Tony Iommi

Anthony Frank Iommi Jr. (/ˌaɪˈoʊmiː/; born 19 February 1948) is an English musician. He co-founded the pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath in 1968, and was the guitarist, leader, main composer, and only constant member during the band's existence for over fifty years, playing guitar on all of their releases. He has been referred to as the "Godfather of Heavy Metal".

As a teen, Iommi lost the tips of his right-hand ring and middle fingers in a work accident at a sheet metal factory, which influenced his distinct playing style. He down-tuned his guitar and used more power chords (partly to make playing easier), and made much use of the tritone (or 'devil's interval'), resulting in a 'heavier' and 'darker' sound that became a hallmark of heavy metal. As well as Black Sabbath, he was briefly live guitarist for Jethro Tull in 1968. Iommi intended Seventh Star (1986) to be his first solo album, but the record label decided to release it under the Black Sabbath name. In 2000, he released his first official solo album Iommi, followed in 2005 by Fused, which featured former bandmate Glenn Hughes. In 2006 Iommi formed Heaven & Hell with former Black Sabbath bandmates. They released The Devil You Know (2009), before disbanding after the death of singer Ronnie James Dio in 2010.

Iommi is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rock guitarists of all time. He has won many awards, including three Grammy Awards and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Guitar Museum, and is honoured on the Birmingham Walk of Stars. In 2011, Iommi published his autobiography, entitled Iron Man: My Journey Through Heaven and Hell with Black Sabbath.

Iommi was born at Heathfield Road Maternity Hospital in Birmingham; he is the only child of Italian immigrants Sylvia Maria (née Valenti) from Palermo, Sicily, and Anthony Frank Iommi Sr. from Marche. Sylvia's family were vineyard owners in Italy. The family was Catholic, though they rarely attended Mass. Their family home in the Park Lane area of Aston also housed a shop which was a popular meeting place in the neighbourhood, with the living room doubling as the shop's stockroom. His mother ran the shop while his father was a carpenter by trade.

Born and raised in Handsworth, Birmingham, Iommi attended Birchfield Road School, where future bandmate Ozzy Osbourne was also a pupil one year behind him. At age eight or nine, while being chased by another boy, Iommi fell and cut his upper lip. As a result, he gained the nickname "Scarface", which made him self-conscious, so he eventually grew his trademark moustache as a means of covering the scar.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.