Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi Talks Dio Memories + Rejecting Eminem Collaboration – MI Conversation Series (Part 2)
Welcome to the second half of Black Sabbath legend Tony Iommi’s chat at the Musicians Institute. In this clip, Tony talks about his solo Iommi album, his late bandmate Ronnie James Dio and takes questions from the institute audience.
After recounting the factory accident that took two of his fingers off, Tony Iommi continued his Musicians Institute lecture with host Ryan J. Downey. We broke the news that Tony had once rejected a collaboration with Eminem for the guitarist’s 2000 Iommi album, but now you can hear it from the legend himself.
“We had a few people that applied to do it and one of them was Eminem. I hadn’t got the faintest idea who Eminem was, I’ve got to be honest,” Iommi admits. “That’s what happens when you get old, you see.” Iommi also revealed Kid Rock came by the studio to lay down a track, but the final product didn’t make the cut.
As for Ronnie James Dio, Iommi spoke about the iconic singer’s Black Sabbath audition. “When he started singing, bloody hell, I couldn’t believe what was coming out of his little body,” Iommi says. “His voice was so good. Up until that point, with Ozz, we hadn’t done much because we were all stoned and out of it and he was worse than us and he had lost interest in it. We needed something to happen otherwise we would have just broken up. We had to have somebody new come in, and it was Ronnie.”
Check out part two of Tony Iommi’s conversation at the Musicians Institute above. Also, be sure to check out the Musician's Institute on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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