Black Sabbath Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were an English rock band, formed in Birmingham in 1968, by guitarist and main songwriter Tony Iommi, bassist and main lyricist Geezer Butler, drummer Bill Ward, and singer Ozzy Osbourne. Black Sabbath are often cited as pioneers of heavy metal music. The band helped define the genre with releases such as "Black Sabbath" (1970), "Paranoid" (1970), and "Master of Reality" (1971). The band had multiple line-up changes, with Iommi being the only constant member throughout its history. Formed in 1968 as the Polka Tulk Blues Band, a blues rock band, the group went through line up
Speak of the Devil (Ozzy Osbourne album) drinks between songs) who suffered from dwarfism and who the vocalist nicknamed "Ronnie", a joke aimed at Ronnie James Dio. Dio had replaced Osbourne as Black Sabbath's lead vocalist and stood only 5' 4" tall. "Speak of the Devil" was released one month before Osbourne's former band, Black Sabbath, released their own live album entitled "Live Evil", a situation which contributed to a growing rivalry between the two camps. In the US, sales of "Speak of the Devil" were much better than those of "Live Evil", while in the UK it was "Live Evil" which attained the higher chart-placing: figures