Tony Martin

Anthony Philip Harford (born 19 April 1957), better known by his stage name Tony Martin, is an English heavy metal vocalist, best known for his time fronting Black Sabbath, initially from 1987 to 1991 and again from 1993 to 1997.

Martin was the band's second-longest-serving vocalist after Ozzy Osbourne.

He has since been involved in many other projects (such as M3, Misha Calvin, The Cage, Giuntini Project, and Phenomena).

Despite performing almost exclusively as a vocalist, Martin is a multi-instrumentalist, stating in an interview that he plays guitar, bass, drums, violin, keyboards, harmonica, bagpipes, and pan pipes.

The band drew criticism from activists and artists involved with Artists United Against Apartheid, who had been boycotting South Africa since 1985.

Bev Bevan refused to play the shows, and was replaced by Terry Chimes, formerly of The Clash.

During the recording of The Eternal Idol (1987), Martin was brought in to re-record Ray Gillen's tracks, alongside former Electric Light Orchestra drummer Bev Bevan who had previously been in Black Sabbath during 1983–84 on the Born Again tour.

Martin had been contacted by Black Sabbath to replace Glenn Hughes the year previous.

He secured his place in the band after a successful audition singing the track "The Shining".

Before the release of the new album, Black Sabbath accepted an offer to play six shows at Sun City, South Africa during the apartheid era.

During this period Geezer Butler was coerced into rejoining the band with Bev Bevan remaining on drums.

The band was supposed to play a music festival in Plymouth on 18 July, but Butler backed out at the last minute but Martin and Sabbath had been in rehearsals on 14–16 July in preparation.

After nearly a year in production, Martin's debut with Sabbath The Eternal Idol was released on 8 December 1987 and ignored by contemporary reviewers.

On-line internet era reviews were mixed.

AllMusic said that "Martin's powerful voice added new fire" to the band, and the album contained "some of Iommi's heaviest riffs in years".

The album would stall at No. 66 in the UK, peaking at 168 in the US.

Sabbath toured in support of Eternal Idol in Germany, Italy and for the first time, Greece.

Unfortunately, in part because of a backlash from promoters over the South Africa incident, other European shows were cancelled.

Bassist Dave Spitz left the band shortly before the tour, and was replaced by Jo Burt, formerly of Virginia Wolf.

Following the poor commercial performance of The Eternal Idol, Black Sabbath were dropped by Vertigo Records and Warner Bros. Records, and signed with I.R.S. Records.

The band took time off in 1988, returning in August to begin work on their next album.

As a result of the recording troubles with Eternal Idol, Tony Iommi opted to produce the band's next album himself.

"It was a completely new start", Iommi said.

"I had to rethink the whole thing, and decided that we needed to build up some credibility again".

Iommi enlisted ex-Rainbow drummer Cozy Powell, long-time keyboardist Geoff Nicholls and session bassist Laurence Cottle, and rented a "very cheap studio in England".

Black Sabbath released Headless Cross in April 1989, and this album was again ignored by contemporary reviewers.

Eventually, AllMusic would give the album four stars, calling Headless Cross "the finest non-Ozzy or Dio Black Sabbath album".

Anchored by the number 62 charting single "Headless Cross", the album reached number 31 on the UK charts, and number 115 in the US.

Queen guitarist Brian May, a good friend of Iommi's, played a guest solo on the song "When Death Calls".

Black Sabbath were told by Gloria Butler that Geezer was going to join the band again.

The band waited until April 1989 for Butler, but Geezer instead went and joined Ozzy Osbourne's band.

Following the album's release, the band added touring bassist Neil Murray, formerly of Whitesnake, Gary Moore's backing band, and Vow Wow.

The ill-fated Headless Cross U.S. tour began in May 1989 with openers Kingdom Come and Silent Rage, but because of poor ticket sales, the tour was cancelled after just eight shows in the US and two in Canada.

The European leg of the tour began in September, where the band were enjoying chart success.

After a string of Japanese shows, the band embarked on a 24 date Russian tour with Girlschool.

Black Sabbath was one of the first bands to tour the USSR, after Mikhail Gorbachev opened the country to western acts for the first time in 1989.

Tony Martin returned to the studio with Black Sabbath in February 1990 to record Tyr, the follow-up to Headless Cross.

While not technically a concept album, some of the album's lyrical themes are loosely based on Norse mythology.

Tyr was released on 6 August 1990, and reached number 24 on the UK albums chart, but was the first Black Sabbath release not to break the Billboard 200 in the US.

On his 2005 solo album Scream, Martin performed vocals, bass, drums, violin and additional guitar parts.