Tony Hall, the pioneering British music executive, columnist, record producer and radio DJ, who was instrumental in getting Black Sabbath signed to their first record deal with Phonogram’s Vertigo label, has passed away at the age of 91.
Hall (full name Anthony Salvin Hall) was born in Avening, Gloucestershire, on 1 April 1928 and was educated at Lancing College. After National Service, he started working at the Feldman Swing Club (later the 100 Club) in Oxford Street, London, where he became a regular host and met many of the leading jazz acts of the day.
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“They were a blues band called Earth who went to Germany and came back with the name Black Sabbath”, Hall later recalled. “I signed them through a guy called Jim Simpson. Tony Iommi was a great blues guitarist and Ozzy [Osbourne], used to sing the blues, without any medallions, crucifixes or anything. We got them a showcase down in London’s Ronnie Scott’s and Olav Wyper at Vertigo signed them.”
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