Geoff Nicholls had the distinction of being the one musician who was a constant throughout the '80s and '90s versions of Black Sabbath.

Aside from Tony Iommi, of course.

RIP Geoff Nicholls

Former BLACK SABBATH Keyboardist GEOFF NICHOLLS Dies After Battle With Lung Cancer

January 28, 2017

Former BLACK SABBATH keyboardist Geoff Nicholls died this morning after a long battle with lung cancer. He was 68 years old.

Nicholls's passing was confirmed by SABBATH guitarist Tony Iommi, who wrote about his former bandmate: "I'm so saddened to hear the loss of one of my dearest and closest friends Geoff Nicholls. He's been suffering for a while now with lung cancer and he lost his battle this morning. Geoff and I have always been very close and he has been a real true friend to me and supported me all the way for nearly 40 years. I will miss him dearly and he will live in my heart until we meet again. Rest in peace, my dear friend."

Added SABBATH bassist Geezer Butler: "Very sad to hear of old friend and SABBATH keyboard player Geoff Nicholls passing. RIP Geoff."

Nicholls, who played keyboards on all of SABBATH's albums between 1980 and 1995 and toured with them, was reportedly in remission from cancer at the time of his death but succumbed to the side effects of chemotherapy.

Nicholls's first appearance on a SABBATH album was on 1980's "Heaven And Hell". Although his main role with SABBATH was on the keyboard, Nicholls also played some rhythm guitar at concerts. In addition to not always being credited as a full member of the band, Nicholls rarely appeared on stage during SABBATH shows and would instead play on the side of the stage or backstage.

Nicholls's involvement with the band ended when 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.

Nicholls also played keyboards with former BLACK SABBATH singer Tony Martin in his band TONY MARTIN'S HEADLESS CROSS and performed on both of Martin's solo albums.

Before joining BLACK SABBATH, Nicholls was member of the NWOBHM (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal) band QUARTZ, whose 1977 debut album was produced by Iommi. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Geoff played lead guitar for the Birmingham band JOHNNY NEAL AND THE STARLINERS.

Read more at http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/former ... iWRReJ6.99

Devastating news to me personally as Geoff was such a cool part of Sabbath for me with his writing, arranging and plaiyng (much of which went uncredited).

He was one of my favorite members of Sabbath and his contributions were very significant, especially on Seventh Star, Eternal Idol, Headless Cross and Tyr.

I was able to see Geoff out on stage with the full band several tours including Seventh Star and Forbidden.

Other times I'd see him on the side of the stage.

Damn, what a bummer.

R.I.P.

RIP.

Totally agree with IP here. I loved his work, he provided such an undertow for Tony and the boys to work from. His work is so excellent as Pete as noted. He will be greatly missed.

Rick A.

I found Nicholls to be unobtrusive. Sometimes I didn't know he was there.

That's a compliment.

That was his role and he did it so well.

The thing he was most noted for (besides his arranging and writing, much of which went uncredited) was that "choral" keyboard sound which was so key on songs like "Headless Cross", "Children Of The Sea", "Ancient Warrior", "Immaculate Deception", "Anno Mundi (The Vision)", "Cross Of Thorns" and more.

he also had cool, creepy, atmospheric keyboard pieces in Sabbath such as "The Gates Of Hell", "The Sphinx (Guardian)", "The Battle Of Tyr" and the outro of "E5150".

He also played a lot of rhythm guitar live.

Yeah, I was a big fan of his.

Here's a killer version of "When Death Calls" from a pro-shot gig in Malta in 1995.

Neil Murray's bass solo is excellent and Geoff gets mentioned right when he starts the intro and he's out there on stage with the whole band.

I saw this tour in Philly and the show was amazing although Tony Martin was having throat troubles.

Geoff also does an awesome job on backing vocals here, as he always did.

Like I said, he was the only constant in the Iommi-led Sabbath lineups of the '80s and '90s.

It must have been nice for Tony to have someone he could rely on amidst all the changes.

Nicholls is the only guy aside from Iommi to have played in Sabbath with Ozzy, Dio, Ian Gillan, David Donato, Ray Gillen, Tony Martin and Rob Halford.

Now that's longevity!