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Scottish Sun
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
It all started when Bill and I went round to Ozzy's house looking for a singer, says Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi
Legendary metal group Black Sabbath are making their last stand close to home at Villa Park SABBATH'S FINAL STAND It all started when Bill and I went round to Ozzy's house looking for a singer, says Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) FOR 57 years, Tony Iommi has been Black Sabbath's keeper of the flame. He is 'Master Of The Riffs' — some say he invented heavy metal — and he is the only band member to stay the course. Sign up for the Entertainment newsletter Sign up 5 Heavy metal Black Sabbath in 1970, pictured Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Bill Ward and Ozzy Osbourne Credit: Alamy 5 'Master of the riffs' Iommi Credit: Getty 'Everybody else has come and gone and come back,' the guitarist tells me in his soft Brummie tones. 'I've been the constant one.' Talking to the affable Iommi, 77, it's hard to imagine that he's responsible for some of rock's darkest, dirtiest, most bone-crunching riffs. Tomorrow, he and the rest of the original line-up face their final curtain. It's our last chance to hear Paranoid, War Pigs and Iron Man performed live by the four musicians who created them. No doubt all eyes will be on the singer, the 'Prince Of Darkness' himself. Despite complaining to me recently that he has enough health issues 'to fill a medical dictionary', Ozzy Osbourne is set to give his hometown of Birmingham a hellraising last hurrah. But let's not forget that the Back To The Beginning extravaganza at Villa Park also marks the end of a journey for bassist Geezer Butler, drummer Bill Ward — and Iommi. Sabbath are held in highest esteem by the bands that followed in their wake, hence an incredible supporting cast. With Rage Against The Machine's Tom Morello serving as musical director, there's a blizzard of metal titans paying their dues. Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Alice In Chains, Sammy, Hagar, Steven Tyler (Aerosmith), Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins), Duff McKagan and Slash (Guns N' Roses), Fred Durst (Limp Bizkit) — the list goes on. Ozzy Osbourne announces final Black Sabbath gig as band reunite for 'greatest heavy metal show ever' with HUGE line up 'It's a great honour,' says Iommi. 'I'm so proud of everyone who has come forward to support Sabbath. 'They've come from everywhere to be a part of something. This is a real one-off.' Iommi is particularly chuffed that his old mucker Ward, who he first met at Birchfield Road School, is back in the Sabbath fold for the first time since 2005. At school, I didn't even know that Ozzy could sing Iommi 'Bill and I were in a couple of bands before Sabbath,' he says, 'and that's when we went round to Ozzy's house looking for a singer. It was how it all started.' Seeing that the gig is called Back To The Beginning, I ask Iommi to sift through the mists of time to describe how the band came together. He begins by giving me his first impressions of Ozzy before moving on to Geezer. 'At school, I didn't even know that Ozzy could sing,' he says. 'It was a racket at first, I must say, but after we'd been playing for a while, he got really good.' As for the singer's madcap behaviour, Iommi adds: 'He got more loony as we went on. In the early days, we'd be on this little stage at a club or somewhere and we had this thing between us. 'If I broke a string, I'd shout to Ozzy, 'Organise a raffle, organise a raffle!' which meant, 'Talk to the audience'. 'He wasn't very good at that in the early days, he didn't know what to say. 'But he got more and more confident and, eventually, he became like he is — very out front.' Iommi moves on to Geezer and says: 'Before Sabbath, Bill and I used to play these all-nighters at a place in Birmingham. 'I always remember seeing Geezer there, crawling up walls because of the drugs they were on in those days. 'I made my fingertips' 'Me and Bill used to think, 'Blimey, he's mad, that guy'. Of course, when we got together with him, we realised he was very, very sensible. 'Geezer had never played bass before — he was a guitar player — but it was amazing how quickly he picked it up.' So what about Iommi himself? 'Originally, I wanted to play drums,' he replies, 'but because of where we lived with my parents, you couldn't get a drum kit in the house. It was so small. 'My mother bought me a guitar, one of these cheap £20 ones from a catalogue, and I sat in my room learning to play. I really enjoyed it.' Then he adds with a self-deprecating chuckle: 'And I'm still trying to learn to play the guitar!' This was the early Sixties when one band in particular caught Iommi's ear — The Shadows led by his guitar hero Hank Marvin. 5 The band now, from left Bill, Geezer, Ozzy and Tony ahead of their last gig Credit: Ross Halfin 'I used to listen to the Top 20 on my little radio,' he says. 'The Shadows really inspired me because I loved their sound and style. 'They were an instrumental band and it was great because I had something to learn and to relate to. Then I could go off and do my own thing.' I thought that I'd become involved in the scene in some way and I didn't expect to become a musician Iommi Iommi was also shaped by his tough upbringing in Aston. Of the neighbourhood where he lived, he says: 'It was rough and gang infested. You had to be careful walking round the streets because you'd get beaten up if you were in the wrong area. 'I started doing martial arts — judo and karate — purely to protect myself,' he continues. 'I went training three or four times a week. 'I thought that I'd become involved in the scene in some way and I didn't expect to become a musician.' Iommi recalls having 'a dream of being on a stage, look-ing out, I always thought it was to do with martial arts but, of course, it wasn't. I later realised it was about being on stage playing guitar'. At 17, he had a horrific industrial accident which would have a profound effect on Black Sabbath's signature heavy guitar sound. While operating a guillotine press in a sheet-metal factory, Iommi lost the tips of the middle and ring fingers on his right hand. He says: 'I went to the hospital and they said, 'You might as well forget playing the guitar'. 'I just couldn't accept that attitude so I made my own fingertips with thimbles. I had to come up with a totally different way of playing. 'I also worked on the guitar all the time. I had it in bits and put it back together, trying to make it more comfortable to play. 'Eventually, that extended to experimenting with amplifiers, making a sound that would be more full.' By the time Sabbath, originally known as Earth, got together in 1968, Iommi was on a mission to make a success of it despite financial hardships. 5 Black Sabbath's Top Of The Pops performance Credit: supplied 'Oh God, I drove the bloody van!' he exclaims. 'Unloaded the gear, played, drove back. 'We were hard up. We might make 15 quid and, on our way home, stop off and spend it all at a fish and chip shop. 'But it was great because we started from nothing and we went through the whole thing together. 'We became glued to each other, we lived in each other's pockets, and it really made us a band.' Iommi continues: 'The name was Geezer's idea after he watched a Boris Karloff film called Black Sabbath. It was appropriate for our music and it stuck. 'When we were Earth, we got misbooked because they thought we were a pop band. We absolutely died a death!' An all-important step for Sabbath, like any up-and- coming act, was getting a record deal. Iommi remembers how it happened: 'We used to play at a club in Birmingham where Jim Simpson, who became our first manager, would get people to come down and see us. 'Of course 99 per cent of them said 'no' and one per cent said 'yes'. We were playing something different. In those days, it was all soul, not our kind of music.' The self-titled debut album contains the song Black Sabbath which bears Iommi's first great riff. He regards it as their breakthrough moment. 'That track hit home,' he says. 'It was so different and we knew straight away, 'That's it, that's what we want to do, that's the benchmark'.' 'Screaming girls' Iommi took on a lot of the responsibility at the time, getting the others out of bed and into the studio by 9am. 'Everybody needs somebody to direct them,' he affirms. 'Otherwise it turns into chaos.' That first album, now regarded as a trailblazing triumph, landed to lukewarm reviews but it didn't deter Iommi and his bandmates. I always remember somebody — I won't mention his name — came to review us. He left unknown to us and we DIDN'T play, but he still reviewed the show. What does that tell you? Iommi 'Of course, you never want a bad review but you have to believe in what you do,' he says. 'If we did get a reasonably good review, we'd bloody faint, but we never lost that belief and that's what made us stronger. 'I always remember somebody — I won't mention his name — came to review us. He left unknown to us and we DIDN'T play, but he still reviewed the show. What does that tell you?' Next came the album which propelled Sabbath to the stratosphere, Paranoid, with its iconic three-minute adrenaline rush of a title track. Iommi says: 'We never went to the States with the first album but Paranoid opened up America for us.' And yet the song itself was almost an afterthought, as he explains. 'When we were finishing the album, we went out to get something to eat. 'The producer came out and said to me, 'We need another track. We haven't got enough tracks'. So I had to come up with Paranoid. I waited for the others to come back and played it to them. 'Geezer wrote some lyrics, the guys learnt the song and we recorded it there and then. 'It was supposed to be filler but it was the one that took off — and we ended up on Top Of The Pops.' Appearing on the UK's premier pop showcase went against everything Sabbath stood for in their quest 'to be an album band taken seriously for our music'. Iommi says: 'It was funny. You've got people like Cilla Black and then us. Bloody odd combination, it was! 'And the last thing we wanted to do was attract screaming girls.' After Paranoid, Sabbath were on a roll, producing a string of high-octane, high-quality albums — Master Of Reality (1971), Vol.4 (1972), Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973) and Sabotage (1975). 'For each album, we tried different things,' says Iommi. 'On Master Of Reality, I started tuning down a bit to get an even heavier sound. 5 Appearing on the UK's premier pop showcase went against everything Sabbath stood for in their quest 'to be an album band taken seriously for their music' Credit: supplied 'The whole vibe on Vol. 4 was great. We went to Los Angeles where John du Pont was unfortunate enough to rent us his house. 'It was a fantastic place with a ballroom, swimming pools and, God, did we have some fun.' It was only after ten years in the business that the wheels started to fall off for Sabbath, resulting in Ozzy's exit. 'Obviously, drugs were involved,' says Iommi. 'It got to a stage where Ozzy had lost interest. He'd go missing for a couple of days in Los Angeles — things like that. 'I was nominated to go to the record company and make all the excuses. We were coming up with riffs but it just wasn't going anywhere. 'It got to a point where I had to say, 'Look, we'll have to replace Ozzy or break up'. At the time, it was best for both of us and Ozzy went off and did his own thing.' Sabbath regrouped with Ronnie James Dio taking over on lead vocals, the first of a succession of singers. Then, in the late Nineties, the original Sabbath reformed and toured until 2005. Minus drummer Ward, they got back together for the Rick Rubin-produced 13 (released in 2013) and played live again until 2017. Now, eight years on, Sabbath are making their last stand. They've all had well-documented health issues but Iommi and Ozzy see the funny side. Ozzy even called himself 'Iron Man' after surgeons inserted bolts in his neck following a fall at his home in the outskirts of Los Angeles 'He should be called the Six Million Dollar Man,' laughs Iommi. 'I hear from him every few days and we complain to each other. 'We've all had problems so it's quite an achievement for us to get on stage again after so many years. 'We'll do the gig – then we'll probably keel over!'
The Irish Sun
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
It all started when Bill and I went round to Ozzy's house looking for a singer, says Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi
FOR 57 years, Tony Iommi has been Black Sabbath's keeper of the flame. He is 'Master Of The Riffs' — some say he invented heavy metal — and he is the only band member to stay the course. 5 Heavy metal Black Sabbath in 1970, pictured Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Bill Ward and Ozzy Osbourne Credit: Alamy 5 'Master of the riffs' Iommi Credit: Getty 'Everybody else has come and gone and come back,' the guitarist tells me in his soft Brummie tones. 'I've been the constant one.' Talking to the affable Iommi, 77, it's hard to imagine that he's responsible for some of rock's darkest, dirtiest, most bone-crunching riffs. Tomorrow, he and the rest of the original line-up face It's our last chance to hear Paranoid, War Pigs and Iron Man performed live by the four musicians who created them. READ MORE ON BLACK SABBATH No doubt all eyes will be on the singer, the 'Prince Of Darkness' himself. Despite complaining to me recently that he has enough health issues 'to fill a medical dictionary', Ozzy Osbourne is set to give his hometown of Birmingham a hellraising last hurrah. But let's not forget that the Back To The Beginning extravaganza at Sabbath are held in highest esteem by the bands that followed in their wake, hence an incredible supporting cast. Most read in Music With Rage Against The Machine's Tom Morello serving as musical director, there's a blizzard of metal titans paying their dues. Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Alice In Chains, Sammy, Hagar, Steven Tyler (Aerosmith), Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins), Duff McKagan and Slash (Guns N' Roses), Fred Durst (Limp Bizkit) — the list goes on. Ozzy Osbourne announces final Black Sabbath gig as band reunite for 'greatest heavy metal show ever' with HUGE line up 'It's a great honour,' says Iommi. 'I'm so proud of everyone who has come forward to support Sabbath. 'They've come from everywhere to be a part of something. This is a real one-off.' Iommi is particularly chuffed that his old mucker Ward, who he first met at Birchfield Road School, is back in the Sabbath fold for the first time since 2005. At school, I didn't even know that Ozzy could sing Iommi 'Bill and I were in a couple of bands before Sabbath,' he says, 'and that's when we went round to Ozzy's house looking for a singer. It was how it all started.' Seeing that the gig is called Back To The Beginning, I ask Iommi to sift through the mists of time to describe how the band came together. He begins by giving me his first impressions of Ozzy before moving on to Geezer. 'At school, I didn't even know that Ozzy could sing,' he says. 'It was a racket at first, I must say, but after we'd been playing for a while, he got really good.' As for the singer's madcap behaviour, Iommi adds: 'He got more loony as we went on. In the early days, we'd be on this little stage at a club or somewhere and we had this thing between us. 'If I broke a string, I'd shout to Ozzy, 'Organise a raffle, organise a raffle!' which meant, 'Talk to the audience'. 'He wasn't very good at that in the early days, he didn't know what to say. 'But he got more and more confident and, eventually, he became like he is — very out front.' Iommi moves on to Geezer and says: 'Before Sabbath, Bill and I used to play these all-nighters at a place in Birmingham. 'I always remember seeing Geezer there, crawling up walls because of the drugs they were on in those days. 'I made my fingertips' 'Me and Bill used to think, 'Blimey, he's mad, that guy'. Of course, when we got together with him, we realised he was very, very sensible. 'Geezer had never played bass before — he was a guitar player — but it was amazing how quickly he picked it up.' So what about Iommi himself? 'Originally, I wanted to play drums,' he replies, 'but because of where we lived with my parents, you couldn't get a drum kit in the house. It was so small. 'My mother bought me a guitar, one of these cheap £20 ones from a catalogue, and I sat in my room learning to play. I really enjoyed it.' Then he adds with a self-deprecating chuckle: 'And I'm still trying to learn to play the guitar!' This was the early Sixties when one band in particular caught Iommi's ear — The Shadows led by his guitar hero Hank Marvin. 5 The band now, from left Bill, Geezer, Ozzy and Tony ahead of their last gig Credit: Ross Halfin 'I used to listen to the Top 20 on my little radio,' he says. 'The Shadows really inspired me because I loved their sound and style. 'They were an instrumental band and it was great because I had something to learn and to relate to. Then I could go off and do my own thing.' I thought that I'd become involved in the scene in some way and I didn't expect to become a musician Iommi Iommi was also shaped by his tough upbringing in Aston. Of the neighbourhood where he lived, he says: 'It was rough and gang infested. You had to be careful walking round the streets because you'd get beaten up if you were in the wrong area. 'I started doing martial arts — judo and karate — purely to protect myself,' he continues. 'I went training three or four times a week. 'I thought that I'd become involved in the scene in some way and I didn't expect to become a musician.' Iommi recalls having 'a dream of being on a stage, look-ing out, I always thought it was to do with martial arts but, of course, it wasn't. I later realised it was about being on stage playing guitar'. At 17, he had a horrific industrial accident which would have a profound effect on Black Sabbath's signature heavy guitar sound. While operating a guillotine press in a sheet-metal factory, Iommi lost the tips of the middle and ring fingers on his right hand. He says: 'I went to the hospital and they said, 'You might as well forget playing the guitar'. 'I just couldn't accept that attitude so I made my own fingertips with thimbles. I had to come up with a totally different way of playing. 'I also worked on the guitar all the time. I had it in bits and put it back together, trying to make it more comfortable to play. 'Eventually, that extended to experimenting with amplifiers, making a sound that would be more full.' By the time Sabbath, originally known as Earth, got together in 1968, Iommi was on a mission to make a success of it despite financial hardships. 5 Black Sabbath's Top Of The Pops performance Credit: supplied 'Oh God, I drove the bloody van!' he exclaims. 'Unloaded the gear, played, drove back. 'We were hard up. We might make 15 quid and, on our way home, stop off and spend it all at a fish and chip shop. 'But it was great because we started from nothing and we went through the whole thing together. 'We became glued to each other, we lived in each other's pockets, and it really made us a band.' Iommi continues: 'The name was Geezer's idea after he watched a Boris Karloff film called Black Sabbath. It was appropriate for our music and it stuck. 'When we were Earth, we got misbooked because they thought we were a pop band. We absolutely died a death!' An all-important step for Sabbath, like any up-and- coming act, was getting a record deal. Iommi remembers how it happened: 'We used to play at a club in Birmingham where Jim Simpson, who became our first manager, would get people to come down and see us. 'Of course 99 per cent of them said 'no' and one per cent said 'yes'. We were playing something different. In those days, it was all soul, not our kind of music.' The self-titled debut album contains the song Black Sabbath which bears Iommi's first great riff. He regards it as their breakthrough moment. 'That track hit home,' he says. 'It was so different and we knew straight away, 'That's it, that's what we want to do, that's the benchmark'.' 'Screaming girls' Iommi took on a lot of the responsibility at the time, getting the others out of bed and into the studio by 9am. 'Everybody needs somebody to direct them,' he affirms. 'Otherwise it turns into chaos.' That first album, now regarded as a trailblazing triumph, landed to lukewarm reviews but it didn't deter Iommi and his bandmates. I always remember somebody — I won't mention his name — came to review us. He left unknown to us and we DIDN'T play, but he still reviewed the show. What does that tell you? Iommi 'Of course, you never want a bad review but you have to believe in what you do,' he says. 'If we did get a reasonably good review, we'd bloody faint, but we never lost that belief and that's what made us stronger. 'I always remember somebody — I won't mention his name — came to review us. He left unknown to us and we DIDN'T play, but he still reviewed the show. What does that tell you?' Next came the album which propelled Sabbath to the stratosphere, Paranoid, with its iconic three-minute adrenaline rush of a title track. Iommi says: 'We never went to the States with the first album but Paranoid opened up America for us.' And yet the song itself was almost an afterthought, as he explains. 'When we were finishing the album, we went out to get something to eat. 'The producer came out and said to me, 'We need another track. We haven't got enough tracks'. So I had to come up with Paranoid. I waited for the others to come back and played it to them. 'Geezer wrote some lyrics, the guys learnt the song and we recorded it there and then. 'It was supposed to be filler but it was the one that took off — and we ended up on Appearing on the UK's premier pop showcase went against everything Sabbath stood for in their quest 'to be an album band taken seriously for our music'. Iommi says: 'It was funny. You've got people like 'And the last thing we wanted to do was attract screaming girls.' After Paranoid, Sabbath were on a roll, producing a string of high-octane, high-quality albums — Master Of Reality (1971), Vol.4 (1972), Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973) and Sabotage (1975). 'For each album, we tried different things,' says Iommi. 'On Master Of Reality, I started tuning down a bit to get an even heavier sound. 5 Appearing on the UK's premier pop showcase went against everything Sabbath stood for in their quest 'to be an album band taken seriously for their music' Credit: supplied 'The whole vibe on Vol. 4 was great. We went to Los Angeles where John du Pont was unfortunate enough to rent us his house. 'It was a fantastic place with a ballroom, swimming pools and, God, did we have some fun.' It was only after ten years in the business that the wheels started to fall off for Sabbath, resulting in Ozzy's exit. 'Obviously, drugs were involved,' says Iommi. 'It got to a stage where Ozzy had lost interest. He'd go missing for a couple of days in Los Angeles — things like that. 'I was nominated to go to the record company and make all the excuses. We were coming up with riffs but it just wasn't going anywhere. 'It got to a point where I had to say, 'Look, we'll have to replace Ozzy or break up'. At the time, it was best for both of us and Ozzy went off and did his own thing.' Sabbath regrouped with Ronnie James Dio taking over on lead vocals, the first of a succession of singers. Then, in the late Nineties, the original Sabbath reformed and toured until 2005. Minus drummer Ward, they got back together for the Rick Rubin-produced 13 (released in 2013) and played live again until 2017. Now, eight years on, Sabbath are making their last stand. They've all had well-documented health issues but Iommi and Ozzy see the funny side. Ozzy even called himself 'Iron Man' after surgeons inserted bolts in his neck following a fall at his home in the outskirts of Los Angeles 'He should be called the Six Million Dollar Man,' laughs Iommi. 'I hear from him every few days and we complain to each other. 'We've all had problems so it's quite an achievement for us to get on stage again after so many years. 'We'll do the gig – then we'll probably keel over!'
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Legendary Guitarist, 77, Shares Fears Ahead of Final Show
Legendary Guitarist, 77, Shares Fears Ahead of Final Show originally appeared on Parade. They say you only get one chance to make a good first impression. For Tony Iommi, he's worried about making a good final impression. Advertisement Iommi will wrap his illustrious career on July 5 when he and the rest of Black Sabbath—Ozzy Osbourne, Bill Ward and Geezer Butler—play Back To The Beginning. The landmark metal event, happening at Villa Park in Black Sabbath's hometown of Birmingham, will be the final time that these four share the stage, and that has Iommi feeling the pressure. "This would be a big, monumental thing if it all comes good," he told Metal Week(per Metal Hammer), adding that he feels "excitement mixed with fear" in the lead-up to this farewell performance. "The worrying thing for me is the unknown. We don't know what's going to happen," he explained. "Normally, when we'd tour, we'd rehearse and run through the thing for a while, and it's just us. But with this event, there are so many other moving parts." Bill Ward, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler and Tony Iommi in 2011Photo by Chelsea Lauren/WireImage The "other parts" include a star-studded lineup featuring Metallica, Guns N' Roses, Mastodon, and a multitude of other bands paying tribute to the heavy metal pioneers. Advertisement Additionally, fellow rockers such as Wolfgang Van Halen, Billy Corgan, K.K. Downing, Jonathan Davis, and Zakk Wylde will perform, with people forming supergroups throughout the event. "You're used to Ozzy running around," said Iommi, but he certainly won't be doing that for this show." Osbourne, who will also perform a solo set before joining Black Sabbath, has publicly disclosed his struggles to walk due to Parkinson's disease. Iommi said he didn't know if his bandmate was "going to be standing or sitting on a throne or what" when he closes out the night. Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Bill Ward, Ozzy Osbourne in 1970Photo by Chris Walter/WireImage The night will lower the curtain on Ozzy's solo career as well as Black Sabbath. And Iommi stressed that this is the band's finale. Advertisement "It's absolutely the end," he said. "This show has come up because of the situation [Ozzy's health] and because it's a charity thing. But there's no way we could go out and do a tour. Everybody in the band is looking forward to doing it, though it's a nerve-wracking thing, as we'll be touching on some stuff that we haven't done for a long time." Related: Sharon Osbourne Reveals She Booted a Band From Ozzy's Final Show Legendary Guitarist, 77, Shares Fears Ahead of Final Show first appeared on Parade on Jun 10, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jun 10, 2025, where it first appeared.
Daily Mirror
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Black Sabbath rehearsal update as they 'don't know' if Ozzy can perform again
Black Sabbath take to the stage in July and have confirmed rehearsals start this month but Ozzy's input is not clear Black Sabbath guitarist and rock icon Tony Iommi has admitted he 'doesn't know what's going to happen' when Ozzy Osbourne tries to get back on stage next month with the band. Ozzy and Black Sabbath will headline their final gig on July 5th at Villa Park in Birmingham, as part of an event titled "Back To The Beginning". This show will reunite the original band members – Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward – for the first time in 20 years. The band played its "last" gig in 2017 in Birmingham with Osborne, guitarist Iommi and bassist Butler but without Ward on drums. But last year Ozzy was not well enough to perform at the band's Rock'N'Roll Hall Of Fame inauguration in America. In a new interview ahead of the show Tony admitted he has "excitement mixed with fear' ahead of the show, whilst he also confirmed rehearsals are due to start this month. He said: 'This would be a big, monumental thing if it all comes good. The worrying thing for me is the unknown. 'We don't know what's going to happen. Normally, when we'd tour, we'd rehearse and run through the thing for a while, and it's just us. But with this event there are so many other moving parts.' He added: "You're used to Ozzy running around, but he certainly won't be doing that for this show. I don't know if he's going to be standing or sitting on a throne or what.' Iommi and Ozzy have exchanged setlist wishlists, which will be consolidated in due course when they meet up in person. Speaking to Music Week, Iommi said: 'Once we start playing, then we'll know we're doing it. 'It's always a worry, even when we did tours before, there's always that build-up, and then it gets to the point that we do it and it's OK.' Ozzy, who is suffering from Parkinson's disease, told last month how he has been having physical therapy and training with a trainer virtually living with him in Los Angeles in a bid to get him fit enough to perform on stage after a catalogue of illnesses. Ozzy's wife Sharon said: 'Ozzy's working with his therapist every single day. He's doing really well, actually. Ozzy's number one thing in life is his fans, so he's working hard to be ready for them, to make this show the perfect way to end things.' Ozzy's wife also told Music Week(PLS REF) the celebration gig shows how well the band have endured through the years since they formed over 50 years ago. She said: 'You've got to remember, this is a band that started in the '60s – and they're still here,' marvels the manager. 'A lot of the bands who started in the '60s are no longer alive, or operating as they used to.' In May Ozzy admitted he is suffering huge self confidence and stage fright issues ahead of his summer UK farewell show - but has vowed 'to give 120 percent'. Speaking on his own radio show in America he said: 'My head's crazy. ADHD - I have that badly. 'I will have done the show and died a death before I even started my exercises. So I try and put it on the back burner. 'I'm not going up there saying 'It's going to be great. I'm really confident.' 'In my head I will have died on my ass. I remember being in f***ing Vegas one time being in the dressing room going, 'I'm going to play. I'm going to die.' 'And I talked myself into blowing the gig. It was only two f***ing songs. 'Sharon goes, 'just don't think about it.' 'But all I can say is I'm giving 120%. If my God wants me to do the show. I'll do it. Sometimes if I start obsessing on the time, I'll be insane by Friday. So I'm just taking it one day at a time.' * Fans will be able to live stream the Back To The Beginning sold out concert. Details at
Forbes
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Tony Iommi Charts His First Solo Top 40 Hit Thanks To An Unlikely Feature
Tony Iommi joins Robbie Williams on 'Rocket,' earning his first solo top 40 hit in the United ... More Kingdom on multiple sales charts. Guitarist Tony Iommi is shown performing on stage during a live concert appearance with Black Sabbath on August 8, 2013. (Photo by)"n Tony Iommi is regarded as a god in the rock world, and has been for decades. He first rose to prominence as one of the founding members of Black Sabbath and, for years, he helped bring heavy metal to the masses with his signature guitar sound. While he's primarily known for his work with that group, Iommi does occasionally release music under his own name. The superstar scores a hit song in his home country of the United Kingdom this week by teaming up with a somewhat surprising figure. Iommi earns a top 40 hit on both the Official Singles Downloads and Official Singles Sales charts this frame. He joins Robbie Williams on the track "Rocket," which opens at Nos. 34 and 36, respectively, on those tallies, becoming a top 40 bestseller in the nation. It appears that "Rocket" is Iommi's first solo hit on both of those rankings. As a member of Black Sabbath, he's only reached the lists once, as "Paranoid" spent one frame on the rosters in August 2022. Of course, it's worth mentioning that these tallies didn't exist during the heyday of the heavy metal act. Iommi has landed more than one solo placement on the Official Rock & Metal Albums roster with his solo collections, but those titles didn't produce any hit songs across the Atlantic. "Rocket" serves as the lead single from Williams's upcoming album Britpop. It's interesting that the first taste of a full-length named after a style of pop music from the U.K. wouldn't typically be classified under that genre, and would feature one of the most recognizable figures in metal — but that's Williams, playing another one of his jokes. While Iommi may be new to these rankings, Williams has already scored a number of hits. The pop icon has racked up a dozen smashes on the Official Singles Sales chart and well over two dozen on the Official Singles Downloads list. A top 40 start is impressive for Iommi but rather low for Williams, one of the most successful pop stars in U.K. history. The tune doesn't reach the main list of the most consumed songs — the Official Singles chart — at least not yet, which is a bit disappointing.
