Geoff Nicholls
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Geoff Nicholls is a musician and keyboardist, who is best known as the longtime sideman for the heavy metal band Black Sabbath. He was born in Birmingham, England.
Nicholls was originally considered to replace original bassist Geezer Butler in 1980, but he became the band's unofficial keyboardist after Butler decided not to leave the band. Nicholls' first appearance on a Black Sabbath album was on 1980's Heaven And Hell, and he has been credited as keyboardist on every Sabbath release since that time, although he was not an official member until 1986. He remained an official member until 1991, then regained member status from 1993 to 1996. He was an unofficial member once again since the reunion with Ozzy Osbourne in 1997. Although his main role with Sabbath has been on the keyboard Nicholls also played some rhythm guitar on the reunion tours, eg during Iommi's solo in Snowblind and a few tracks during the Headless Cross and Forbidden tours.
In addition to not always being credited as a full member of the band, Nicholls has rarely appeared on stage proper during Sabbath shows, instead usually playing from a side-stage or backstage position. One exception to this was the tour in support of the 1986 album Seventh Star, where he played on stage as an equal member of the band. Another is a concert in May 1988, where Nicholls played bass for a charity function.
Geoff Nicholls has also had an (uncredited) hand in writing many Black Sabbath songs since his involvement in the band, including a large portion of the Seventh Star and Tyr albums, and the famous bassline for the song "Heaven And Hell".
This long association with the band coupled with relative anonymity outside the band's followers has earned Nicholls a certain cult status with some fans, not least as he has always taken time to chat.
Nicholls' involvement with the band is currently on hiatus, as Adam Wakeman (a member of Ozzy Osbourne's solo band) was chosen to play keyboards during Sabbath's 2004 and 2005 tours as part of Ozzfest.
He is currently playing keyboards with former Black Sabbath singer Tony Martin.
