Rock Music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music. Rock music also drew strongly on a number of other genres such as blues and folk, and incorporated influences from jazz, classical and other musical sources.

Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull)

Ian Scott Anderson (Ian Anderson), born 10 August 1947, is a Scottish singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his work as the leader of British rock band Jethro Tull. While a teenager, Anderson took a job as a sales assistant at Lewis' department store in Blackpool, then as a vendor on a newsstand. He later said it was reading copies of Melody Maker and the New Musical Express during his lunch breaks that gave him the inspiration to play in a band.

Bill Ward

William Thomas "Bill" Ward (Bill Ward), born 5 May 1948, Aston, Birmingham, England, is an English musician, best known as the original drummer for the British heavy metal band Black Sabbath. In addition to playing drums as an original founding member of the band, Ward sang lead vocals for two Black Sabbath songs; "It's Alright" from Technical Ecstasy and "Swinging the Chain" from Never Say Die!. He also coined the term "downer rock." Ward's drumming often closely doubled the bass and guitar riffs. An example of this is the song "Iron Man" on the Paranoid album.

Geezer Butler

Geezer Butler, born Terence Michael Joseph Butler on 17 July 1949 in Birmingham, England, is an English musician and songwriter. Butler is best known as the bassist and lyricist of heavy metal band Black Sabbath. He was also involved in Heaven & Hell from 2006 to 2010. Butler formed his first band, Rare Breed, with old friend John "Ozzy" Osbourne in the autumn of 1967. Separated for a time, Osbourne and Butler reunited in the blues foursome, Polka Tulk, along with guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward. They renamed their band Earth, but after finding a band in the small-time English circuit with the same name, soon adopted Black Sabbath in early 1969.

Tony Iommi

Anthony Frank "Tony" Iommi, born 19 February 1948, in Aston, Birmingham, England is an English guitarist and songwriter best known as the founding member of heavy metal–pioneer band Black Sabbath, and the sole constant band member through multiple personnel changes. Iommi is widely recognised as one of the most important and influential guitarists in heavy metal music. According to Allmusic, "Iommi is one of only two guitarists (the other being Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page) that can take full credit for pioneering the mammoth riffs of heavy metal."

Ozzy Osbourne

John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne, born December 3, 1948, is an English singer-songwriter and occasional actor, whose career has spanned over 40 years. As of December 2010, Ozzy Osbourne has sold over 100 million albums worldwide. Osbourne rose to prominence as lead vocalist of the pioneering English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, a band whose radically different, intentionally dark, doom sound spawned the heavy metal genre. In his subsequent solo career Osbourne achieved a multi-platinum status in addition to the one he had earned with Black Sabbath.