Tony Iommi is synonymous with
heavy rock, having more or less invented the genre
single-handedly with the dark and doom of Black Sabbath.
Born on February 19, 1948, in Birmingham, England, Iommi picked
up the guitar after being inspired by the likes of Hank Marvin &
the Shadows as a teenager. By 1967, Iommi had played with
several blues-based rock bands, and formed a group (Earth) with
three old acquaintances from his school days — bassist Terry
"Geezer" Butler, drummer Bill Ward, and singer John "Ozzy"
Osbourne.
But Iommi's musical career was nearly derailed prematurely when
he suffered a horrible accident at a sheet metal factory, when a
machine sliced off the tips of the fingers on his right hand.
Depressed and figuring that his guitar playing days were behind
him, a friend turned him onto guitarist Django Reinhardt (who
lost use of two fingers in a gypsy caravan campfire accident),
inspiring Iommi to give the six-string another go, with soft
plastic tips attached to the ends of his fingers.
Shortly thereafter, Iommi received a tempting offer to join
Jethro Tull's band in 1968, which he reluctantly accepted. After
only a single performance with Tull (playing the track "Song for
Jeffrey" on the Rolling Stones' never-aired TV special "Rock &
Roll Circus"), Iommi split from Tull to return back to his pals
in Earth.
With another band already playing around England by the name of
Earth, Iommi & co. were forced to change their name, taking
"Black Sabbath" from the American title of the classic Italian
horror movie “I Tre Volti Della Paura”.
With the name switch came a change in musical direction — the
band would explore dark lyrical subjects, while the music would
be repetitive, plodding and heavy. In the process, Sabbath
created the blueprint for heavy metal with such incredibly
influential, all-time classic releases as their 1969 self-titled
debut, 1971's Paranoid and Master of Reality, 1972's Vol. 4, and
1973's Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, becoming one of the world's top
hard rock bands in the process. Iommi's guitar playing propelled
such metal standards as "Black Sabbath," "N.I.B.," "Paranoid,"
"Iron Man," "War Pigs," "Into the Void," and "Children of the
Grave," which boast some of the most recognizable guitar riffs
in rock history.
But by the mid- to late '70s, constant touring and drug abuse
began to fracture the band, leading to Osbourne’s exit in 1979.
After keeping the Sabbath name alive with several inspired non-Osbourne
releases, including the Ronnie Dio albums - 1980's “Heaven &
Hell” and 1981's “The Mob Rules” – which re-established the
band’s commercial success, Iommi then shifted the band’s focus
to Europe and recorded a number of albums with Tony Martin,
including “Headless Cross”, and undertook ground-breaking tours
to Russia and all parts East.
The original Sabbath line-up reunited for highly successful
tours in the late '90s, making new Sabbath fans out of a whole
legion of people too young to have caught the band in their '70s
heyday. A Grammy Award followed the “Reunion” tour when the
track “Iron Man” (recorded at the Birmingham NEC and taken from
the tour’s live album) won in the Best Metal Performance
category in 1999.
And although a few Sabbath albums from the '80s and '90s could
have arguably been considered Tony Iommi solo albums (1986's
Seventh Star was labelled a Sabbath album at the last moment by
Warner Bros.), he issued his first true solo release in the form
of 2000's “Iommi”. The ten-track disc, which was very warmly
received by both the press and the public, featured many of
rock's top names lending their vocal talents including Henry
Rollins, Dave Grohl, Billy Corgan, Phil Anselmo and Ozzy
Osbourne, among others.
The following year Iommi returned to touring, with Black Sabbath
as the headline act at 2001’s Ozzfest. The band earned a second
Grammy nomination for the track “The Wizard” from the live album
“Ozzfest 2001: The Second Millennium” that followed the tour.
On 3rd June 2002, he joined Ozzy to perform “Paranoid” in front
of the Queen, the Royal Family and 12,000 members of the public
on the lawn of Buckingham Palace at a concert to celebrate the
Queen’s Golden Jubilee.
As one of the writers of “Changes”, Iommi received his first
Ivor Novello nomination when the song competed in the category
Best Selling UK Single following the 2003 cover released by Ozzy
& Kelly Osbourne.
The early part of 2004 was spent in the studio working on solo
projects, including putting the finishing touches to material
recorded with Glenn Hughes in Birmingham in 1996, which was
picked up by Sanctuary Records for an autumn release under the
title “The 1996 DEP Sessions”. In between this, Tony and the 3
other members of the original Black Sabbath line-up reunited as
the headline act for summer 2004’s Ozzfest in the USA.
The touring
continued in 2005, with a Black Sabbath tour of Europe starting
in June (including a notable performance at the UK’s Download
festival), and another headline slot at Ozzfest from July to
September. The Iommi solo album ‘Fused’ was also released in
July 2005. Featuring Glenn Hughes on vocals and Kenny Aronoff
on drums, the album was recorded at Monnow Valley studios in
Monmouth, Wales in late 2004 under the production skills of Bob
Marlette who had produced Tony’s first solo album back in 2000.
Black Sabbath
were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in November 2005.
The band were inducted by Queen guitarist Brian May, and
performed ‘Paranoid’ at the ceremony at London’s Alexandra
Palace. In March 2006, Metallica inducted Black Sabbath into the
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in New York.
Throughout all of this, Tony was also working on his radio
series ‘Black Sunday’ for the UK’s Planet Rock station.
In late 2006,
Tony reunited with Ronnie James Dio, Geezer Butler and Vinny
Appice to record three new songs for the CD Black Sabbath: The
Dio Years which was released by Rhino in April 2007. In the
month leading up to the release, the foursome did a tour of
Canada under the moniker ‘Heaven & Hell’ which ended with a
special show at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. A tour of the
USA followed in April & May, followed by European summer shows
and a UK arena tour in November 2007.
At the start of
2008 the band began working on a new Heaven & Hell studio album,
due for release in early 2009. During the summer this was put
on hold while the guys played under the 'Metal Masters' banner
with Judas Priest for 17 shows across the US. To coincide, Rhino
Records released a box set of the complete works with Ronnie
James Dio, re-mastered and with extended liner notes. As of
October 2008, the work on the album continues. |
