Black Sabbath's next album (and first with singer Ronnie James Dio), Heaven and Hell, proved to be a success, and saw the band's highest charting since 1975's Sabotage. It was on this tour that Dio popularised the "devil horns" hand guesture, which has since become a symbol of heavy metal music in general. The album also marked the inclusion of Quartz's guitarist-turned-keyboardist Geoff Nicholls (Nicholls has not been consistantly credited as an official member, and has often been forced to play live shows from backstage for supposed aesthetic purposes, but he has co-written many songs and has and stayed with Black Sabbath through all subsequent incarnations). Also during the tour, drummer Bill Ward quit the band for personal reasons (both his parents died in a rather short period, and Ward was struggling with alcoholism). Drummer Vinnie Appice joined to complete the tour and then record the next album Mob Rules, the whose title track appeared in the movie Heavy Metal. The unauthorised release in 1980 of the live bootleg Live at Last (recorded in the Ozzy era during the 1973 Sabbath Bloody Sabbath tour) prompted the band to properly record a live album on the Mob Rules tour, titled Live Evil. However, during the mixing of Live Evil, internal band problems and nasty accusations developed, which lead to Dio and Appice quitting the band to form Dio. Bill Ward returned to the drum throne and the return of Ian Gillan of Deep Purple fame became the new singer. This line-up recorded the album Born Again, but once again Bill Ward dropped out of the tour, being replaced by Bev Bevan of Electric Light Orchestra. Although the album surprisingly ended up being one of their most successful ones to date (hitting #4 in the UK charts), things did not last, as Ian Gillan left to reunite with Deep Purple. Drummer Bill Ward once again returned to the fold, and the hiring of new singer David Donato was officially announced in 1984. However, after six months worth of rehearsals, Donato was discharged by management when Iommi and Butler squabbled over financial issues. It was at this point that the band's frequent line-up changes, compounded with Ozzy Osbourne's increasing success in his solo career and side-taking from music critics, really ended up putting the band under Ozzy's shadow. Founding member Geezer Butler quit out of frustration and formed the Geezer Butler Band at this time, which did not end up releasing any albums. The original line-up of Black Sabbath reunited for one three-song show at Live Aid in 1985. After this, Tony Iommi decided to record a solo album and enlisted the help of longtime Sabbath keyboardist Geoff Nicholls (who was finally made an official member) and vocalist Glenn Hughes, formerly of Deep Purple and Trapeze. Tony Iommi also got engaged to famous female heavy metal star Lita Ford, and enlisted the help of her band's bassist (Dave "The Beast" Spitz) and drummer Eric Singer, (later of KISS and Alice Cooper) to round off the line-up. However, record company pressure caused the album Seventh Star to be released as Black Sabbath featuring Tony Iommi. Early in the tour for Seventh Star in 1986, Glenn Hughes got into a fist fight, and suffered severe blood clotting in his throat which made him lose his voice. An unknown young American singer by the name of Ray Gillen (no relation to Ian Gillan) was tapped for the job and finished the tour. Although the morale in the band was very high when they started recording The Eternal Idol (former drummer Bev Bevan had returned as a percussionist, and a second bassist, Bob Daisley, also joined), the new Black Sabbath hit a devastating series of catasrophes involving mismanagement and financial debt, mainly from poorly planned use of the world's most expensive recording studio. As a result, Ray Gillen left the band during the recording sessions. He later hooked up with ex-Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Jake E. Lee to form the rather successful band Badlands (which would later include Eric Singer). Singer Tony Martin was brought in to re-record all of Gillen's original vocals on the Eternal Idol tapes, and the album was finally released. Tony Martin proved to be the perfect vocalist for the newly revitalised Black Sabbath. Though he somewhat resembled Dio, Martin clearly had his own style and also contributed some of the group's strongest lyrics. After the recording of The Eternal Idol, most of the band quit Sabbath, leaving Iommi, Martin, and Nicholls to recruit bassist Jo Burt and former Clash drummer Terry Chimes for the short-lived 1987 Eternal Idol tour. However, a significant degree of band stability finally came back to Black Sabbath by 1988 with the staying of Tony Martin & Geoff Nicholls, and the addition of loyal drummer Cozy Powell, who replaced Terry Chimes. Powell, a legendary drummer, had had success with his own band, as well as with Rainbow, Whitesnake, and ELP. With bassist Laurence Cottle replacing Jo Burt, Sabbath released the critically acclaimed Headless Cross album in 1989. An MTV video for the title track received considerable airplay, and was released to mostly positive reviews. After the Headless Cross sessions, Laurence Cottle was replaced by veteran bassist Neil Murray (a former bandmate of Cozy Powell's in Whitesnake). Sabbath released Tyr in 1990, considered by many to be one of the best Sabbath albums released in the post-Ozzy period. The group toured extensively throughout 1990 and 1991, as sales for the highly praised Tyr album continued to rise. Then the reunions happened. Tony Iommi cleaned house in 1992 to reunite the classic 1980s lineup of Black Sabbath. Founding member Geezer Butler, along with Ronnie James Dio and Vinny Appice, joined up with Tony Iommi once again (this was the same line-up from 1981's Mob Rules and 1982's Live Evil) and together they recorded Dehumanizer (1992). Playing to larger audiences then they had in nearly a decade, the rejuvinated Sabbath enjoyed renewed success with the powerful Dehumanizer album and tour. It was around this time that Ozzy Osbourne announced his retirement from touring and proposed that Black Sabbath open his final two shows at Costa Mesa. When Dio refused to participate, Iommi, Butler and Appice agreed to appear without him. Dio quit to return to his highly successful solo band, and Rob Halford of Judas Priest was brought in as a last-minute replacement (specifically for this event only). The original Black Sabbath lineup, including Bill Ward, reunited to close the second night of performances, on November 15, 1992, performing four songs. In the end, Ozzy decided not to retire (following his "No More Tours" tour with the aptly titled "Retirement Sucks" tour), and contracts were all ready for a new album and tour from the original Black Sabbath line-up, but then Osbourne decided at the last minute that he did not want to do it. After the Dio/Halford debacle, Vinnie Appice was replaced by former Rainbow drummer Bobby Rondinelli. Vocalist Tony Martin and keyboardist Geoff Nicholls returned to the band and Black Sabbath recorded the superb Cross Purposes, and Cross Purposes Live, a CD and video combination, which was released in late 1994, after which Bobby Rondinelli left the group mid-tour. His replacement for the rest of the tour was, surprisingly, original Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward. After the tour, both Ward and Butler parted ways with Iommi, Martin, and Nicholls. Another reunion was on tap in 1995. This time the Tyr-era group would again join forces, as drummer Cozy Powell and bassist Neil Murray rejoined Iommi, Martin, and Nicholls for Forbidden. The album was produced by Ernie C of the pioneering rap metal group Body Count. To this date, Forbidden remains Black Sabbath's most recent full-length studio album recorded by any line-up. After the recording of the album, Cozy Powell left again and was replaced for the tour by a returning Bobbi Rondinelli. In 1996, Castle Records remastered and re-released Black Sabbath's catalog on CD up through Eternal Idol (1987), and a 1988-1995 compilation titled The Sabbath Stones was released to finish Tony Iommi's contract with the record label. In 1997, Ozzy Osbourne launched his wildly successful Ozzfest metal festival tour, which he headlined on a nightly basis. For the last part of his set each night, he was joined by Geezer Butler and Tony Iommi for a rundown on several Sabbath classics (Faith No More drummer Mike Bordin was on drums). However, in December 1997, original drummer Bill Ward joined forces with Osbourne, Iommi, and Butler to reform the original Black Sabbath for the first time since 1979. With the full original line-up now together, they recorded the double live album Reunion in 1998, which included two brand new studio songs. Due to health reasons, Bill Ward was replaced on the 1998 tour by former Sabbath drummer Vinnie Appice, but Ward returned to the band the following year. The original Black Sabbath remain together to this day. Black Sabbath have since released at least one authorised double-CD compilation, one double-CD live compilation, and an eight CD box set. The band had writing sessions together in 2001, and played one new song ("Scary Dreams") on the subsequent tour. However, a new studio album has yet to be released. The band intially began work on a new album in 2001 with legendary producer Rick Rubin, but Ozzy's solo contract has delayed, and perhaps killed, further progress on the album. The band took three years off before returning to the road in 2004 to headline yet another Ozzfest tour, celebrating their 35th anniversary. For 2005, Ozzy Osbourne is performing with Black Sabbath in his Ozzfest tour
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