All four of the band were born and raised in Birmingham. Anthony Frank Iommi was born 19 February 1948, the son of Anthony Iommi and Maria Sylvia (nee Baciocchi, and always known as Sylvia). William Thomas Ward was born 5 May 1948, the son of William Ward and Beatrice (nee Lane). John Michael Osbourne was born 3 December 1948, the son of John Osbourne and Lilian (nee Unitt). Terence Michael Joseph Butler was born 17 July 1949, the son of James Butler and Mary (nee Fennell). Osbourne is always known as Ozzy and Butler as Geezer, so for consistency, this book will refer to Iommi and Ward by their forenames as well. Incidentally, Butler became known as Geezer during his primary school days when he used to call all males a ‘geezer’ (meaning a man). Eventually, friends started calling him Geezer and the name stuck!
The work backgrounds of their parents give an indication of the working class industrial demographic that the band members grew up in. The 1939 Register reveals that William Ward was a Corporation Ashman (Dustman) John Osbourne was a Tool-room Planing and Shaping Machinist, while his wife Lilian was an Automatic Feeding Machinist. James Butler was a Steel Tube Bundler. The one that doesn’t quite fit is Frank Iommi, who was an ice-cream vendor.
Circa 1958, Tony’s family moved to 67 Park Lane in Aston, where his mother ran a general stores, which later became something of an operational base for Earth/Black Sabbath. By day Tony was an apprentice sheet metal worker; by night, he gigged with local bands getting a reputation as a fine guitarist. His first electric guitar of note was a Watkins, which he played through a small tubed Watkins amplifier. The accident at work in 1965, which saw Tony lose the tips of two fingers, was something he was still trying to find a workable solution for when he left The Rockin’ Chevrolets and joined The Rest in 1966/67. The drummer in The Rest was Bill, whose home address in the early years was at 15 Witton Lodge Road in the Erdington district.
The ambitious Tony left The Rest to join Mythology, who had a strong reputation in Cumbria, where they gigged a lot. Two months after joining Mythology, Tony got Bill in as their drummer. Mythology’s progress was halted by a drug bust at their flat in Compton House, Carlisle, in 1968 which led to heavy fines. News of the bust was picked up by the Birmingham Evening Mail, whose midday edition of 8 July 1968 carried the story on their front page. Mythology split under the ensuing pressure, leaving Tony and Bill with no option but to return to Birmingham, where they set about starting a new band. A new band and a new name meant that the drug bust stigma could be avoided.
Better news in the meantime was that Tony had solved the problem of how to fret the guitar strings with two missing fingertips. He discovered that melting down a Fairy Liquid washing-up bottle to make prosthetic substitutes did the trick. Some leather glued on the tips stopped his fingers from slipping on the strings. A further far-reaching improvement would come by the time of the third Black Sabbath album.
Ozzy’s home address
