Tony Iommi
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"Anthony Frank "Tony" Iommi" is an English guitarist, songwriter and producer. Best known as lead guitarist and founding member of the pioneering Heavy metal music/heavy metal band Black Sabbath, he has been the band's sole continual member and primary composer.

While working in a factory as a teenager, Iommi lost the tips of two of his fingers in an accident, an event which crucially affected his playing style. Iommi briefly left Black Sabbath (then known as 'Earth') in 1968 to join Jethro Tull (band)/Jethro Tull, after which he returned to Black Sabbath. In 2000, he released his first solo album Iommi (album)/Iommi, followed by 2005's Fused (album)/Fused, which featured his former bandmate Glenn Hughes. After releasing Fused, he joined Heaven & Hell (band)/Heaven & Hell, which disbanded after Ronnie James Dio's death in 2010.

Iommi is widely considered one of the most influential rock guitarists of all time. A prolific Riff/riff-maker, he was ranked number 25 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

In 2011, he published his autobiography, entitled Iron Man: My Journey through Heaven and Hell with Black Sabbath.

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I'm really looking forward to playing onstage with these guys, ... Kenny and Glenn have lots of enthusiasm and they certainly push me when we're all playing together, which is great.

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We got fed up with, as soon as you mentioned Sabbath, the gloom and doom. I just wanted a lighter side of it to be looked on.

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I've waited around a long time to do a Sabbath album ... and I've got a lot of music to put out and I just want to do it.

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My early influences were the Shadows, who were an English instrumental band. They basically got me into playing and later on I got into blues and jazz players. I liked Clapton when he was with John Mayall. I really liked that period.

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When I started writing Sabbath stuff it was just something that sounded right. I didn't think I was going to make it Devil music.

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I was mostly surprised by the rap artists, actually, that were influenced by Sabbath. That was a surprise. But it's very nice and I'm very honored. It's nice to know after 27 years now that what I said in the first place has stuck, and that was the belief in it.

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