Black Sabbath. The name itself conjures up images of sorcery and, well, black- magic. But in terms of music, Black Sabbath is one of the original groups to define a genre that was later called "'Heavy Metal." The droning guitar leads of Tony Iommi and the screaming lead vocals of Ozzy Osbourne made the original Sabbath lineup the model for most Heavy Metal bands that came after it. Songs like "Iron Man" and "War Pigs" have become anthems and, yes, classic examples of Heavy Metal at its most basic and heavy stage.

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"I guess he's happy 'cos he's got younger guys in the band now. He calls it 'new blood.' He says were hungry, and that gives him new energy."

----Eric Singer
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So it is that in 1986 we find Black-Sabbath, the band, still carrying on under the leadership of Iommi and the injection of fresh blood with the addition of veteran British singer Glenn Hughes and a new, young rhythm section of Dave "The Beast" Spitz on bass and former Clevelander Eric Singer on drums The "new" Black Sabbath lineup will make its Cleveland debut this Friday (March 21) night at Public Hall amidst all of the Rock And Roll Birthday festivities happening around town. "Tony wanted to do a solo Album," Eric Singer ' said by phone a few weeks hack. "Black Sabbath was sort of on a hiatus, and he asked the bass player and I if we'd like to work on some demos with him. We got to be friends, and then he asked me to play on the album. Eventually, he got Glen Hughes to sing on it and then decided to put it out as Black Sabbath album." The album, SEVENTH STAR, has the sound of vintage Sabbath (courtesy of Iommi who is an unmistakable guitar stylist) but with an energy that's been missing from recent Sabbath albums.

"I never knew Tony before," Singer explained, "but everyone who did tells me that he's real excited about the new lineup. He's a very quiet and shy person. He keeps things pretty much to himself. "I guess he's happy 'cos he's got younger guys in the band now. He calls it new blood.' He says we're hungry, and that gives him new energy." Strangely enough, Singer still finds the fact that he's the drummer in Black Sabbath totally amazing. Originally from Euclid, Singer played with various "original basement bands" like Taskmaster and Beau Coup before his divorce in late 1983 gave him a reason to head to L.A. and start a new life. "I kicked around the local club circuit and got into a local band," Singer said. "Eventually, I entered one of those Drum Battles that Carmine Appice sponsors. I took third in that, and some girl in the audience saw me. She was doing a video for Playboy called WOMEN OF ROCK' N ' ROLL, so I did a video for her. "From there, the guy who played bass in the video, Ray Marzano, used to play bass with Lita Ford, and he - mentioned that her drummer was going to be leaving and that she was going to need a drummer, But she didn't even know it at. the time 'cos she was over in England. "So what I did was learn all of the songs on her album, so when she came back he told her about me. She had a cattle call and auditioned a bunch of people, but I got the gig." (Lita Ford, at that time, was engaged to Tony Iommi. They have since broken off their engagement.) Singer, meanwhile, fit right into Iommi's plans for his new band, and though everything's going fine now, Singer admits that he never thought he'd someday be playing in Black Sabbath. "That's what's so weird about all of this," he explained. "I've always been heavily influenced by the hard rock and heavy metal stuff. I like to say 'hard rock 'cos I'm not really a hard-core metallist. "I grew up-on bands like that. Led Zeppelin's my favorite band of all. Deep Purple, Uriah Heep and Black Sabbath were also groups I listened to and enjoyed back then. "It's funny," he continued. "I remember going to see them at the Coliseum in '76 when Boston opened for them. I would've never thought.... "It's funny that you asked me that 'cos I was thinking about it the other day. I would've never thought that I'd end up playing in this band."