Who is Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band from Birmingham. The original band line up of Ozzy Osbourne (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar), Terence "Geezer" Butler (bass), and Bill Ward (drums) is the same as the current line up (2007) although there have been many shifts of personnel over the years. 

In the early '70s they were the first band to pair heavily distorted, sonically dissonant blues-rock at crushingly slow speeds with lyrics about mental pain and abominations of war (they came from Aston - a poor district of Birmingham damaged by bombing during World War 2), thus giving birth to generations upon generations of metal bands that followed in their wake.

Black Sabbath remain a dominant influence in the heavy metal genre they helped create. VH1s 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock'' ranks them second, behind Led Zeppelin.

Currently, the early 1980s line-up of the band featuring Iommi, Butler, Ronnie James Dio and Vinny Appice are touring under the moniker Heaven and Hell, a title taken from the 1980 Black Sabbath album of the same name.