Veteran rocker Glenn Hughes has reflected on his brief and unexpected tenure as the frontman for Black Sabbath, a role he says he was misled into taking. In a new interview with The Metal Voice, the former Deep Purple member revealed that the project, which became Black Sabbath‘s 1986 album Seventh Star, was originally intended to be a solo album for guitarist Tony Iommi.
Hughes explained that his involvement came from a request by Iommi, one of his closest friends. “Tony‘s one of my best friends ever, and he asked me to come in and sing,” Hughes recalled. He went into the project under the impression that it would be a solo effort and that no touring would be involved. Furthermore, he was focused solely on vocals, a departure from his usual role as both a singer and bassist.
The situation changed when the band’s management decided to market the album as a Black Sabbath release. “I found myself now in Black Sabbath, because the manager wanted to call it ‘Black Sabbath,'” Hughes said. This new direction forced him into an unfamiliar and uncomfortable position.
Hughes found himself fronting a band and being expected to perform songs originally sung by Ozzy Osbourne and Ronnie James Dio, a task he wasn’t prepared for, especially without a bass in his hands. “And now I’m fronting the band, having to play and sing Ozzy songs, God rest in peace, and my friend Ronnie [James Dio],” he explained. “It was the first time without the bass guitar. If you see me in the last 30 years, I can do either bass or singing, either easy. But back then, it wasn’t the right thing for me to do. I was just doing something that I was asked to do.”
Hughes‘s stint with the band was short-lived, lasting for only a handful of shows in 1986 before he was replaced by Ray Gillen.
