Singer Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, bass player Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward told at a news conference at legendary Sunset Strip club Whiskey a Go Go they would perform at the Download Festival in England in June 2012, and then embark on a world tour.
Formed in Aston, Birmingham, in the late 1960’s, Black Sabbath was one of the pioneers of heavy metal. They explored and defined the genre with releases such as quadruple-platinum ‘Paranoid’. Rolling Stone magazine said of this album that it "changed music forever". MTV has ranked them as the Greatest Metal Band and VH1 placed them at number two on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock behind Led Zeppelin. Black Sabbath was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006, and included among Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
Despite variations in the line up and stylistics changes, Black Sabbath’s original sound mostly focused on ominous lyrics and doomy music, often making use of the musical tritone, famously known as the "devil's interval". Their songs were never structured- it could start with a long intro, break into a jazz piece and even derive influences from folk. Black Sabbath has sold over 15 million records in the United States alone and more than 100 million records worldwide.
The four musicians, now all in their 60s, released their last studio album of all original material in 1978 with "Never Say Never".
The band has outdone themselves time and again and carved a vanguard position for them in the adrenaline pumped world of rock music. There’s little wonder as to why Rolling Stone has posited the band as 'the heavy-metal kings of the '70s'. Black Sabbath are genuinely and inarguably one of the most influential heavy metal bands of all time.