Bill Ward

**William Thomas Ward** (born 5 May 1948) is an English musician and visual artist. He is best known as the original drummer of the British heavy metal band Black Sabbath. 

He also performed lead vocals on two Black Sabbath songs: "It's Alright" from the album *Never Say Die!*.

## Biography
### Early years and Black Sabbath
Bill Ward started to play drums as a child. He listened to the big bands of the 1940s. His major influences were Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich and Louie Bellson. 
Later he was influenced by drummers such as Larrie Londin, Bernard Purdie, Joe Morello, Keef Hartley, Hughie Flint, John Bonham, Ringo Starr, Jim Capaldi and Clive Bunker. 
In the mid-1960s, Ward sang and played drums in a band called The Rest. 
Ward and guitarist Tony Iommi played together in a band called Mythology. 
After Mythology disbanded, he and Iommi joined vocalist Ozzy Osbourne and bassist Geezer Butler to form a new band called Earth. The quickly renamed the band Black Saabbath due to another local band being called Earth.

In the 1970s, Ward's drug and alcohol use became a problem. By the late 1970s he was drinking during gigs, something he had never done before. 
According to Black Sabbath bandmate Iommi, Ward disappeared on 21 August 1980, without saying goodbye, other than a telephone call to then-Black Sabbath vocalist Ronnie James Dio informing him "I'm off then, Ron." He then briefly played in a band called Max Havoc.

### Pranks
According to Iommi, he and the band would often set Ward's beard on fire and perform other harmful pranks on him. On one occasion, Ward received third-degree burns. In 1980, during the recording of *Heaven and Hell*, Iommi doused Ward with a solution used by studio technicians to clean the tape heads.

### Brief reunion with Black Sabbath
In October 2006, news leaked that Ward would be reuniting with Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Ronnie James Dio for a tour under the band name Heaven & Hell. However, Ward later decided not to participate in the tour or continue participation in the band because of musical differences with "a couple of the other band members" and a concern about extended touring.

On 11 November 2011, Iommi, Butler, Osbourne, and Ward announced that they were reuniting to record a new album with producer Rick Rubin and to start touring in 2012. In February 2012, however, Ward left before work commenced on *13*. Ward said that he had failed to reach an agreement regarding his contract.

 However, he did later admit that his weight would have been an issue in a 2013 tour. Osbourne also suggested in an open letter that Ward's decision not to take part was down to his health. In April 2015, Ward criticised Osbourne on his Facebook fan page via a letter to his and the band's fans. Which prompted a rebuttal from Osbourne on his Facebook page: This delayed his third studio album *Accountable Beasts*.  He had also expressed a desire to tour behind the album once it is released, provided that sales were acceptable.

Ward says he has "lost a friend" in Osbourne, but maintains contact with Butler and Iommi; if they could "come to some terms", if Ozzy would make amends for statements he made in 2012 and 2013, he would rejoin Black Sabbath.

Ward reunited with Sabbath members Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler to accept the "Lifetime Achievement" award at the May 2015 Ivor Novello Awards.

In 2016, Ward debuted with a new band called "Day of Errors", which played its first gig in June that year at Gaslamp in Long Beach, California and also features Joe Amodea on guitar/vocals and Kill Devil Hill singer Jason “Dewey” Bragg on vocals.

Ward was due to play a string of dates with his new band in December 2017 but had to cancel these when he was hospitalised with heart problems in November.

He once again reunited with Iommi and Butler in Los Angeles in May 2019, as Black Sabbath were awarded a Lifetime Achievement Grammy. Though Sabbath did not perform, Rival Sons performed a set of their songs for the occasion.  A short time later Osbourne said in an interview that he wants to play one last show with the band's original lineup. Ward announced 3 weeks later on his instagram that he loved all 3 of his former Black Sabbath bandmates very much and was open-minded to playing a very last show with them.

## Personal life
Ward has two sons, Nigel and Aron, and one daughter, Emily. 

According to his Black Sabbath bandmates Tony Iommi and Ozzy Osbourne, Ward has dramatically changed his lifestyle since Black Sabbath's 1970s and early 80s heyday. Iommi says he quit smoking, gave up alcohol, adopted a vegan diet, and no longer uses drugs of any kind. However, more recently Osbourne has criticised Ward's health, describing him in 2013 as "incredibly overweight" and suggesting that he would have been unable to drum for Black Sabbath had he stayed in the band following their 2011 reunion, given his physical condition, although Ward himself has insisted his health has not affected his ability to play the drums.

Ward later admitted he underwent gastrointestinal surgery in 2013, and is still recovering. "My health right now is not bad but it's not good enough to certainly play in any band never mind Black Sabbath."

## Equipment
Ward uses Tama drums, Sabian cymbals, Vic Firth drumsticks and Gibraltar hardware.

'*Tama *Imperialstar* drums**
# 15"x13" Tom
# 16"x16" Floor Tom
# 18"x16" Floor Tom
# 14"x8" Snare Drum
# 14"x5" Snare Drum
# 26"x14" Bass Drum
# 26"x14" Bass Drum
# 20"x14" Gong Drum

***AA* and *Hand Hammered* Sabian cymbals*'
# 14" AA Rock Hats
# 10" AA Mini Hats
# 20" AA Medium Crash
# 29" AA China (custom)
# 22" Hand Hammered Raw Bell Dry Ride
# 14" Hand Hammered Sizzle Hats
# 22" Hand Hammered Medium Crash
# 14" Hand Hammered Mini China
# 22" Hand Hammered Power Ride
# 21" Hand Hammered Medium Crash

## Discography
### 1970s
* 1970 – Black Sabbath – *Black Sabbath*
* 1970 – Black Sabbath – *Paranoid*
* 1971 – Black Sabbath – *Master of Reality*
* 1972 – Black Sabbath – *Vol. 4*
* 1973 – Black Sabbath – *Sabbath Bloody Sabbath*
* 1975 – Black Sabbath – *Sabotage*
* 1975 – Black Sabbath – ''We Sold Our Soul for Rock 'n' Roll*
* 1976 – Black Sabbath – *Technical Ecstasy*
* 1978 – Black Sabbath – *Never Say Die!*

### 1980s
* 1980 – Black Sabbath – *Heaven and Hell*
* 1980 – Black Sabbath – *Live at Last*
* 1983 – Black Sabbath – *Born Again*
* 1983 – The Mezmerist – *The Innocent, The Forsaken, The Guilty* (demo)

### 1990s
* 1990 – Bill Ward – *Ward One: Along the Way*
* 1993 – Ozzy Osbourne – *Live & Loud*
* 1994 – *Nativity in Black: A Tribute to Black Sabbath*
* 1997 – Bill Ward – *When the Bough Breaks*
* 1997 – Ozzy Osbourne – *The Ozzman Cometh*
* 1998 – Black Sabbath – *Reunion*

### 2000s
* 2000 – Tony Iommi – *Iommi*
* 2002 – Black Sabbath – *Past Lives*
* 2002 – Bill Ward – "Straws" (single)
* 2002 – Black Sabbath – *Symptom of the Universe: The Original Black Sabbath 1970–1978*
* 2003 – Dio – *Stand Up and Shout: The Dio Anthology*
* 2004 – Black Sabbath – *Black Box: The Complete Original Black Sabbath (1970–1978)*
* 2006 – Black Sabbath – *Greatest Hits 1970–1978*
* 2007 – Black Sabbath – *Black Sabbath: The Dio Years*
* 2008 – Black Sabbath – *The Rules of Hell* (Disc 1: *Heaven and Hell*)

### 2010s
* 2015 – Bill Ward – *Accountable Beasts''

## References
## Other websites
* 
* February '09 Bill Ward Interview with Jarrod Dicker