1948: A Legend Was Born, Tony Iommi, The Guitarist Behind the Heaviest Riffs Who Invented Heavy Metal
From Birmingham to Black Sabbath
On February 19, 1948, Tony Iommi was born in Birmingham, England. He would go on to become the guitarist and main songwriter for Black Sabbath, a group widely credited with shaping heavy metal. Over the decades, his dark, heavy riffs became a defining part of rock history.
As a child, Iommi suffered an accident that left a scar on his lip. After falling while being chased by a neighborhood bully who collected spiders, he cut his lip badly. Other children called him “Scarface,” and once he was old enough, he grew a mustache to hide the mark. He has kept facial hair for most of his life.
View this post on Instagram
A Factory Accident That Changed Music
Before music became his full-time career, Iommi worked in a factory as a welder. On his last day of work as a teenager, a machine severed the tips of his ring and middle fingers on his right hand. The injury was serious, especially for a left-handed guitarist who used that hand on the fretboard.
Determined to keep playing, he made homemade fingertip covers and adjusted his tuning to reduce string tension. The darker, heavier sound that followed became a key part of Black Sabbath’s style. In 1968, he briefly left Sabbath’s early version, Earth, to join Jethro Tull. He soon returned, and in 1970 recorded the band’s debut album, Black Sabbath.
Friends, Fast Cars, and Film Offers
Iommi formed strong ties within the rock world. John Bonham of Led Zeppelin served as best man at his first wedding in the early 1970s. Iommi also had a passion for cars. Shortly after getting his license as a teenager, he crashed a sports car into trees but survived. Over time, he owned a Rolls-Royce, a Lamborghini, and a Maserati.
In 1984, he was nearly hired to create the soundtrack for the horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street. He read the script, met producers, and wrote a song. The deal fell through after a fee dispute, and the track later appeared as “Nightmare” on Sabbath’s 1987 album The Eternal Idol.
Solo Work and Lasting Presence
It was not until 2000 that Iommi released his first solo album, Iommi. He followed it in 2005 with Fused. One Sabbath record, Seventh Star, began as a solo project, but the label chose to release it under the band’s name.
During the mid-1980s, he was engaged to Lita Ford and co-produced her album The Bride Wore Black, which was never released. Iommi remains the only member of Black Sabbath to appear on every one of the band’s studio albums.
