Editing Black Sabbath (section)

===1982–1984: Gillan as singer and ''Born Again''===
[[File:Ian Gillan in Barcelona.jpg|upright|thumbnail|Ian Gillan recorded one album with Black Sabbath, 1983's ''[[Born Again (Black Sabbath album)|Born Again]]''.]]
The remaining original members, Iommi and Butler, began auditioning singers for the band's next release. [[Deep Purple]] and [[Whitesnake]]'s [[David Coverdale]], [[Samson (band)|Samson]]'s [[Nicky Moore]] and [[Lone Star (band)|Lone Star]]'s [[John Sloman]] were all considered, and Iommi states in his autobiography that [[Michael Bolton]] auditioned,{{sfn|Iommi|2012|pp=218–219}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN2FYIhGwaA | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211028/LN2FYIhGwaA| archive-date=28 October 2021|title=Icons: Tony Iommi |publisher=GibsonTV |via=YouTube |access-date=19 February 2020 |date=13 February 2020 }}{{cbignore}}</ref> though this claim has been disputed, with Butler suggesting that Iommi concocted the story as "a joke"<ref name="butler-memoire">{{cite book |last1=Butler |first1=Terence |title=Into the Void |date=2023 |publisher=[[Harper Collins]] |location=New York |isbn=978-0-06-324250-0}}</ref> and Bolton insisting it was "only a rumour".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://consequence.net/2020/03/toni-iommi-michael-bolton-audition-black-sabbath/ |title=Tony Iommi Recalls Michael Bolton Auditioning for Black Sabbath |access-date=15 November 2024 |last=Kaufman |first=Spencer |date=9 March 2020 |website=[[Consequence (publication)|Consequence.net]]}}</ref> The band settled on then-former Deep Purple vocalist [[Ian Gillan]] to replace Dio in December 1982.<ref name="AMG Biography"/>{{sfn|Thompson|2004|pp=233–239}} The project was initially not to be called Black Sabbath, but pressure from the record label forced the group to retain the name.{{sfn|Thompson|2004|pp=233–239}} The band entered [[The Manor Studio]]s in [[Shipton-on-Cherwell]], Oxfordshire, in June 1983 with a returned and newly sober [[Bill Ward (musician)|Bill Ward]] on drums.{{sfn|Thompson|2004|pp=233–239}} "That was the very first album that I ever did clean and sober," Ward recalled. "I only got drunk ''after'' I finished all my work on the album – which wasn't a very good idea... Sixty to seventy per cent of my energy was taken up on learning how to get through the day without taking a drink and learning how to do things without drinking, and thirty per cent of me was involved in the album."<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Ron|last=Schroer|title=Bill Ward and the Hand of Doom – Part III: Disturbing the Peace|magazine=Southern Cross |issue=18|date=October 1996|page=22}} (Sabbath [[fanzine]])</ref>

''[[Born Again (Black Sabbath album)|Born Again]]'' (9 September 1983) was panned on release by critics. Despite this negative reception, it reached number four in the UK, and number 39 in the U.S.<ref name="billboard_200"/> Even three decades after its release, AllMusic's Eduardo Rivadavia called the album "dreadful", noting that "Gillan's bluesy style and humorous lyrics were completely incompatible with the lords of doom and gloom".<ref name="Born Again AMG Review">{{cite web|last=Eduardo|first=Rivadavia|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/born-again-mw0000311503|title=Born Again – Review|website=AllMusic|access-date=9 February 2013}}</ref>

Unable to tour because of the pressures of the road, Ward quit the band. "I fell apart with the idea of touring," he later explained. "I got so much fear behind touring, I didn't talk about the fear, I drank behind the fear instead and that was a big mistake."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=20215 |title=From Jazz to Black Sabbath |date=16 February 2006 |publisher=AllAboutJazz.com |access-date=2 March 2008}}</ref> He was replaced by former [[The Move|Move]] and [[Electric Light Orchestra]] drummer [[Bev Bevan]] for the [[Born Again Tour 1983|''Born Again'' '83–'84 world tour]],{{sfn|Thompson|2004|pp=233–239}} (often unofficially referred to as the 'Feighn Death Sabbath '83–'84' World Tour) which began in Europe with [[Diamond Head (English band)|Diamond Head]], and later in the U.S. with [[Quiet Riot]] and [[Night Ranger]]. The band headlined the 1983 [[Reading and Leeds Festivals|Reading Festival]] in England, adding Deep Purple's "[[Smoke on the Water]]" to their encore.<ref>Dafydd Rees, Luke Crampton (1999). "Rock stars encyclopedia". p.104. DK Pub., 1999</ref>

The [[Born Again Tour 1983|tour in support of ''Born Again'']] included a giant set of the [[Stonehenge]] monument. In a move later parodied in the mockumentary ''[[This Is Spinal Tap]]'', the band made a mistake in ordering the set piece. Butler explained:

{{blockquote|We had Sharon Osbourne's dad, [[Don Arden]], managing us. He came up with the idea of having the stage set be Stonehenge. He wrote the dimensions down and gave it to our tour manager. He wrote it down in metres but he meant to write it down in feet. The people who made it saw fifteen metres instead of fifteen feet. It was 45 feet high and it wouldn't fit on any stage anywhere so we just had to leave it in the storage area. It cost a fortune to make but there was not a building on earth that you could fit it into.<ref name="Classic Rock Revisited interview"/>}}