 20 of The Billboard Hot 200, but sales did not match previous levels. Sensing their decline in popularity, Black Sabbath's record labels issued a double-LP compilation called "We Sold Our Soul for Rock 'n' Roll" in December, 1975. The album sold over a million and the band was encouraged to adapt a more pronounced change of musical style, which caused friction between guitarist Toni Iommi and Ozzy Osbourne.
October 1976 brought "Technical Ecstasy", which introduced Iommi's interest in horns, but frustrated Osbourne and eventually led to him quitting the band. He was replaced for a few live dates by former Savoy Brown vocalist Dave Walker, but returned in January 1978. Black Sabbath recorded its eighth album, "Never Say Die!" (September 1978), and the title track became a U.K. Top 40 hit before the LP's release, and "Hard Road" made the Top 40 afterwards. The singles however did not improve the album's commercial success, which was again modest, and Osbourne left Black Sabbath for a solo career. He was replaced in June 1979 by former Rainbow singer Ronnie James Dio (b. June 10, 1949). Keyboardist Geoff Nichols also became a regular part of the band's touring and recording line-up, though he was not officially confirmed as a band member until later.
When the new lineup released "Heaven And Hell" in April 1980, die hard fans were waiting, resulting in a U.S. million seller. In the U.K. it reached the Top 10 and spawned two hit singles, "Neon Knights" and "Die Young". Capitalizing on their resurgence, Black Sabbath's former record label issued a five-year old concert album, "Black Sabbath Live at Last", that was quickly withdrawn, but not before making the U.K. Top 5. "Paranoid" was also re-released as a single, getting it into the Top 20.
Unfortunately, drummer Bill Ward was forced to leave the band because of health problems and was replaced by Vinnie Appice, brother of Vanilla Fudge drummer Carmine Appice. The lineup of Iommi, Butler, Dio, and Appice recorded "Mob Rules" (November 1981), which sold nearly as well as its predecessor: In the U.S., it went Gold, and in the U.K. it reached the Top 20 and spawned two chart singles, the title track and "Turn up the Night". Next up was a 'live' concert album, but Iommi and Dio could not agree on the mixing of it, and by the time "Live Evil" appeared in January 1983, Dio had quit Black Sabbath, taking Appice with him to start his own band, Die.
The group was forced to reorganize and persuaded original drummer Bill Ward to return and, in a move that surprised Heavy Metal fans, recruited former Deep Purple front man, Ian Gillan. The new lineup of Iommi, Butler, Ward and Gillan recorded "Born Again", released in September 1983. Black Sabbath set out on tour prior to the album's release, with former Electric Light Orchestra drummer Bev Bevan substituting for Ward, who would return to the band in the spring of 1984. The album was a Top Five hit in the U.K. but only made the Top 40 in the U.S. Gillan stayed with Black Sabbath until March 1984, when he left to join a Deep Purple reunion. He was replaced by vocalist Dave Donato, who was only in the band until October of '84 and was not featured on any of its recordings.
Ozzy Osbourne reunited with Black Sabbath for an appearance at the Live Aid concert on July 13, 1985, but soon after, bassist Geezer Butler left the band. With that, the group became the vehicle of guitarist Tony Iommi, a fact emphasized by the next album, "Seventh Star", issued in January 1986 and credited to Black Sabbath featuring Tony Iommi. For this album the lineup consisted of Iommi on guitar, another Deep Purple alumni, singer, Glenn Hughes handling the vocals, Dave Spitz on bass, Geoff Nichols playing keyboards, and Eric Singer on drums. The album was only a modest commercial success and the new band began to fragment immediately, with Hughes replaced by singer Ray Gillen for the album's promotional tour in March 1986.
Now that Black Sabbath consisted of Iommi and hired sidemen, personnel changes came quickly. "The Eternal Idol" (November 1987), which failed to crack the U.K. Top 50 or the U.S. Top 100, featured a returning Bev Bevan, bassist Bob Daisley, and vocalist Tony Martin. Bevan and Daisley didn't last long and there were many replacements in the drum and bass positions over the next couple of years. "Headless Cross" (April 1989), the band's first album for I.R.S. Records, found veteran session drummer Cozy Powell and bassist Laurence Cottle joining Iommi and Martin. The album brought a slight upturn in Black Sabbath's fortunes at home, with the title song managing a week in the singles charts. Shortly after the L.P.'s release however, Cottle was replaced by bassist Neil Murray. With Geoff Nichols back on keyboards, this lineup recorded "Tyr" in August, 1990, which charted in the Top 40 in the U.K., but became Black Sabbath's first studio album to fail to reach the Billboard chart in the U.S.
Iommi reunited the 1979-1983 lineup of himself, Geezer Butler, Ronnie James Dio, and Vinnie Appice for "Dehumanizer" in June, 1992, which brought Black Sabbath back into the American Top 50 for the first time in nine years. In the U.K. the album spawned "TV Crimes", their first Top 40 hit in a decade. On November 15, 1992, Iommi, Butler and Appice backed Ozzy Osbourne appeared as part of a show that was billed as the singer's final live appearance. Shortly after however, it was announced that Osbourne would be rejoining Black Sabbath.
That didn't reunion didn't happen. Instead, Dio and Appice quit the band again and Iommi brought back Tony Martin and added drummer Bob Rondinelli. "Cross Purposes" (February 1994) was only a modest seller, and the next album, "Forbidden" (June 1995), proved to be an ill-fated effort that featured uninspired performances by Cozy Powell, Geoff Nichols and Neil Murray, along with Iommi and Martin. The L.P. spent only one week in the British charts. Blender magazine called it "an embarrassment... the band's worst album." Many suggested that Black Sabbath's days as a record selling outfit were over. Desperate to avoid that fate, the most popular lineup of the band reunited for a live album with a couple of new studio tracks on it. Recorded in their hometown of Birmingham, England in December 1997, the two-CD set "Reunion", which featuring all four of Black Sabbath's original members, Iommi, Osbourne, Butler and Ward, was released in October 1998. Although it charted only briefly in the U.K., it enjoyed a better fate in the U.S., coming up just short the Billboard Top Ten and going Platinum. The track "Iron Man" won Black Sabbath its first Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance. Two other tracks, "Psycho Man" and "Selling My Soul", cracked the Top 20 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The band toured through the end of 1999, concluding their reunion tour on December 22, 1999, back in Birmingham. In February 2001, Black Sabbath announced that it would reunite once again to headline the sixth edition of Ozzfest, Osbourne's summer concert festival, playing 29 cities in the U.S. beginning in June. More surprisingly, the group also announced its intention to record a studio album of all-new material, the original lineup's first since 1978. Unfortunately, recording sessions were halted when Osbourne was called away to finish tracks for his solo album in the summer of 2001. "It just came to an end", Iommi said. "We didn't go any further, and it's a shame because (the songs) were really good". Iommi commented on the difficulty getting all of the band members together to work on material: "It's quite different recording now. We've all done so much in between. In (the early) days there was no mobile phone ringing every five seconds. When we first started, we had nothing. We all worked for the same thing. Now everybody has done so many other things. It's great fun and we all have a good chat, but it's just different, trying to put an album together."
In March 2002, Ozzy Osbourne's Emmy winning reality TV show The Osbournes debuted on MTV and quickly became a worldwide hit. The show introduced Osbourne to a broader audience and to capitalize, Sanctuary Records released a double live album "Past Lives", which featured concert material recorded in the '70s, including the previously unofficial "Live at Last" album. The band remained on hiatus until the summer of 2004 when they returned to headline Ozzfest 2004 and 2005. In November 2005, Black Sabbath was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame and in March 2006, after eleven years of eligibility, the band was finally inducted into America's Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. At the awards ceremony Metallica played two Black Sabbath songs, "Hole in the Sky" and "Iron Man" in tribute to the band.
Rumors of a reunion had been swirling for months, when finally, on November 11th, 2011, the band announced that they were reuniting to record their first studio album with original front man Ozzy Osbourne since 1978, and would support it with a massive 2012 tour. In a clever marketing move, they made their plans known at a press conference at the Whiskey A-Go-Go in Los Angeles, where Sabbath played its first show in the city exactly 41 years earlier. When it came time to tour and record however, drummer Bill Ward was left off the roster. Ozzy claimed that Ward was too "over weight" to handle the rigors of touring and feared for his over all health. Ward insisted that contract issues were the problem. Ozzy later said that "The door is always open," and that fans may yet see a full Black Sabbath reunion.
In June, 2013, Black Sabbath reached number one on the Billboard 200 album chart with "13", almost 43 years after their first chart entry, "Never Say Die!". Their previous best was 1971's "Master of Reality", which reached #8. In November of 2013, the band announced plans to extend their reunion tour into 2014 with a series of shows in North America and Europe.
The continuing feud between Ozzy and drummer Bill Ward boiled over again in April, 2015 when Ward posted on his Facebook page, "With a sad heart, I have to say I will not participate in any musical undertakings until a righting of the wrongs spoken against me has been achieved. I must admit, I have little to no expectations of this happening, but in the order of first things first, I'm looking for an honest accountability of all of Ozzy's statements that I felt were untrue." In August, 2013, Osbourne had called Ward "incredibly overweight" and said, "I don't think he could have done the gig, to be honest... a drummer has to be in shape. He's already had two heart attacks. I don't want to be responsible for his life." Ozzy responded to Ward's post by saying "Deep down inside, you knew you weren't capable of doing the album and a 16-month tour... Stop playing the victim and be honest with yourself and our fans."
In August, 2015, Ozzy was spotted on the set of the new Ghostbusters movie, preparing to film a scene in which he plays the leader of a Heavy Metal band. Much to the disappointment of fans, Black Sabbath announced in late October that they had abandoned plans to go back into the studio to record a second reunion album. Instead, they opted to extend their farewell tour well into 2016. Along with those shows, Ozzy was busy collaborating with his son Jack Osbourne on a new television show. On the bright side, the albums "Black Sabbath" (1970), "Paranoid" (1970) and "Master of Reality" (1971) were slated for a deluxe reissue treatment in mid-January, 2016, two days after the band launched its The End tour in Omaha.
August, 2016 brought the good news that the cancer that Tony Iommi had been battling since 2012 was now in remission. Another lump found in his throat was later found to be non-cancerous. Asked in November 2016 about lay ahead for him, Iommi responded, "I'll be doing some writing. Maybe I'll be doing something with the guys, maybe in the studio, but no touring."
The final date of The End tour came on Saturday, February 4th, 2017 at the NEC Arena in Black Sabbath's home city of Birmingham, England. The two hour show saw Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler and Tommy Iommi play fifteen songs, ending with their first hit, 1970's "Paranoid". As ticker tape and balloons fell, the 68-year-old Ozzy Osbourne thanked fans for their nearly five decades of support: "Thank you, goodnight, thank you so much," Osbourne said as they left the stage. Iommi gave a thumbs-up as he waved goodbye. That show was filmed and was slated to open in theatres across the world as The End Of The End on September 28th, 2017. Meanwhile, Ozzy Osbourne kept busy as a solo artist with several shows scheduled for the Summer of 2017. In October, drummer Bill Ward announced a string of tour dates with his new band, Day of Errors.
In December, 2018, The Recording Academy announced that it would honor Black Sabbath with a special Lifetime Achievement Grammy at a ceremony on May 11th, 2019 in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Ozzy assured his fans that even though his 2018/2019 tour was called No More Tours II, he wasn't planning on retiring just yet. "I'm going to do it at a more leisurely pace and do some shows in Vegas... but I'll never stop." On January 20th, 2019, Ozzy released a limited edition plush toy of a bat with a detachable head to commemorate his famous bat biting incident in 1982. Unfortunately, his tour plans for the entire year had to be scrapped after a bout of pneumonia aggravated an injury from his 2003 all-terrain vehicle accident that required surgery. In a press release, Ozzy said, "Words cannot express how frustrated, angry and depressed I am not to be able to tour right now. I'm grateful for the love and support I"m getting from my family, my band, friends and fans, it's really what's keeping me going. Just know that I am getting better every day. I will fully recover. I will finish my tour. I will be back!"
In July, 2019, the band announced a new, vinyl-only box set called "The Vinyl Collection 1970 - 1978" would be released on September 6th. Made up of their first eight albums, the numbered set would include a 12 inch disc featuring their mono singles and two previously unreleased mixes. The product will be limited to 3,000 copies. As for Ozzy, his plans for 2020 included a new album called "Ordinary Man", scheduled to arrive on February 21st. The first single from that LP, "Under The Graveyard" was issued in December and promptly rose to the top of Billboard's Mainstream Rock Songs chart. It was the first time that Ozzy had led that list since "Let Me Hear You Scream" was number one for four weeks in July, 2010.
While appearing on Good Morning America on January 20th, 2020, Ozzy revealed that he has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Despite the health setback, he stated that he couldn't wait to get back on stage and be with his fellow musicians. Unfortunately, a month later those plans were scrapped as Ozzy canceled his shows and opted to seek treatment for his back in Switzerland the following April. As he recovered over the summer months, Black Sabbath celebrated the 50th anniversary of their seminal 1970 album "Paranoid" with a new, five disc, vinyl box set titled "Paranoid: Super Deluxe Edition".
In early September of 2020, Ozzy Osbourne shattered Black Sabbath fans' dreams of another reunion show, insisting he's done with his old band. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Ozzy said "Not for me. It's done. The only thing I do regret is not doing the last farewell show in Birmingham with Bill Ward. I felt really bad about that. It would have been so nice. I don't know what the circumstances behind it were, but it would have been nice." He went on to say that he has no bad feelings about his former band mates. "Those guys (are) my brothers, you know? They go back to my childhood. It's more than a friendship with me and them guys, it's a family. I don't know any other people as long as I've known them."
Ozzy set a release date of September 18th, 2020 for a 40th anniversary extended edition of his debut solo album, "Blizzard of Ozz". The album, originally released on September, 20th, 1980, marked his first effort after splitting with Black Sabbath. While the COVID-19 virus put a stop to his touring plans for the year, his manager assured fans that the Prince Of Darkness would complete his farewell tour in 2022.
A reissue of Black Sabbath's "Sabotage" was announced by Rhino Records in mid-April, 2021. The album, available on both compact disc and vinyl, pairs the band's newly remastered 1975 studio album with 16 live tracks, 13 of them unreleased, recorded during their 1975 North American tour. Early August brought the news of the release an expanded edition of their 1976 album "Technical Ecstasy" on Oct. 1st. The four-CD deluxe box set will include the remastered original album, a newly remixed version by producer Steven Wilson, eight previously unreleased alternate takes and demos, and ten live performances from the band's 1976-77 world tour. More great news came a short time later when Ozzy Osbourne revealed that he was working with Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Tony Iommi and Zakk Wylde on a follow-up LP to 2020's "Ordinary Man". "It's kept me alive, you know," he said. "These past two years I've been in a terrible fucking state between the accident and then the pandemic. It's kept me sane. I've needed the music." Titled "Patient Number 9", the thirteen-track album was given a September 22, 2022 release date. Ozzy Osbourne and guitarist Tony Iommi made a surprise appearance in their hometown of Birmingham, England on August 8th at the city's Commonwealth Games. The pair performed their classic tune "Paranoid" with the help of two musicians who joined them on their final tour, The End: Adam Wakeman, who played bass and keyboards, and drummer Tommy Clufetos. A now 73-year-old Ozzy said that he was determined to return to touring, despite suffering from Parkinson's disease. "I;m saying to you I'll give it the best shot I can for another tour. You have not seen the end of Ozzy Osbourne, I promise you. If I have to go up there and die on the first song, I'll still be back the next day." Another project to keep him busy was a return to reality TV with a show called Home To Roost, which documented Ozzy and Sharon's journey back to the U.K. as they relocated to the English countryside. Also starring the couple's daughter, Kelly, the program was scheduled to air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the U.K. in 2023. In early November, Ozzy backtracked on the idea of moving out of America by saying, "To be honest with you, I don't want to go back [to England]. Fuck that." Ozzy was also quite vocal when he learned that "Patient Number 9" had earned four Grammy nominations. "The whole thing shocked me," he said in an interview with Billboard's Lyndsey Havens. "I mean, if I won anything for the album I'll be floored."
Due to crippling injuries which, despite several surgeries, have rendered the Ozzy physically weak, the legendary rocker announced in January, 2023 that he was no longer able to tour. He took to social media to proclaim, "This is probably one of the hardest things I've ever had to share with my loyal fans. As you may all know, four years ago, this month, I had a major accident, where I damaged my spine. Never would I have imagined that my touring days would have ended this way. My team is currently coming up with ideas for where I will be able to perform without having to travel from city to city and country to country." With this statement, he called an end to his No More Tours 2 final tour of the U.K. and Europe, which had been pushed back due to his health issues and COVID. On a more positive note, Ozzy was honored twice at the 65th Grammy Awards on January 5th, 2023. "Patient Number 9" won Best Rock Album and the track "Degradation Rules" won Best Metal Performance. The singer reacted in typical Ozzy fashion by saying, "I'm one lucky motherf-er. I was blessed to work with some of the greatest musicians in the world."
For his part, Geezer Butler was working on his autobiography, Into the Void: From Birth to Black Sabbath – and Beyond, which was scheduled for release on June 6, 2023.
Ozzy kept himself busy by co-hosing an internet show called The Madhouse Chronicles, starting in April, 2024. In that same month, he was honored by the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame for inclusion in the Performers category. Some disturbing news came later that year when his former guitarist, Jake E. Lee, was shot and wounded multiple times in Las Vegas. Fortunately no major damage was done and he was expected to make a full recovery from the October 15th assault.
For an inside look at Black Sabbath, be sure to read Gary James' interviews with
Tony Iommi
Bill Ward
Geezer Butler
Ozzy Osbourne
