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10-01 Tony Iommi Braves the Storm
07-30 Iommi faces the World Alone
08-03 Tony Iommi is Deified
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Tony Iommi is an English guitarist and songwriter from Birmingham, best known as a founding member of Black Sabbath. His riffs helped establish the musical foundations of heavy metal, while his work outside the band includes solo recordings and collaborations with singers from across hard rock and metal. A left-handed guitarist, Iommi lost the tips of two fingers on his right hand in an industrial accident at seventeen. He developed homemade fingertip protectors and used lighter strings to continue playing, adapting his technique around the injury.
In 1968, Iommi formed the group that becam ...read more
Tony Iommi is an English guitarist and songwriter from Birmingham, best known as a founding member of Black Sabbath. His riffs helped establish the musical foundations of heavy metal, while his work outside the band includes solo recordings and collaborations with singers from across hard rock and metal. A left-handed guitarist, Iommi lost the tips of two fingers on his right hand in an industrial accident at seventeen. He developed homemade fingertip protectors and used lighter strings to continue playing, adapting his technique around the injury.
In 1968, Iommi formed the group that became Black Sabbath with vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward. Their early albums, including Black Sabbath (1970), Paranoid (1970) and Master of Reality (1971), brought together blues roots, ominous riffs and an unusually heavy guitar sound. Iommi remained the band’s musical mainstay through its numerous personnel changes, becoming the only member to appear on every Black Sabbath studio album.
His solo career developed alongside these commitments. Seventh Star (1986), recorded with Glenn Hughes on vocals, began as an Iommi solo project but was released under the name Black Sabbath featuring Tony Iommi following pressure from the record company and management. His first album issued simply under his own name, Iommi (2000), paired his guitar work with a succession of guest singers, including Osbourne, Dave Grohl, Henry Rollins, Peter Steele and Phil Anselmo. Brian May also contributed guitar.
Iommi’s partnership with Hughes continued on The 1996 DEP Sessions, recorded in 1996 and officially released in 2004, and Fused (2005). These recordings combined Iommi’s heavy riffs with Hughes’s soulful, melodic singing, giving them a more consistent vocal identity than the guest-based Iommi. Fused featured Kenny Aronoff on drums and was produced by Bob Marlette.
He also reunited with Ronnie James Dio, Butler and Vinny Appice in Heaven & Hell, releasing The Devil You Know in 2009. Further work with Black Sabbath included 13 (2013), followed eventually by the original quartet’s final performance in Birmingham in July 2025. His later solo releases include the instrumentals Scent of Dark (2021) and Deified (2024). A new album, From the Dark, featuring vocalist and co-writer Jørn Lande, is scheduled for release on 23 October 2026.
Iommi’s playing combines blues-derived phrasing with dark riff construction, lower tunings and expressive bends. Although his rhythm guitar is central to his reputation, his lead playing also includes fluid pentatonic runs, forceful vibrato and rapid hammer-ons and pull-offs. « hide |
Similar Bands: Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, Heaven and Hell, Alice in Chains, Black Label Society Contributors: nylonhair, Voivod, AleksiS, rockandmetaljunkie, BlackSabbath, JesusV4, sonictheplumber, blekzebbed, Skyler, StigmataSD, Oswaldo88, Voivod, rockandmetaljunkie,
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