Black Sabbath star Tony Iommi says no more Heaven & Hell gigs after death of Ronnie James Dio

Jul 13 2010 by Paul Cole, Sunday Mercury

The tragic death of singer Ronnie James Dio, and the resolution of a year-long legal battle with Ozzy Osbourne, have left Black Sabbath guitar legend Tony Iommi at a crossroads. He talks to PAUL COLE about heartbreak and hope.

IT IS, he has decided, time to call it a day. The death of longtime friend and bandmate Ronnie James Dio has hit Birmingham guitar hero Tony Iommi hard.

His globe-trotting Heaven & Hell supergroup will play just one more gig – a tribute to the frontman cut down by cancer – and then close the curtain.

For Tony, now 62, it has been a time for tough decisions. And there will be more to come as he decides what path to follow when the grieving ends.

Will he team up again with Ozzy Osbourne, now that the court battle over the Black Sabbath brand has ended? Will he start auditioning new singers, and hit the road under an entirely new name? Only one thing is certain. Heaven & Hell will be no more.

At the heart of the matter is Ronnie’s recent death, at the age of 67. There had been such high hopes that the man who replaced Ozzy in Black Sabbath back in 1979 would see out his years up onstage with his Brummie mate.

"I first met Ronnie at a party in Los Angeles, and we got on well," recalls Tony who these days lives in leafy Lapworth. "I liked him straight away because he wasn’t flash like many of the people in this business. He was a nice guy, very down to earth.

"So when things weren’t working out with Ozzy (he was sacked in 1979 after becoming increasingly unreliable) I called Ronnie and invited him over for a rehearsal. He’d just left Rainbow, and was free because he was doing solo stuff.

"It’s strange how it all came together really. Call it fate if you like. Anyway, he was really good. I played a couple of guitar riffs I’d been working on, and he just sang away. By the time we’d finished, I knew he was the new Black Sabbath singer.

"We hit the road on a very long tour that never seemed to end. That was because we had to break new ground all over again. It was always going to be a difficult job stepping into Ozzy’s shoes. Ronnie had to get hardened fans to accept him.