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Black Sabbath biography

Black Sabbath are an English rock band, formed in Birmingham in 1968 by Ozzy Osbourne (lead vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer Butler (bass), and Bill Ward (drums and percussion). The band has since experienced multiple lineup changes, with a total of twenty-two former members. Originally formed as a heavy blues-rock band named Earth, the band began incorporating occult- and horror-inspired lyrics with tuned-down guitars, changing their name to Black Sabbath and achieving multiple gold and platinum records in the 1970s. As one of the first and most influential heavy metal bands of all time, Black Sabbath helped define the genre with releases such as 1970s quadruple-platinum Paranoid. They were ranked by MTV as the "Greatest Metal Band" of all time, and have sold over fifteen million records in the United States alone.

Ozzy Osbourne was fired from the band in 1979, and while initially replaced by former Rainbow vocalist Ronnie James Dio, Black Sabbath would see a revolving lineup in the 1980s and 1990s that included vocalists Ian Gillan, Glenn Hughes, Ray Gillen and Tony Martin. The original lineup reunited with Osbourne in 1997 and released a live album, Reunion, which spawned the Grammy Award-winning single "Iron Man" in 2000, thirty years after the song's initial release on the album Paranoid. The early 1980s line-up featuring Iommi, Butler, Dio, and Vinny Appice reformed in 2006 under the moniker Heaven & Hell, a title taken from the 1980 Black Sabbath song and album of the same name. In February 2009, Heaven & Hell announced that they are recording a new album, The Devil You Know, released on 28 April 2009.

History

Formation and early days (1968-1969)

Following the breakup of their previous band Mythology in 1968, guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward sought to form a heavy blues band in Aston, Birmingham. The group enlisted bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, who had played together in a band called Rare Breed, Osbourne having placed an advertisement in a local music shop: "Ozzy Zig requires gig- has own PA". The new group was initially named The Polka Tulk Blues Company, after an Indian clothes emporium, and also featured slide guitarist Jimmy Phillips and saxophonist Alan "Aker" Clarke. After shortening the name to Polka Tulk, the band changed their name to Earth, and continued as a four-piece without Phillips and Clarke.

Biography from , the free encyclopedia.
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