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Bill Ward (musician)

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This article is about the drummer and musician. For the actor, see Bill Ward (actor).
Bill Ward

Bill Ward (born William Ward, May 5, 1948, Birmingham, England), is the drummer for the British heavy metal band Black Sabbath.

Ward has dealt with alcoholism and drug abuse during his career, as well as severe depression. After leaving the band, Ward made three suicide attempts.

In addition to playing drums, Ward sang lead vocals for two Black Sabbath songs; "It's Alright" (from Technical Ecstasy), and "Swinging The Chain" (from Never Say Die!).

Ward's distinctive drumming often closely doubles the rhythms of the bass and guitar riffs, producing a powerful combined effect. An example of this is the song "Iron Man" off the Paranoid album. He is also characterized by playing quick drum rolls in between riffs and his powerful groove. ("Symptom of the Universe" is a good example of his unique style.)

Biography

Prior to the formation of Black Sabbath, Bill Ward and guitarist Tony Iommi played in a band called "Mythology", and joined vocalist Ozzy Osbourne and bassist Geezer Butler, who had played in a band together called "Rare Breed". Between 1970 and 1980, Ward played drums on every Sabbath album. He left the band for personal reasons in August 1980 during a tour for the album Heaven and Hell. He sat out one album (1981's Mob Rules) before returning for 1983's Born Again. He once again left the band following the recording of that album, due to ill-health. He was officially back in the band again in the summer of 1984, but the band did not record or tour then. Before the full-blown reunion, Bill Ward and the original Sabbath had re-united twice for short sets, firstly for Live Aid in 1985 and then at a Costa Mesa, CA Ozzy Osbourne show on November 15th, 1992. Sabbath, with ex-Judas Priest singer Rob Halford replacing the recently-departed Ronnie James Dio, opened the show for Ozzy in honor of it being his last show ever. Then the Ozzy Osbourne band (Ozzy, Zakk Wylde, Mike Inez, Randy Castillo and John Sinclair) did a full set before Ozzy was reunited with Tony, Geezer and Bill for four numbers. Ward made a brief return to the band for a South American tour in 1994, before finally rejoining the band for the two shows at the Birmingham NEC, England on December 4th and 5th 1997, which made up the 'Reunion' album. (When what was billed as the original line-up reunited for the Ozzfest tour in 1997 Mike Bordin played drums.) Ward then had to skip all but the last two band appearances in 1998 while he recovered from a heart-attack suffered during the tour rehearsals that May. As was the case in 1980, he was again replaced at short-notice by Vinny Appice, although this time it was always intended to be a temporary absence for Ward, health allowing. Thankfully he was well enough to return for good in 1999 and has remained with Sabbath ever since. In October 2006 news leaked that Ward would be reuniting with Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Ronnie James Dio for a tour though under the moniker 'Heaven and Hell', however, Ward later decided not to participate in the tour, but that he would participate in the tour and new album of the original Black Sabbath lineup in late 2007[1].

Discography

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

Trivia

  • Ward was reportedly given a hard time during his time with Black Sabbath. Apparently, when he would pass out from drinking too much, the other band members would strip him naked and throw him off the tour bus, sometimes handcuffing him to a lamppost. However, he always managed to get to the next venue, which to this day, the rest of the band have no idea how he managed. This took place most frequently during the later Ozzy-era tours. [citation needed]
  • Ward's beard was set ablaze twice by guitarist, Tony Iommi. The second incident, around the time the album Heaven and Hell was recorded, resulted in a trip to the hospital, where Iommi visited him and got shouted at by the nurse and Ward's wife and mother. [citation needed]
  • On the short-lived Comedy Central show TV Funhouse, there was a joke cartoon called "The Black Sabbath Show", making fun of rock band based cartoons, like the one with The Beatles, or The Jackson 5. In the cartoon, Bill is depicted as being completely incomprehensible, due to his constant drinking; he speaks in British-sounding gibberish.
  1. ^ Bill Ward not participating in Heaven and Hell
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