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I have never heard of Ozzy doing a Dio-era song live in Black Sabbath. IMO, some of their best material is on Heaven & Hell and The Mob Rules.

Has anyone in Black Sabbath ever said why they don't perform those songs live? Is it a "pride" thing for Ozzy? Is the material out of his vocal range? Or do they just only want to do 70s music with a few new songs peppered in?

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    Because they regard it as somewhat of a different group, considering they later toured as Heaven & Hell? Zakk Wylde says that Dio and BLACK SABBATH mainman/guitarist Tony Iommi made some great music, but it wasn't BLACK SABBATH. Tony Iommi also points out the differences between the two singers (and bands) in that same article.
    – BCdotWEB
    Mar 7, 2015 at 19:13
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    I'd imagine that he can't sing the Dio songs. I don't think his voice has either the range or the power that Dio had.
    – Pat Dobson
    Mar 9, 2015 at 7:57
  • @BCdotWEB - Judging from that link, I'm going to definitely say it's a pride thing. If Ozzy's gonna sit there and say he only knew Dio was sick "months" before he died, then he's living in a bubble or purposely shutting Dio out, and why would he want to sing someone's songs who he despised that much? Mar 26, 2015 at 12:07
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    Even though I respect Ozzy, I don't think he has the range and technique of Dio. Not even close. So maybe he can't sing them!
    – papakias
    May 25, 2016 at 9:29
  • Dio, like Ozzy, sung with a pretty untrained, uncontrolled head voice. It just happens to sound a bit more operatic, and carry a bit more gravitas, than Ozzy's voice.
    – ABragg
    Oct 6, 2016 at 14:30

5 Answers 5

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Personally, legal issues apart, I don't think Ozzy is actually capable of performing Dio songs. Dio has a much more powerful (possibly operatic) voice and I think he also has a greater vocal range.

Many singers are now not even capable of singing their own songs from the past. A good example of this is Ian Gillan of Deep Purple who's on record stating that he can no longer sing 'Child in Time'. Kate Bush has had to change 'Wuthering Heights' as her voice has changed.

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Dio and Ozzy didn't part on the best of terms to put it politely. Copyright issues flew around. Dio isn't allowed to play Ozzy-written songs either.

Apparently, things are beginning to heal.

Quote from the link:

"They say that we're the anti-christ. Well, what makes them any better?"

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  • I gotta believe that you don't know who they are from this answer? That link is 5 years old, Sabbath has reformed, toured and put another album out since then. Also, it's not that Dio "isn't allowed" to do Ozzy-era songs, it's just that it would have basically been a cover song since none of the original musicians who recorded it would be playing it. And Dio had plenty of great material of his own to play live. Mar 26, 2015 at 11:58
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I don t think Ozzy ever covered any song of non-Ozzy Black Sabbath or any song of another band.

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  • Well, there's this. I also recall he did Born To Be Wild (W/Miss Piggy) on an old episode of The Muppets. I don't know if I have any bootlegs of Ozzy doing live covers, but I'm sure he's done a couple. Sep 4, 2015 at 17:55
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    Found :) . But I think when you want to say ”I ll never do this” is similar to ”I ll do this when Ozzy will cover Heaven And Hell”
    – Catalin
    Sep 4, 2015 at 18:28
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Ozzy recorded, with Deewzil Zappa, Staying Alive from Bee Gees :-/ I think it's very much a pride matter. I must also say that, in my opinion, Dio performed better than Ozzy some songs in Live Evil.

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How about the Ian Gillan Black Sabbath, "Born Again " So much material that will never be herd live.The laws and egos of Metal run deep.

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