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
Black Sabbath in tribute. While Ozzy Osbourne was working on new solo album material in 2006, Rhino Records released "", a compilation of songs culled from the four Black Sabbath releases featuring Ronnie James Dio. For the release, Iommi, Butler, Dio and Appice reunited to write and record three new songs as Black Sabbath. "The Dio Years" was released on 3 April 2007, reaching number 54 on the "Billboard" 200, while the single "The Devil Cried" reached number 37 on the "Mainstream Rock Tracks" chart. Pleased with the results, Iommi and Dio decided to reunite the Dio era line-up for a world