JAMES DIO, TONY IOMMI, GEEZER BUTLER,BILL WARD

Confirmed: RONNIE JAMES DIO, TONY IOMMI, GEEZER BUTLER And BILL WARD Reuniting Under The Moniker HEAVEN AND HELL; Planning 2007 Tour

BW&BK has received the following press release:

"The highly anticipated reunion of [b]RONNIE JAMES DIO, TONY IOMMI, GEEZER BUTLER And BILL WARD appears to be shaping up and taking a new form. After various promoters have approached their respective management, the guys have started taking all of this very seriously, as they have wanted to reunite for some time now.

It looks as if the new shape may be that of HEAVEN AND HELL. Yes, that's the moniker that the band is likely to use on their new venture.

If all goes well, Heaven And Hell should be hitting the road in early 2007."

Back in September, Rafabasa webzine in Madrid, Spain reported that the Heaven And Hell lineup were being offered up to the promoters of the most important heavy metal festivals taking place next year.

At that time, Rafabasa also stated that "if everything is confirmed, they will be playing a set consisting of music from every single CD that Ronnie James Dio performed with BLACK SABBATH, to include Heaven & Hell, Mob Rules, Live Evil and Dehumanizer."

During an August 16th, 2006 appearance on the US syndicated radio show Rockline, Dio talked about the possibility of further collaborations with Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi:

"We've already written one (new) song together. The reason for that is that there's a release coming out, it's called Black Sabbath: The Dio Years - they've already done one, of course, Black Sabbath: The Ozzy Years; that was the beginning and, really, the best part of it all - but they've decided to do one, again, Black Sabbath: The Dio Years, and we wanted to make it a little but more special, not just give you things you've not heard from a live perspective. These are two things you'll never hear again - two new songs. We are going to do that. It's been fun already. The one we've done - the one that I've done with Tony has been really wonderful - just great to realize how magnificent a player he was. You forget that after 10 years at a time that you don't work with someone. So we are gonna be doing that. And I hope you'll like it. I think it'll be great."

On the rumors of him possibly rejoining Black Sabbath, Dio said, "There's always rumors about everything - about a RAINBOW reunion, about a Black Sabbath reunion. Our purpose was to do this because we wanted to have this product be a bit more special than anything else - not just, 'Here's a live track you've never heard before.' I mean, that's cool, but I'm sure people have heard that. We wanted to do something a bit more special, so the whole band would write and play these songs, and… They've wanted to hear them long enough, so here they are. But it's not anything that we've talked about leading to anything other than that. No, it's for that project."

Stay tuned for further updates.