Now that the late Ronnie James Dio has been given the loving, thunderous, picketed-by-lunatics sendoff that befits his legend, the man he replaced in Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, is suddenly okay with getting the band back together. Dio had been leading Heaven And Hell—a version of Black Sabbath that played songs from Dio's tenure with the group—until his death last week. But in a new interview with Rolling Stone, Osbourne propped the door open to a full-blown Sabbath reunion, saying, “I love those guys—Bill, Tony, and Geezer. I never say never anymore because you never know what's going to come around.”
This is a reversal for Osbourne, who as recently as last year denied that such a reunion would ever take place. In fact, he's still suing Sabbath guitarist and co-founder Tony Iommi over his continued use of the group's name after Osbourne was fired in 1979. Osbourne last fronted Sabbath for a performance of "Paranoid" during the band's induction into the UK Music Hall Of Fame in 2005.
Osbourne also had this to say about Dio: "You know, when anyone dies in this game, it's sad. I first knew about Ronnie Dio's sickness a few months back and I sent him a message, saying if there's anything we can do to help, please don't hesitate to call us. I wasn't a really big friend of Ronnie Dio. I've met him a few times over the years. But he was a great, great singer. It's a terrible loss. God bless you, Ronnie."