Black Sabbath were an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy metal music. The band helped define the genre with their first three albums Black Sabbath, Paranoid, and Master of Reality (1971). Following Osbourne's departure in 1979, the band underwent multiple line-up changes, with Iommi being the only constant member throughout its history.
Ronald James Padavona, known professionally as Ronnie James Dio, was an American heavy metal singer. He fronted numerous bands throughout his career, including Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio and Heaven & Hell.
Dehumanizer is the sixteenth studio album by English rock band Black Sabbath. It was first released on 22 June 1992 in the UK by I.R.S. Records and on 30 June 1992 in the US by Reprise Records.
Mob Rules is the tenth studio album by English rock band Black Sabbath, released in November 1981. It followed 1980's Heaven and Hell, and was the second album to feature lead singer Ronnie James Dio and the first with drummer Vinny Appice. Neither musician would appear on a Black Sabbath studio album again until the 1992 album Dehumanizer.
Live Evil is the first official live album by English rock band Black Sabbath. The previously released Live at Last (1980) was not sanctioned by the band. Live Evil peaked at number 37 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart.
Heaven and Hell is the ninth studio album by English rock band Black Sabbath, released on 18 April 1980. It is the first Black Sabbath album to feature vocalist Ronnie James Dio, who replaced original vocalist Ozzy Osbourne in 1979.
Vincent Samson Appice is an American rock and metal drummer best known for his work with the bands Dio, Black Sabbath, and Heaven & Hell. Of Italian descent, he is the younger brother of drummer Carmine Appice.
The Best of Black Sabbath is a double CD compilation album by Black Sabbath released in 2000 on the Sanctuary Records label. Its 32 songs are presented chronologically from the band's first 11 albums, spanning the years 1970 to 1983. Black Sabbath's classic six-album run, from 1970s debut Black Sabbath through 1975's Sabotage is celebrated with three to six songs from each album. Original vocalist Ozzy Osbourne's subsequent final two albums with the band, 1976's Technical Ecstasy and 1978's Never Say Die!, are represented by one and two songs, respectively. Replacement Ronnie James Dio's early 80's stint fronting the band on two albums is acknowledged with the title track of 1980's Heaven and Hell and a track from 1981's The Mob Rules. The compilation closes with a song from 1983's attempted rebirth, Born Again, former Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan's sole album with the band. The Best of Black Sabbath does not include any later material with vocalists Glenn Hughes, Tony Martin (1986–96) or the returning Dio.
Heaven & Hell was a British-American heavy metal supergroup active from 2006 to 2010, featuring guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler, vocalist Ronnie James Dio and drummer Vinny Appice.
Black Sabbath: The Dio Years is a 2007 compilation CD of material recorded by Black Sabbath during vocalist Ronnie James Dio's tenure in the band. The CD contains remastered tracks taken from the studio albums Heaven and Hell (1980), Mob Rules (1981), and Dehumanizer (1992), as well as a live version of the song "Children of the Sea" taken from the live album Live Evil (1982). It also contains three songs that were recorded in 2007: "The Devil Cried", "Shadow of the Wind", and "Ear in the Wall".
Live at Hammersmith Odeon is a live album by Black Sabbath recorded at three concerts between 31 December 1981 and 2 January 1982, during the Mob Rules tour. It was released by Rhino Handmade on 1 May 2007 in a limited edition of 5000, which sold out immediately.
We Rock is a compilation video album by the American heavy metal band Dio. It collects the out-of-print videos Live in Concert (1984) and A Special from the Spectrum (1984), which had been available on VHS and a Japanese issued Laserdisc, minus a couple of songs.
The Heaven and Hell 2007 Tour was a global concert tour by Heaven & Hell in support of Black Sabbath's The Dio Years compilation CD.
A Special from the Spectrum is the second video album by the American heavy metal band Dio, containing footage of a live concert performance recorded at The Spectrum arena in Philadelphia on 25 August 1984. Most of the performance has been repackaged on the We Rock DVD, minus the opening track of "Stand Up and Shout". The video has been certified Gold by the RIAA having sold 50,000 units.
Hangin' with Heaven and Hell is a video by heavy metal band Black Sabbath. The video features an interview with Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler by Eddie Trunk discussing the band's 2007 tour under the name Heaven & Hell. It was filmed in November 2006. It aired on VH1 Classic during March and April 2007. The show was released on DVD through Rhino to coincide with the release of Black Sabbath: The Dio Years.
The Devil You Know is the only studio album by heavy metal band Heaven & Hell; the members had previously recorded as a group in an earlier line-up of Black Sabbath. The Devil You Know was Ronnie James Dio's final studio album prior to his death in May 2010.
Neon Nights: 30 Years of Heaven & Hell is a live album by Heaven & Hell. Recorded at the Wacken Open Air Festival in Germany on 30 July 2009, it was released in the U.S. on 16 November 2010 and in Japan on October 27, 2010 and November 10, 2010. It includes songs from the three official Dio-era Black Sabbath albums, as well as songs from The Devil You Know. The album was released in both CD and DVD formats, and the DVD also includes interviews regarding the 30th anniversary of the release of Heaven and Hell and a tribute to Ronnie James Dio, in addition to the concert recording.
The Heaven & Hell Tour was the ninth world concert tour by Black Sabbath between April 1980 and February 1981 to promote their 1980 studio album, Heaven and Hell. The tour marked the band's first live shows with vocalist Ronnie James Dio, who replaced original vocalist Ozzy Osbourne the previous year; drummer Vinny Appice, who replaced original drummer Bill Ward in the middle of the tour's North American leg after Ward suddenly left the band due to personal issues; and keyboardist Geoff Nicholls, who played keyboards on the Heaven and Hell album and accompanied the band on this tour as a sideman. For a portion of the North American tour, which was popularly known as the "Black and Blue Tour", Black Sabbath co-headlined with Blue Öyster Cult, with whom they shared a manager, Sandy Pearlman. The arrangement reportedly set attendance records but caused friction between the two bands as well as between Black Sabbath and Pearlman.
The Mob Rules Tour, by the English rock group Black Sabbath, began on 15 November 1981 in Quebec City and ended on 31 August 1982 in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.
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