Tony Iommi
Frank Anthony "Tony" Iommi (born February 19, 1948 in Birmingham , England ) is a British guitarist and founding member of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath . As the only musician in the band, Iommi has never quit, so he is seen as the driving force behind Black Sabbath.
biography
The beginnings
Iommi, the son of Italian immigrants, started playing guitar as a teenager, largely inspired by the groundbreaking instrumental group The Shadows with their guitarist Hank Marvin . Soon he was playing in a number of blues rock bands. In the founding phase of Black Sabbath , when it was still called Earth, he had a brief engagement with Jethro Tull in 1968 , which he left after an appearance. Iommi also played with Jethro Tull in the appearance in the Rolling Stones film " Rock and Roll Circus ".
Work accident
In a serious accident at work in a steel and sheet metal factory, Iommi, at the age of 17, lost parts of the fingertips on the middle and ring fingers of his right hand: He was unable to concentrate and got his hand into a machine press, whereupon he reflexively withdrew it and so did the fingertips of the both fingers were severed. Such an accident of the gripping hand usually means the end of a career for guitarists; nevertheless Tony Iommi continued. He drew his motivation from a friend's reference to Django Reinhardt , who, despite the crippling of the ring and little finger of his left hand, developed into one of the best jazz guitarists of all time due to a severe burn. That is why Tony Iommi wears plastic fingertips today and only uses very thin strings to be able to play at all. He used to have to assemble his strings from thin banjo strings. In addition, the band now tuned guitar and bass a minor third lower to reduce the string pressure.
Private life
Iommi has been married four times so far. He married Susan Snowden in the early 1970s and the marriage lasted eight years.
In 1980 he married a model named Melinda, in 1983 she had his only biological child, daughter Toni-Marie Iommi. The marriage was short-lived; according to his biography, he left it after it caused him over a hundred thousand dollars in credit card debt. They got divorced in the mid-80s. Iommi challenged the legality of the marriage in court because it had been concluded without a witness. Only a teddy bear acted as best man - on paper. However, the court recognized the legality.
In 1986 he met an English woman named Verlery, whom he married six years later. She brought her son into the marriage. Iommi calls him his son. The marriage ended in the late 1990s.
He has been married to the singer Maria Sjöholm for the fourth time since 2005.
In the mid-80s, he had a relationship with Lita Ford , to whom he was later engaged. According to her 2016 biography, she had to leave him after he almost beat her to death. Ford blamed Iommi's frequent violent outbursts on his very high drug consumption. Despite everything, she still calls Tony Iommi her hero.
illness
On 9 January 2012, the press secretary of Black Sabbath announced that at Iommi a malignant lymphoma in the early stage ( "early stages of lymphoma") was diagnosed.
Musical influence
The influence of his guitar playing on modern rock music is immense. He combines his short, dark and concise riffs in minor keys with innovative solos at the time in the style of blues or hard rock . For Black Sabbath , he continues to compose and compose most of the songs. Its most distinctive feature is the frequent, varied repetition of short riffs.
The sound created by the deep string tuning together with the excessive use of distortion led to the characteristic full sound of Black Sabbath's music; tuning down the guitar became an important trademark of modern metal bands, especially in the 1990s.
On November 19, 2013, Coventry University awarded Iommi an honorary doctorate in the arts for the invention of heavy metal.
In 2011 Rolling Stone listed Iommi as 25th of the 100 best guitarists of all time . In a list from 2003 he was ranked 86th.
Solo albums
In addition to his work with Black Sabbath, which has been a solo career since 1985, Iommi published his self-titled debut in 2000, on which he performed with several guest musicians (including Ozzy Osbourne , Serj Tankian , Henry Rollins , Billy Corgan , Phil Anselmo , but also Billy Idol and Ian Astbury ) played mostly in the Black Sabbath style of the 70s. He played the following two solo albums in 1996 DEP Sessions and Fused together with singer and bassist Glenn Hughes .
His trademark was the black " John Birch " SG guitar , which was specially made for him with crosses as inlays. He is currently playing Gibson “Tony Iommi” signature models (SG with cross inlays) and amplifies them with a Laney GH100TI amp, also a signature product.
Eurovision Song Contest 2013
Tony composed the Armenian contribution Lonely Planet for the band Dorians to the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö . She was able to qualify them for the final and reached 18th place.
Solo discography
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- 2000: Iommi
- 2004: The 1996 Dep Sessions (with singer / bassist Glenn Hughes )
- Tracks: Gone ; From Another World ; Don't You Tell Me ; Don't Drag The River ; Fine ; Time Is The Healer ; I'm Not The Same Man ; It falls through me
- The recording was made in 1996 but was not officially released. In 1996/97, however, the recordings appeared as a bootleg under the name Eighth Star . In 2004, the decision was made to officially publish the recordings, only the drums were re-recorded, as the then drummer Dave Holland was convicted in 2004 of sexual abuse of minors.
- 2005: Fused (also with Glenn Hughes)
- Tracks: dopamine ; Wasted again ; Savior Of The Real ; Resolution song ; Grace ; Deep inside a shell ; What You're Living For ; Face your fear ; The spell ; I go insane
- 2012: Who Cares (with Ian Gillan )
literature
- Tony Iommi: Iron Man - From Black Sabbath to Heaven & Hell . Hannibal Verlag, Höfen 2012, ISBN 978-3-85445-383-3 (Original edition: Iron Man )
Web links
- Tony Iommi in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Literature by and about Tony Iommi in the catalog of the German National Library
- Official website (English)
- Iommi on the website of Black Sabbath (English)
- Book tip: Tony Iommi "Iron Man"
Individual evidence
- ↑ Iommi on Rock School . YouTube. Retrieved August 5, 2011.
- ^ A b Tony Iommi: Iron Man: My Journey through Heaven and Hell with Black Sabbath . De Capo Press,, p. 312.
- ↑ LunarMile's Biography at Myspace . In: Web . Retrieved August 3, 2011.
- ^ Tony Iommi: Iron Man: My Journey through Heaven and Hell with Black Sabbath . De Capo Press,.
- ↑ http://wwwc.aftonbladet.se/puls/9907/09/drain.html
- ^ Lita Ford: Living Like a Runaway: A Memoir .
- ^ Andy Greene: Black Sabbath Guitarist Tony Iommi Diagnosed With Lymphoma , on the "Rolling Stone" website. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
- ↑ focus.de: Tony Iommi: Honorary doctorate for the invention of heavy metal
- ↑ 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. Rolling Stone , December 18, 2015, accessed August 8, 2017 .
- ↑ 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time - David Fricke's Picks. Rolling Stone , December 2, 2010, accessed August 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Chart sources: DE UK US
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Iommi, Tony |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Iommi, Frank Anthony (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British guitarist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 19, 1948 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Birmingham , England |