📍Aston, Birmingham B6, UK
1948 – 1968“Anthony Frank Iommi was born in Birmingham in February 1948, to a Catholic family of Italian origin, and grew up in Aston and Handsworth, the industrial heart of the city. His parents ran a corner shop in Park Lane, Aston, that was a gathering spot for the neighbourhood, and the family's living room doubled as the shop's stockroom; his mother ran the shop, and his father was a carpenter. It was a tough area, and Tony learned karate and boxing to look after himself. He was a big, quiet boy who loved music, especially the instrumental guitar of Hank Marvin and the Shadows, and he took up the guitar, playing left-handed. At Birchfield Road School, one of the boys in the year below was Ozzy Osbourne. He left school at fifteen and worked in factories while playing in local bands, and at seventeen, on what was supposed to be his last day at a sheet-metal factory before turning professional, a press came down on his right hand and cut off the tips of his middle and ring fingers. He thought he would never play again. Then a co-worker played him a record by Django Reinhardt, the Romani guitarist who played brilliantly with only two working fingers on his fretting hand, and Tony was inspired to try again. He made himself fingertips from melted plastic and leather, and tuned his guitar lower and used lighter strings to ease the pain, giving him a dark, heavy sound. In 1968 he formed the band that became Black Sabbath, and his riffs on Paranoid and Iron Man defined heavy metal. Birmingham has honoured Black Sabbath with a bridge and a bench on Broad Street.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today