Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi will be among 67 people given honours by the Princess Royal at an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle on Wednesday.
Iommi was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the King’s Birthday Honours earlier this year for services to music and charity. The 78-year-old musician, nicknamed The Godfather Of Heavy Metal, previously described the honour as “unbelievable”.
Black Sabbath’s founding and legacy
He co-founded Black Sabbath in the 1960s alongside the late Ozzy Osbourne, Terence “Geezer” Butler and Bill Ward. Iommi paid tribute to his “dear friend” Osbourne in July on the first anniversary of his death, adding: “I still can’t believe that he’s not with us.”
Osbourne, who died of a reported heart attack, had suffered from a string of health issues over the years, including multiple surgeries following a fall and being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
Born in Birmingham in 1948, Iommi almost did not pursue a career in music after being told he may never play again when he lost the tips of two fingers on his right hand during an industrial accident. But he later met drummer Ward and, in 1968, the pair formed a heavy blues rock band based in Birmingham – enlisting bassist Butler and frontman Osbourne to form what was then called Earth Blues Company.
The group later changed their name to Black Sabbath, and went on to sell millions of records over the next decade with tracks including Paranoid and War Pigs. Black Sabbath had many different line-ups throughout the years and achieved two UK number one albums, won four Grammy Awards and were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.
Career collaborations and charity work
Throughout his career, Iommi collaborated with artists including Dave Grohl, Ian Astbury, Peter Steele and Robbie Williams. He has also dedicated himself to humanitarian projects and advocated for charities including Macmillan Cancer Support, having been diagnosed with lymphoma in 2012 before revealing he was in remission in 2016.
Earlier this year, the star said he had auctioned one of his guitars and raised £53,000 for a new haematology and oncology centre at the Birmingham-based Heartlands Hospital Charity. Iommi is also passionate about animal welfare and is a patron for Vale Wildlife Hospital and Wythall Animal Sanctuary.
Art curator Ekow Eshun also honoured
Also receiving an honour on Wednesday is art curator Ekow Eshun, who chairs the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group which oversees the artworks that appear on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, central London. The 58-year-old was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to the arts.
Eshun became the first black editor of a major magazine in the UK when he took the position at Arena Magazine in 1997. He also became the first black director of a major arts organisation, the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, where he worked from 2005 to 2010. In recent years, Eshun has curated exhibitions for the Southbank Centre and National Portrait Gallery in London, focused on black artists and the black figure in contemporary art.
