The departure of Ozzy Osbourne marked the end of Black Sabbath’s classic lineup, leaving both sides to rebuild. Osbourne had to establish himself as a solo artist, while Tony Iommi and the remaining members of Sabbath needed a new singer to lead them into the band’s next chapter.
Osbourne found his answer in Randy Rhoads, a young guitarist he hired after bassist Bob Daisley had a premonition that Rhoads would lead the group to greatness.
Sabbath, meanwhile, recruited Ronnie James Dio, the diminutive powerhouse vocalist who had recently left Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow. After the two crossed paths at L.A.’s Rainbow Bar and Grill, Iommi and Dio clicked immediately. At their first jam session, they wrote “Children of the Sea,” a key track on 1980’s Heaven and Hell, Sabbath’s first album without Osbourne.
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Winning over Osbourne’s devoted fans was never going to be easy, but Dio helped Sabbath reach its highest chart position since 1975’s Sabotage. Only the band’s blockbuster catalog albums Paranoid and Master of Reality had charted higher.
Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham was among those impressed by what Dio brought to Sabbath. Bonham, who had served as Iommi’s best man when the guitarist married Susan Snowden in 1973, was known for speaking his mind. But a compliment he intended for Dio came out badly enough that Iommi had to step in to prevent a confrontation.
“Yeah, there was some kind of a word,” Iommi recalled when discussing the incident with comedian Bill Burr in 2011. “John came to the gig when we played at Hammersmith in London. And we were going to go out after the show to a bar.”
According to a Black Sabbath fan site, the band played four consecutive nights at London’s Hammersmith Odeon from May 7 to 10, 1980, with Girlschool supporting. It’s unclear which performance Bonham attended, but it was during that London run that his comment sparked trouble.
“John’s drinking on the side of the stage, drinking Guinness,” Iommi recalled. “We came offstage, and as we walked past John, John said to me, ‘Oh, man, he’s got a great voice for a midget.’ And, of course, Ronnie heard that, and he didn’t really like that.
“He actually meant, ‘What a little body, and he’s got a big voice!’” Iommi explained. “But the way he said it…
“Of course, Ronnie popped up and… I won’t repeat what he said. They were gonna fight.”
Iommi found himself caught between the two men and managed to defuse the situation, telling them to “just get along.” Bonham would die just months later, on September 25, 1980, from alcohol-related causes.
