{"id":97778,"date":"2025-08-26T18:48:03","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T18:48:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/97778\/"},"modified":"2025-08-26T18:48:03","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T18:48:03","slug":"it-was-a-difficult-moment-to-be-hit-in-the-face-and-then-asked-to-sing-a-song-it-was-a-tragic-moment-for-me-how-a-singers-spell-in-black-sabbath-turned-into-a-nightmare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/97778\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIt was a difficult moment to be hit in the face and then asked to sing a song. It was a tragic moment for me\u201d: How a singer\u2019s spell in Black Sabbath turned into a nightmare"},"content":{"rendered":"

Glenn Hughes didn\u2019t plan on joining Black Sabbath<\/a>. It just sort of happened. And it turned into one of the biggest mistakes of his career.<\/p>\n

In 1985, Hughes was approached by an old friend \u2013 Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Iommi was working on a solo album, and told Hughes of his plan to feature an ensemble cast of famous vocalists across the album.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

Among the big names lined up were Judas Priest\u2019s Rob Halford and former Sabbath star Ronnie James Dio.<\/p>\n

But in the end, Hughes was the only singer featured on the album that Iommi named Seventh Star.<\/p>\n

In addition, what started out as a solo project eventually turned into a Black Sabbath album \u2013 albeit with the words \u2018featuring Tony Iommi\u2019 after the band\u2019s name.<\/p>\n

And for Hughes this strange episode ended abruptly and in disastrous fashion.<\/p>\n

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As Hughes now tells MusicRadar: \u201cI love Tony dearly, and working with him was interesting. But it was a difficult time for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

He adds, alluding to his drug addiction during that time: \u201cI look back on it now, and I\u2019m not the man today that I was back in the mid-\u201980s.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was in the early \u201970s that Hughes befriended Iommi.<\/p>\n

Hughes was from Cannock in the Midlands, less than 30 miles from Black Sabbath\u2019s hometown of Birmingham.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d known Tony from the very beginning,\u201d he says. \u201cSince [Sabbath\u2019s 1970 album] Paranoid. He was like family to me, and we grew up together in the UK.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hughes first made a name for himself as bassist and lead vocalist of power trio Trapeze.<\/p>\n

Trapeze – Medusa (1970) HQ – YouTube
\n\"Trapeze<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

He then joined Deep Purple, with whom he recorded three albums \u2013 Burn, Stormbringer and Come Taste The Band.<\/p>\n

But his career path was erratic due to his problems with drugs.<\/p>\n

In 1977 he made a soul-influenced solo album, Play Me Out, and in 1982 he starred on a cult classic hard rock record with guitarist Pat Thrall under the banner Hughes\/Thrall.<\/p>\n

Hughes says now that when Iommi reached out to him in 1985 there was never a discussion about him joining Black Sabbath.<\/p>\n

He recalls: \u201cAfter Purple finished, I was kind of done making that sort of grandiose rock music. And I say this with respect and reverence \u2013 I was never a Black Sabbath-type singer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not a metal artist at all. And when you listen to the songs on Seventh Star, they aren\u2019t Sabbath, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

He says of Iommi\u2019s offer: \u201cTony called me in 1985 to see if I was available to sing on a couple of songs \u2013 on a solo album with him. He told me that Ronnie James Dio and Rob Halford were gonna sing on a couple of songs each, and I was gonna sing on a couple of songs.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I went down to Cherokee Studios in Hollywood, and the first song we recorded was No Stranger To Love.<\/p>\n

“Tony and I wrote the song that night, and we recorded it that night. Then Tony said, \u2018Whoah, that was great! Can you come back tomorrow?\u2019 And so I came back the next night, and we did In For The Kill.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom that moment on, I think Tony realised: \u2018Glenn is writing a song with me every day. I think we can just continue.\u2019 So, he asked me if I\u2019d like to be the only singer on the album, and I said, \u2018Of course! No problem.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Seventh Star became a Black Sabbath album after Iommi was leaned on by the band\u2019s record label Warner Brothers and manager Don Arden, father of Sharon Osbourne.<\/p>\n

Hughes recalls: \u201cDon Arden said, \u2018Well, Warner Brothers thinks we should, for more ticket sales, call it \u2018Sabbath featuring Tony\u2019. Tony was not happy about that. And I, of course, had no say in the matter. So we had to go with what Warner Brothers and Don Arden wanted, really.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seventh Star was released in January 1986 and sold poorly.<\/p>\n

Hughes admits: \u201cHonestly, I haven\u2019t heard the album in decades, but people talk about it. Some of the riffs are quite heavy, but lyrically and melodically, I\u2019m not a metal singer. It really wasn\u2019t my cup of tea, as they say.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alongside Iommi and Hughes, the album featured bassist Dave \u2018The Beast\u2019 Spitz, keyboard player Geoff Nicholls and future Kiss drummer Eric Singer. This line-up began a US tour but after just a few dates Hughes was fired and replaced by American vocalist Ray Gillen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was difficult,\u201d Hughes says now. \u201cI had a problem, and got into a fight with the production manager the day before the tour started.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe hit me right in the face, and broke a bone in my nose, and consequently I had dried blood caked around my vocal cords, so I couldn\u2019t sing after three shows. It was impossible.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, looking back, that\u2019s kind of a horrifying thing for anyone to do. Regardless of if he hit me, or who said this, or who did what, it was a difficult moment for anybody to be hit in the face, and then asked to sing a song. So, it was a very tragic moment for me and Tony. But I can\u2019t change the way things were.”<\/p>\n

It was one of the lowest points in his career, but Hughes says has no regrets about it now.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll those things that happened to me in the mid \u201880s, they made me the man I am today,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m still here doing what I do. And with reverence and respect, I love Tony very much \u2013 and I love Black Sabbath. I have deep respect and love for all of that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Glenn Hughes didn\u2019t plan on joining Black Sabbath. It just sort of happened. And it turned into one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97779,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,136],"class_list":["post-97778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}