BLACK SABBATH

Black Sabbath were an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi (born Handsworth, Birmingham, February 19, 1948), drummer Bill Ward (born Aston, Birmingham May 5, 1948), bassist Geezer Butler (born Aston, Birmingham, July 17, 1949) and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne (born Aston, Birmingham December 3, 1948). Black Sabbath are often considered the inventors of heavy metal – thanks in part to Iommi losing the tips of the middle and ring fingers of his right hand in an accident, an event which crucially impacted his playing style - with their mostly doom-laden songs such as Iron Man, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and Sweet Leaf inspiring no end of musicians to get heavier. Black Sabbath replaced Ozzy with Ronnie James Dio in 1979 after sacking Osbourne for his frankly insane booze and drugs intake, but eventually reunited with him in the 1990s. Black Sabbath scored their first UK Official Album Chart Number 1 with 1970’s Paranoid and set a record for the longest gap between Number 1s when their 2013 comeback album 13 took the position some 43 years later. Black Sabbath have sold over 70 million albums and in 2019 the band were presented a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.