Bill Ward started to play drums as a child, listening to the
big bands of the 40's and his major influences were
Gene Krupa,
Buddy Rich and
Louie Bellson.[SUP]
[2][/SUP] Before the formation of Black Sabbath, Bill Ward and guitarist
Tony Iommi played in a band called
Mythology,[SUP]
[3][/SUP] and joined vocalist
Ozzy Osbourne and bassist
Geezer Butler, who had played in a band together called "Rare Breed".[SUP]
[4][/SUP]
Between 1969 and 1980, Ward played drums on every Sabbath album. He left the band to play in Max Havoc in August 1980 during a tour for the album
Heaven and Hell.[SUP]
[3][/SUP] He sat out one album (1981's
Mob Rules) before returning for 1983's
Born Again. He once again left the band following the recording of that album, because of ill health. Ward has said he cannot remember the recording of 1980's
Heaven and Hell due to his alcohol abuse.[SUP]
[5][/SUP] He was officially back in the band again in the summer of 1984, but the band did not record or tour then.
According to
Tony Iommi, he and the band would often set Ward's beard on fire and perform other harmful pranks on him. On one occasion, Ward even received third-degree burns.[SUP]
[6][/SUP] In an interview with Guitar World, Tony described it as follows: 'Bill and I were in the studio rehearsing one day and out of the blue I asked him, "May I set you on fire, Bill?" And he said, "Well, not now, not now." And then I forgot about it. Later on when the day ended, he said to me, "Well, I'm going home now; you still want to set me on fire or what?" And I said, "Sure." So I took a small can of lighter fluid and sprayed it on him, lit a match, and whoomph. He was wearing these polyester pants so they burned really quickly and he was on the floor screaming and crying. I could not help him because I was so busy laughing. It actually turned out to be quite serious. I felt really bad for him. He was sent to the hospital. Later on, his mother called me on the phone and said, "You barmy bastard, it's about time you grew up. Our Bill is going to have his leg off." But things like that always happened to Bill.'
Before the full Black Sabbath reunion, Ward and the original Sabbath had re-united twice for short sets, first for
Live Aid in 1985 and then at a
Costa Mesa, California Ozzy Osbourne show on 14 November 1992. Sabbath, with
Judas Priest singer
Rob Halford replacing
Ronnie James Dio who had recently left the band, opening the show for Osbourne. The Ozzy Osbourne band (Osbourne,
Zakk Wylde,
Mike Inez,
Randy Castillo and
John Sinclair) then did a full set before Osbourne was reunited with Iommi, Butler and Ward for four numbers.
Ward made a brief return to the band for a South American tour in 1994, before finally rejoining the band for the two shows at the Birmingham NEC, England on 4 and 5 December 1997, which made up the
Reunion album. When what was billed as the original line-up reunited for the
Ozzfest tour in 1997 Mike Bordin played drums. Ward then had to skip all but the last two band appearances in 1998 while he recovered from a
heart attack suffered during the tour rehearsals that May. As the band rehearsed, Ward stopped and asked if he could lie down for a spell. He then asked for his assistant and informed the band that his arm had gone numb. Iommi and Butler then left for a short time, not knowing that Ward had actually suffered a heart attack. Outside, they saw an ambulance pass but weren't aware what was happening. Upon returning to the rehearsal space a frantic Ozzy Osbourne informed them "Bill has had a heart attack! Bill has had a heart attack!"[SUP]
[7][/SUP] As was the case in 1980, he was replaced at short notice by
Vinny Appice, although this time it was always intended to be a temporary absence for Ward, health allowing. He was well enough to return for good in 1999 and had remained with Sabbath until 2012.
Since mid-2002, Ward has done a monthly internet only radio show named "Rock 50" on radio station WPMD from Cerritos College in California. Ward plays a variety of metal, hard rock, and some classic rock.[SUP]
[8][/SUP]
In October 2006 news leaked that Ward would be reuniting with
Tony Iommi,
Geezer Butler and
Ronnie James Dio for a tour though under the moniker
Heaven & Hell. However, Ward later decided not to participate in the tour or continue participation in the band because of musical differences with "a couple of the other bandmembers" and a reported concern about extended touring.[SUP]
[9][/SUP][SUP]
[10][/SUP]
On 11 November 2011, Iommi, Butler, Osbourne, and Ward announced that they were reuniting to record a new album with producer
Rick Rubin and to start touring in 2012.[SUP]
[11][/SUP] In February 2012, however, Ward left before work commenced on
13, the first studio recording to include original band members Iommi, Osbourne and Butler since the live album
Reunion (1998), which contained two new studio tracks. Ward said that he had failed to reach an agreement regarding his contract.[SUP]
[12][/SUP][SUP]
[13][/SUP][SUP]
[14][/SUP]
Ward has two sons, Nigel and Aaron, and one daughter, Emily. Ward maintains a
vegan diet.[SUP]
[15][/SUP]
