Black Sabbath guitar hero Tony Iommi will be glued to the telly on Thursday – to see if his song makes it through to the final of the Eurovision Song Contest, the Birmingham Mail writes.
The 65-year-old rock legend penned the rock ballad titled Lonely Planet for Armenia.
And this week Armenian rocker Gor Sujyan and his band Dorians will belt out Lonely Planet in the semi-final of the contest. If it fends off stiff competition, the song will make it through to Saturday’s final.
“It was just a little ballad thing I’d written four or five years previously but never released. But on Thursday night it’ll be heard by millions of people when the semi-final is broadcast. And if it survives, and makes it through to the final, then that’ll great. Unexpected, but great,” said in an iinterview with Birmingham Mail.
“The contest is being staged in the Swedish city of Malmo and I’ll be watching to see how they get on. It falls between our tour dates so I’ll be able to watch it on television,” he said.
Not that Tony regularly watches Eurovision. Far from it.
“I’ve always thought ‘Oh no, not the Eurovision’, and here I am in it now,” he smiles. “I first said ‘Oh God, I don’t know. It seemed really strange, me doing a Eurovision song, I don’t usually do that. But I really hope it does well.”
Tony’s music has had lyrics added by songwriter Vardan Zadoyan, and the song is a plea for world peace. It was one of four tracks presented to Armenian voters and won by a landslide.
In the meantime, the music school being rebuilt in Gyumri, is expected to open in September.
“I’ve been working with the people in Armenia for some years, and we’re currently building a music school to replace the one that was destroyed by an earthquake in 1988,” says Tony. “We’ve had a huge amount of support.
“Only the other week a Canadian firm came in with a truckload of musical instruments. The school is due to open in September and I’m looking forward to getting back out over there for that,” the guitarist said.
“A big thank you to Tim and the team at Millbank Music in Canada for the huge pile of instruments now on their way to Armenia. With support like this the project was always going to be successful. When the school opens this summer they’ll be off to a great start!”
Among others closely involved in the project, under the banner WhoCares, is Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan, a close friend of Tony’s who also enjoyed a successful stint as Black Sabbath singer.
