Heaven and Hell is a musical collaboration featuring Black Sabbath members Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler along with former members Ronnie James Dio and Vinny Appice. The four members of Heaven and Hell recorded and toured together as Black Sabbath from 1980-1982 and again from 1991-1992. In 2006, while the foursome reunited to record three new songs for the compilation album, Black Sabbath: The Dio Years, they decided to embark on a 2007 - 2008 tour. This was facilitated by the fact that current/founding Black Sabbath vocalist Ozzy Osbourne was slated to perform a solo tour during that time frame.
Because of the projected continuation of the band's original lineup (Iommi, Butler, Osbourne and Bill Ward) and the 2006 induction of the original lineup into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Iommi (owner of the Black Sabbath name) decided to call the touring group Heaven and Hell. The moniker was taken from the first Dio-fronted Black Sabbath recording, Heaven and Hell.
History Formation In an October 2005 interview with the program "Masters of Rock", aired on BBC Radio 2, Ronnie James Dio revealed the fact that he would be writing with Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi once again. Dio mentioned that two songs would be penned, and were to feature on a "project" entitled Black Sabbath - The Dio Years. Iommi, the owner of the Black Sabbath name, chose to call the collaboration "Heaven and Hell" so as to distance the group from the Osbourne-fronted Black Sabbath.
Ward's departure Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward (who performed on the 1980 Heaven and Hell album and the first half of the tour) declined to be band's drummer before they recorded three new tracks. Ward's departure made way for a reunion of the other Dio-fronted Black Sabbath line-up which included journeyman drummer Vinny Appice. It was Appice who replaced Ward midway through the original Heaven and Hell tour in 1980 and remained the Black Sabbath drummer for two years coinciding with Dio's tenure in the band from 1980-1982 and again when Dio reunited with the band in 1991 and 1992 (he also backed the Osbourne-led version of the group briefly in 1998).
Source: http://www.absoluteradio.co.uk/music/artists/heaven_and_hell/biography/
