Geezer Butler

Categories: 1949 births | Members of Black Sabbath | Heavy metal bass guitarists | Vegans

Terence "Geezer" Butler (born 17 July, 1949 in Birmingham, England) is the long time bassist for the heavy metal band Black Sabbath. His full name is Terence Michael Joseph Butler.

Terence Michael Joseph Butler formed his first band, Rare Breed, with schoolmate John "Ozzy" Osbourne in the autumn of 1967. Separated for a time, Ozzy and Geezer 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.

The name Black Sabbath was borrowed from a song written by Butler, who got the name from the Boris Karloff film of the same name, at the time he was an avid follower of occultic novelist Dennis Wheatley. Although Ozzy was the focal point of the band, Butler wrote many of the band's lyrics, drawing heavily upon his fascination with the black arts to explore recurring themes of death and destruction.

During the latter half of the 1970s, Black Sabbath's popularity dwindled, and in 1979 Butler briefly left the band; his return to the lineup coincided with Osbourne's departure, although the group continued on with new frontman Ronnie James Dio. Butler again exited in the middle of 1984, forming the Geezer Butler Band before reuniting with Osbourne in 1987. Butler re-joined Black Sabbath for 1992's "Dehumanizer", but again quit the group two years later; after another fling with Osbourne, he formed G/Z/R, issuing "Plastic Planet" in 1995. The solo Black Science followed in 1997. Geezer returned to Sabbath one more time for the 1997 edition of Ozzfest, and has remained in the slot since.

He has been a vegetarian since he was eight years old and has been vegan for the past years.


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Solo albums


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External links

Geezer's Official Website

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