The band worked at Morgan for a total of four months, split into three-week sessions. The album was recorded at Morgan Studios in Willesden, north-west London, a state-of-the-art facility where Sabbath had made their previous album, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Geezer Butler sums up the band’s state of mind during this period in four words: “Concerned, tired, drunk, stoned.” Such was the managerial turmoil surrounding Black Sabbath that it took them almost a year to complete the recording of Sabotage. But Meehan was not going to give up one of the biggest rock bands in the world without a fight. Shortly after their return from California Jam, the band notified Meehan of their decision to end their contract with Worldwide Artists.

Osbourne complained: “Patrick Meehan never gave you a straight answer when you asked him how much dough you were making.” Butler said, more bluntly: “We felt we were being ripped off.” Moreover, Black Sabbath had grown suspicious of Meehan. We said no, but we were eventually forced into doing it.” We were in England, having just returned from the tour, when our manament called us all and said we had to go back out to do the California Jam. As Butler says: “We wanted to take a break after Tony collapsed with exhaustion on the Sabbath Bloody Sabbath tour. By 1974 the band had all the trappings of success, the country houses and flash cars.īut after four years on a continual cycle of touring and recording, they were running on empty. The three albums that followed Paranoid – Master Of Reality in 1971, Vol.4 in 1972, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath in 1973 – all hit the UK Top 10 and the US Top 20. With Meehan at the helm, Black Sabbath became a genuine international success. “In the early days,” Iommi said, “he really got things going. Once installed as Sabbath’s manager, Meehan delivered on his promises. The band were impressed by his global business plan, symbolised by his company’s name, Worldwide Artists, and by his go-getter attitude. In Osbourne’s opinion: “overwhelmed”.Įnter Meehan, a former assistant to the self-styled ‘Mr Big’ of rock’n’roll managers, Don Arden. But as their popularity rapidly escalated, there was a feeling within the band that Simpson was a little out of his depth. Their first album, Black Sabbath, had reached the UK Top 10 their second, Paranoid, went to No.1. The band had already made significant progress by this point, under the guidance of their first manager, Jim Simpson, a club promoter in Sabbath’s native Birmingham.

Jorn Lande who sang live once on the Heaven & Hell Tribute Gig in 2010.It was in 1970 that Patrick Meehan was appointed manager of Black Sabbath.

Shannon Larkin who played drums live just one time – Jul 1, 1997.

Gordon Copley on the Seventh Star album.

Rick Wakeman on the Sabbath Bloody Sabbath album.

He also made an appearance on Rockline with Black Sabbath on Nov 16, 1992, so I’m putting him in “member” status. However, he did play a handful of gigs on three different dates. One could argue the point that Rob Halford doesn’t qualify for member status, and should be lumped in with this group. A single guest appearance on an album/track is just a guest appearance. However, in my opinion, if you played on an entire album, or was with the band on tour, then you count. I know a few guys on my list wouldn’t make the cut with some other people.

What makes a “band member” is always open to intrepretation. This is also my favourite page I’ve done on the web site. This page details all the changes in band lineups over the years, and there have been many! THIS PAGE IS EXTREMELY GRAPHICS INTENSIVE and may take some time to load on your browser, but it is well worth it, in my opinion. If you want proof of that, check out my Timeline page. No discrimination on band members here! The Timeline Important though they are, they are not the only part of the band’s history. Most Black Sabbath sites only seem to mention the Ozzy Osbourne years, probably the Dio Years, and everything else, maybe a paragraph, if at all. I have the people broken down into two main groupings, as listed below.

This section of the site details the various people who have been in the band. That’s too bad, because there’s a lot of music that’s extremely good in the intervening years of the band before Ozzy returned in the late 90’s. Some folks think the band died in 1979 when Ozzy was fired. There have been many people in Black Sabbath over the 40+ years of the band’s history. The last lineup change was in November 2011.

Black sabbath stand