Vocal/Guitar --- John 'Ozzy' Osbourne
Guitar --- Tony Iommi
Base --- Terry 'Geezer' Butler
Drums --- Bill Ward



Group members Terry 'Geezer' Butler
(b. 17 July 1949, Birmingham, England; bass),
Tony Iommi
(b. Anthony Frank Iommi, 19 February 1948, Birmingham, England; guitar),
Bill Ward
(b. 5 May 1948, Birmingham, England; drums) and 'Ozzy' Osbourne

(b. John Osbourne, 3 December 1948, Aston, Birmingham, England; vocals)
were originally known as Earth, changing their name to Black Sabbath in 1969.
The band members grew up together in the Midlands, and their name hinted at the heavy,
doom-laden and ingenious music they produced. The name had previously been used as
a song title by the quartet in their pre-Earth blues band, Polka Tulk, and it was
drawn not from a book by the occult writer Denis Wheatley, as is often stated,
but from the cult horror film of that title. Nevertheless, many of Sabbath's songs
deal with alternative beliefs and practices touched upon in Wheatley's novels.
Recording classic albums such as their self-titled debut and Paranoid

(from which the title track was a surprise UK hit single), the line-up remained
unchanged until 1973 when Rick Wakeman
(b. 18 May 1949, London, England),
keyboard player for Yes, was enlisted to play on Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.
By 1977 personnel difficulties within the band were beginning to take their toll,
and the music was losing some of its earlier orchestral, bombastic sheen, prompting
Osbourne to depart for a solo career in January 1979. He was replaced by ex-
Savoy Brown member Dave Walker until Ronnie James Dio
(b. Ronald Padavona,
10 July 1940, New Hampshire, USA) accepted the job in 1979. Dio had been a central
figure in the early 70s band Elf, and spent three years with Ritchie Blackmore 's Rainbow.
However, Dio's tenure with the band was short, and he left in 1982 following
a disagreement over the mixing of Live Evil. The replacement vocalist was Ian Gillan

(b. 19 August 1945, Hounslow, Middlesex, England). This Sabbath incarnation was
generally regarded as the most disastrous, with Born Again failing to capture any
of the original vitality of the group. By 1986, Iommi was the only original member
of the band, which consisted of Geoff Nichols
(b. Birmingham, England; keyboards),
who had been the group's keyboard player since 1980 while still a member of Quartz,
Glenn Hughes
(b. 21 August 1952, Penkridge, Staffordshire, England; vocals),
Dave Spitz
(b. New York, USA; bass) and Eric Singer
(b. Cleveland, Ohio, USA; drums).
This was an accomplished line-up, Singer having been a member of the Lita Ford band,
and Hughes having worked with Trapeze and Deep Purple. In 1986 the unexpectedly
bluesy-sounding Seventh Star was released, the lyrics and music for which had been
written by Iommi. In the first of a succession of personnel changes, Hughes left
the band to be replaced by Ray Gillen
(d. 1994), an American singer who failed to make
any recordings with them. Tony Martin was the vocalist on 1987's powerful
The Eternal Idol and 1988's Headless Cross, the latter produced by the renowned English
drummer Cozy Powell. Martin has intermittently remained with the band since
that time and has variously understudied Dio and Osbourne. Dio rejoined in late
1991 to record Dehumanizer, but Rob Halford of Judas Priest was forced to stand
in for the errant singer the following November at the Pacific Ampithetre in Los Angeles.
Dio, having heard of Ozzy Osbourne's plans to reform the original Black Sabbath line-up
for a one off performance on his farewell solo tour, refused to take the stage for
Black Sabbath's support set. By this time the band was suffering from flagging record
sales and declining credibility. Iommi recruited their original bassist, Butler,
and attempted to persuade drummer Bill Ward to rejoin. Ward declined, and Cozy Powell
was recuperating, having been crushed by his horse, so Vinnie Appice became Sabbath's
new drummer.
(Bev Bevan of ELO had been part of the band for Born Again, and returned
at various times - other temporary drummers have included Terry Chimes of the Clash.)
Osbourne's attempts to re-form the original group for a 1992 tour faltered when the
others demanded equal shares of the spoils. In 1994 a tribute album, Nativity In Black,
was released, which featured appearances from all four original members in various guises,
plus Megadeth, White Zombie, Sepultura, Biohazard, Ugly Kid Joe, Bruce Dickinson,
Therapy?, Corrosion Of Conformity and Type O Negative. Spurred by the new interest
in the group, the Powell, Iommi and Nichols line-up, with Tony Martin returning as
singer and Neil Murray on bass, completed Forbidden in 1995. It was recorded in Wales
and Los Angeles with Body Count guitarist Ernie-C. producing and Ice-T providing vocals
on 'Illusion Of Power'. The line-up in 1996 of this ever-changing unit was Iommi,
Martin, Murray and Bobby Rondinelli
(drums). Butler formed GZR, but in December 1997
the original line-up of Butler, Iommi, Ward and Osbourne re-formed to play two live
shows at the Birmingham NEC. In April, Ward suffered a heart attack, and was replaced
by Vinnie Appice.