Black Sabbath always felt “guided” by an other-worldly presence.
Tony Iommi
The ‘Paranoid’ rockers – Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward – felt “guided” by an unseen fifth member and were often subjected to strange coincidences.
Guitarist Tony said: “We always felt within the band that there was a fifth member.
“It sounds ridiculous now, but we always felt that there was somebody overlooking us and guiding us.
“We felt this presence when we were all together.
“It was one of those things we’d refer to as being the over-self or the fifth member, looking out for us.
“We were so close as a band, we lived in each other’s pockets from the start, that we became as one. This fifth member seemed very real and there to us.
“Things always seemed to happen to us that were quite weird.
“We’d be in the van, for example, and one of us would look out of the window and go, ‘Oh look, there’s a fish and chip shop over there’ and just as we’d say that, the lights would go out in the shop.
“There were just always strange things happening to us back then.”
Black Sabbath split in 2017 and 72-year-old Tony - who was diagnosed with cancer in 2012 - admitted he feels responsible for them going their separate ways because the group’s lifestyle was taking its toll on his health.
He told MOJO magazine: “Basically, it was probably my fault.
“We were having late nights and flying all the time.
“I can’t complain about that because we had great hotels and the best of everything but it was making me tired and when I spoke to my cancer professor, he said, ‘You shouldn’t be doing this to this extent.’ I started to worry constantly.
“I felt I had to draw the line somewhere because we couldn’t tour forever and then start writing a new album to tour again.
“We were getting to that age where it was just too much.
“I loved being with the band and doing gigs, but I hated the loneliness of the rest of it.
“When you get to the hotel and you’ve got a day off, you don’t know what to do because sometimes you can’t just go out because there are fans around or you just don’t feel like going out.
“It’s easy to get locked into your own little world.”
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