Bassist Terence “Geezer” Butler, guitarist Tony Iommi, lead singer Ozzy Osbourne, and drummer Bill Ward were all between the ages of 18 and 20 when they began playing together in Birmingham. Naming themselves after an Italian horror film in early 1969,

Black Sabbath formed in 1968, when four lads from Birmingham— Tony Iommi, Bill Ward, Geezer Butler and Ozzy Osbourne, who passed away on July 22, 2025, at age 76 —came together to change music forever. With a dark sound and darker lyrics, the group created what we now know as heavy metal.

Ward has an on-and-off history with Black Sabbath and was the only original band member who did not play on their final album, 13, which was released in June 2013. The album, which was the English rock band’s first studio release in 18 years, featured Osbourne, Iommi, and Butler with drummer Brad Wilk of Rage Against the Machine.

A year later, they'd slimmed down, found a new name and invented heavy metal. Few bands are so inextricably linked with a musical genre, but Sabbath set the template for everyone from Motörhead and AC/DC to Metallica and Guns 'n' Roses.

Butler played a five-song set with his fellow Sabbath founders – Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward – at Back To The Beginning on July 5. The event was a star-studded all-dayer that took place at Villa Park, the home turf of the bassist’s beloved Aston Villa football club, in Sabbath’s hometown of Birmingham.