Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler Begins Work on Autobiography

Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler has begun work on a memoir. “I started out because when my parents died, I always wished I’d asked them a lot more things than I knew about,” he told Cleveland.com. “I don’t really know much about my mum and dad, ’cause they were always just there. So, I started writing a memoir for my grandkids to read, and that’s been fun going through stuff — old times and growing up in Birmingham, [England], and all that. I’m right in the middle of doing that at the moment.” He has not revealed a projected release date.

Butler, who originally played guitar, co-founded Black Sabbath in 1968 with vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, and Bill Ward. Beginning on the band’s 1970 self-titled debut, he also took on the role of the band’s primary lyricist. He stayed with the group through the mid-Eighties and has reunited with the band several times in the years since, including the group’s recent final tour, dubbed The End, which wrapped in 2017.

Osbourne was the first of the original band members to pen a memoir, releasing I Am Ozzy in 2010. Iommi released his, Iron Man, the following year. Rainbow in the Dark, a posthumously released autobiography by Ronnie James Dio, who replaced Osbourne in the band in 1979, will come out on July 27th, according to Blabbermouth.

In a recent interview with IndieLand, Butler reflected on his relationship with Dio. “We used to argue like husband and wife,” he said. “We would really go at it. And it’s hard to find people like that that you can really, really slag, and then the next day go and have a drink with them. It’s like being back in my family again, like the Irish family. Ronnie was totally outspoken. You always knew where you were with him, that’s for sure. And that we used to argue and stuff, and then make up and be best friends. And we were best friends when he passed away. I still go to his grave every year.”