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Noteworthy Then

4/25/1980 Black Sabbath releases Heaven and Hell

 

Black Sabbath's ninth studio album, Heaven and Hell, dropped on this day in 1980. It was the first Sabbath album to feature Ronnie James Dio as lead singer. Album sessions had begun with Ozzy Osbourne, but disputes over the direction the band and album should take led to a falling out between Osbourne and the others. Drummer Biill Ward would also exit the group not long after the release. Dio initially stepped in as singer and bassist because Geezer Butler was in the midst of a divorce. Butler returned, allowing Dio to give his full energy and attention to being the lead singer. Dio would later claim that his arrival made a "floundering band" one that "pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps, cared a lot about each other, and knew we could do it again."

 

1928 Fiddle great Vassar Clements born.

1923 Blues legend Albert King born.

1945 Creedence Clearwater Revival bassist Stu Cook born.

1969 Moody Blues release On The Threshold Of A Dream.

1974 Allman Brothers Band springs a surprise gig when all band members come out for encore during Gregg Allman's solo tour concert finale in Cincinnati.

1974 Jim Morrison’s wife Pamela dies of a drug overdose.

1975 Doobie Brothers release Stampede.

1979 Rock & Roll High School movie featuring the Ramones premiers.

1981 Denny Laine, a co-founder of both the Moody Blues and Paul McCartney's Wings leaves that group, which subsequently disbands.

1990 A high bid of $295,000 wins the auction for the guitar Jimi Hendrix played the Star Spangled Banner on at Woodstock.

1993 The Grateful Dead pay the medical costs for a liver transplant for Stanley Mouse, the artist that created the group's skull and roses logo.

1993 John Mellencamp, Neil Young, Bryan Adams play Farm Aid 6 in Ames, Iowa.'

1994 The Eagles record their first concert that songs the Hell freezes Over album came from.

1997 U2 opens Pop Mart tour.

2000 Neil Young releases Silver & Gold.

2004 Billy Joel crashes car into a house on Long Island.

2005 Bruce Springsteen opens Devils & Dust tour in Detroit.

2006 Bruce Springsteen releases The Seeger Sessions.

2008 Phil Collins announces he will no longer tour due to medical condition.

2015 Heart's Ann Wilson marries Dean Wetter in Topanga Canyon ceremony.