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
Ozzy Osbourne and Osbourne's last appearance with the band (until later reunions), was in Albuquerque, New Mexico on 11 December. In 1979, back in the studio, tensions and conflict between band members were continually present. Osbourne recalls being asked to record his vocals over and over, and tracks being manipulated endlessly by Iommi. This was a point of contention between Osbourne and Iommi. At Iommi's insistence, and with the support of Butler and Ward, Osbourne was fired from Black Sabbath on 27 April 1979. The reasons provided to him were that he was unreliable and had excessive substance abuse issues as compared