Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi Mourns Death of Dear Friend

By Stephen Andrew

Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi is mourning the death of a dear friend, and he recently took to social media to share a memorial message. In a post on Twitter, the iconic guitarist shared some photos and lamented the passing of Ernest Chapman, his "long-term manager." Iommi went on to shared that Chapman "very successful lawyer" and manager who "was a rock for me in a difficult time in my career." 

Many of Iommi's fans and followers have been showing their support to the heavy metal godfather, with one person tweeting to him, "I'm so sorry for this news, Tony. My thoughts and prayers go out to you, Ralph, and Ernest's family and friends." Someone else added, "Condolences and sympathies to you and all his friends and family." Notably, longtime rocker Graham Parker tweeted, "Very sorry to hear this. He managed me for a good few years. RIP,  Ernest, a very good man."

Sadly, the rock world has lost a number of classic musicians over the past few years, including Graeme Edge, the co-founder and drummer for the iconic rock band the Moody Blues. Edge died in November, at the age of 80. Moody Blues singer, Justin Hayward, memorialized his late bandmate in a Facebook post. "It's a very sad day," Hayward wrote. "Graeme's sound and personality is present in everything we did together and thankfully that will live on."

Hayward then went on to recall Edge's career with the classic group. "When Graeme told me he was retiring I knew that without him it couldn't be the Moody Blues anymore. And that's what happened. It's true to say that he kept the group together throughout all the years, because he loved it," he shared. "In the late 1960's we became the group that Graeme always wanted it to be, and he was called upon to be a poet as well as a drummer. He delivered that beautifully and brilliantly, while creating an atmosphere and setting that the music would never have achieved without his words. I asked Jeremy Irons to recreate them for our last tours together and it was absolutely magical."

The frontman continued, "Graeme, and his parents, were very kind to me when I first joined the group, and for the first two years, he and I either lived together, or next door to each other – and despite us having almost nothing in common, we had fun and laughs all the way, as well as making what was probably the best music of our lives. Graeme was one of the great characters of the music business and there will never be his like again." Hayward concluded his post by writing, "My sincerest condolences to his family."

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