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to be held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, we’d also been offered a special one-off gig at a small venue in New York City for a fee of one million dollars, to be split equally among the four. Again, Tony refused. No excuse: he just didn’t want to do it, he said. Again, this wasn’t a catastrophe for us or the other guys. But it was odd. You don’t want to earn $250,000 for an hour’s work? More power to you.
    One week later, we found out why. Tony had got Sabbath back with Ronnie Dio.
    Even though Ozzy had been touring with Sabbath at the time, and I was in regular contact with Tony’s manager, nothing had been mentioned. But as Tony owned the Sabbath name, he could do whatever he wanted.
    So I’m like, OK, fine. Knock yourselves out. I asked for a meeting with Tony’s manager where I informed him that, if they went out with Ronnie Dio under the name Black Sabbath, I would sue. Given the band’s recent line-up, people would naturally assume that it was Ozzy they were paying to see on tour. After all, this was just days after Sabbath’s induction into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which had got global coverage.
    I also told him that I was going to sue for Ozzy’s portion of the name back. I was still handling Sabbath’s merchandising, and all offers that came in for licensing for any of the music came through my office.
    After everything they had been through, personally and professionally, nobody was man enough to turn around to Ozzy and say, ‘We want to go in another direction.’ They were acting like schoolboys, taking it back years, decades. Ozzy had a solo career, anyway. So why not be up front about it? Why not be respectful, out of courtesy if nothing else?
    To cut a long story short, Tony Iommi did the right thing. They did go out with Ronnie Dio, they did play and they made an album, but all under the name Heaven and Hell. Which was absolutely fine for everyone, and we wished them well and we all got on with our lives.
    Tragically, Ronnie Dio died of cancer in 2010. Although people imagined that we must have been at each other’s throats, nothing could have been further from the truth. There was nothing personal in this. We had no resentment against Ronnie Dio – none of it was his doing. But the truth is that, had they gone out under the Black Sabbath name, then the history of the band’s latest incarnation would never have happened.
    Back in early 2010 – way before Ronnie died – the managers of the four original members started talking about the band – Black Sabbath – doing an album. While they were all great musicians, in my view Ozzy had become the face of the band. Yes, I’m his wife and I absolutely idolise him but I’m also a businesswoman. I had spent the last twelve years building up Sabbath’s merchandising arm, monitoring the business. I knew their worth with Ozzy and without Ozzy. The reality was that Ozzy had a stable solo career. As it stood, if any of the band’s images were used, they would each get a twenty-five per cent cut, but if it was just the band’s name, it all went to Tony. This seemed odd to say the least.
    ‘We’re only doing the album if Ozzy gets back a share of the Black Sabbath name,’ I told Tony’s manager.
    Tony said no.
    ‘Right. Well then, in that case, we’re going to sue you.’
    I told Geezer and Bill that we were going to court to try and get back a slice of the band’s name, and asked them if they wanted to join us in the lawsuit. Politically it was a difficult situation for them. Geezer was still working with Tony. They had also asked Bill to be in Heaven and Hell but, for whatever reason, it hadn’t worked out. The upshot was that they both said no. So I lawyered up and set the ball rolling.
    Two months later, Tony moved to get the suit dismissed on the basis that it was ‘an effort to rewrite long-settled history’. This got thrown out of court.
    We settled in July 2010 with Ozzy owning his rightful portion of the