William Thomas "Bill" Ward is an English musician, best known as the original drummer for the British heavy metal band Black Sabbath. An original founding member of the band, Ward also performed as lead vocalist on two Black Sabbath songs; "It's Alright" from the album Technical Ecstasy and "Swinging the Chain" from the album "Never Say Die!".
Background
Bill Ward started to play drums as a child, listening to the big bands of the 40's and his major influences were Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich and Louie Bellson.
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.
Ward uses Tama drums, Sabian cymbals, Vic Firth drumsticks and Gibraltar hardware.
Ward maintains a vegan diet.
Ward has dramatically changed his lifestyle since Black Sabbath's 1970s and early 80s heyday: he quit smoking, gave up alcohol, and no longer uses drugs of any kind.
Ward has been sober for approximately 30 years.
Career
In the mid-1960s Ward sang and played drums in a band called The Rest. Before the formation of Black Sabbath, Bill Ward and guitarist Tony Iommi played in a band called Mythology, and joined vocalist Ozzy Osbourne and bassist Geezer Butler, who had played in a band together called "Rare Breed". Between 1970 and 1980, Ward played drums on every Sabbath album.
By 1980's Heaven and Hell Ward was drinking during gigs, something he had never done before. Ward disappeared on August 21, 1980, without saying goodbye.
He then briefly played in a band called Max Havoc. He sat out one album (1981's "Mob Rules") before returning to Black Sabbath for 1983's "Born Again" album. He once again left the band for health reasons prior to touring in support of "Born Again". Ward has said he cannot remember the recording of 1980's "Heaven and Hell" due to his alcohol abuse. He again rejoined Black Sabbath in the mid-1980s, though the band did not record or tour during this period.
Before the full Black Sabbath reunion, Ward and the original Sabbath had re-united twice for short sets, first for Live Aid in 1985 and then at a Costa Mesa, California Ozzy Osbourne show on 14 November 1992. Sabbath, with Judas Priest singer Rob Halford replacing Ronnie James Dio who had recently left the band, opening the show for Osbourne. The Ozzy Osbourne band (Osbourne, Zakk Wylde, Mike Inez, Randy Castillo and John Sinclair) then did a full set before Osbourne was reunited with Iommi, Butler and Ward for four numbers.
Ward made a brief return to the band for a South American tour in 1994, before finally rejoining the band for the two shows at the Birmingham NEC, England on 4 and 5 December 1997, which made up the Reunion album.
Since mid-2002, Ward has done a monthly internet only radio show named "Rock 50" on radio station WPMD from Cerritos College in California. Ward plays a variety of metal, hard rock, and some classic rock.
In October 2006 news leaked that Ward would be reuniting with Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Ronnie James Dio for a tour though under the moniker 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 bandmembers" and a reported concern about extended touring.
In August 2013, Ward revealed that he would soon be heading into the studios to finish mixing his third solo album, to be titled Accountable Beasts. He also expressed a desire to tour behind the album once it is released, provided that sales are acceptable.