TONY MARTIN - "IT SEEMS THERE IS NOW A RECORD DEAL FOR MY ERA OF BLACK SABBATH ALBUMS"

Former Black Sabbath vocalist Tony Martin has checked in with the following update via his official Facebook page.

"So, I got a call from Tony Iommi's manager. It seems there is now a record deal for my era of Sabbath albums! It looks like a  re-issue is actually going to happen! There could be a LOT of 'Tony Martin' around this year! Sorry about that!"

Martin fronted Black Sabbath from 1987 - 1991, and again from 1993 - 1997. He recorded five studio albums with the band:  The Eternal Idol (1987), Headless Cross (1989), Tyr (1990), Cross Purposes (1994) and Forbidden (1995).

Martin recently guested on the Almost Human podcast, and during the discussion he confirmed rumours and reports that he recorded demo vocals for the band's 1992 album, Dehumanizer. It was Black Sabbath's first studio album in over a decade to feature vocalist Ronnie James Dio.

Martin: "They fired me (before the Dehumanizer recording sessions) which was a complete surprise. I didn't see that coming at all. I was just so shocked by that; I didn't know what to say, do or anything, but within weeks I was back. I got a call from Tony Iommi saying, 'This isn't going very well with Dio.' I said, 'Oh, really?' and he said, 'No, can you come back?' And I said, 'No. I can't come back. I've already started doing my solo stuff and I've moved on.'

A few months went by, and he called me again, and he said, 'Are you sure you can't come back? It's really not working.' So they invited me to go to the studio when they were recording the stuff, and I did try to get some melodies and stuff, but they were short of time, as usual. I did try; I just couldn't get anything that was gonna sound better than what they'd done (with Dio), and I have to make it sound like Tony Martin. There's no point in asking me to do it if you don't want me to sound like me. So at that point I was kind of thinking, 'I don't really wanna just keep copying people's stuff.' I did try and I did put some demos down, but I doubt very much... in fact, I'm 99%certain there's nothing left of (the recordings). I've got a couple of brief cassette copies of something I tried, but it's really horrible quality. It just reminds me of the day. I did give it a go, but I don't think I could do better than what they'd done."