Geezer Butler

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Terence Michael Joseph "Geezer" Butler (born 17 July, 1949 in Aston, Birmingham, England) is the long time bassist for the hard rock band Black Sabbath. His nickname supposedly arises from his habit as a teenager of referring to everyone as "Geezer".

Geezer formed his first band, Rare Breed, with schoolmate John "Ozzy" Osbourne in the autumn of 1967. Separated for a time, Ozzy and Geezer reunited in the blues foursome, Polka Tulk, along with Guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward. They renamed their band Earth, but after finding a band in the small-time English circuit with the same name, soon adopted Black Sabbath in early 1969.

Butler played rhythm guitar in his pre-Sabbath days, including with Rare Breed, but when Sabbath was formed, Iommi made it clear that he wouldn't want to play with another guitarist, so Geezer moved to bass.

The name Black Sabbath was borrowed from a song written by Butler, who got the name from the Boris Karloff film of the same name, at the time he was an avid follower of occultic novelist Dennis Wheatley. Although Ozzy was the focal point of the band, Butler wrote most of the band's lyrics, drawing heavily upon his fascination with the black arts to explore recurring themes of death and destruction.

During the latter half of the 1970s, Black Sabbath's popularity dwindled, although the group continued on with new frontman Ronnie James Dio. Butler quit the band in the middle of 1984, forming the Geezer Butler Band before reuniting with Osbourne in 1987. Butler re-joined Black Sabbath for 1992's "Dehumanizer", but again quit the group two years later after the Cross Purposes album; after another fling with Osbourne, he formed G/Z/R, issuing "Plastic Planet" in 1995. The solo Black Science followed in 1997. Geezer returned to Sabbath one more time for the 1997 edition of Ozzfest, and has remained in the slot since.