Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi on the time three angels "saved" his life after getting into a serious car crash: "It’s been said that they saved me for a purpose, because I went on to invent heavy metal"

Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath and an 'angel' — (Image credit: Erica Echenberg/Redferns, Adobe Stock)

During his youth, Tony Iommi once had a near-death experience that he believes involved the help of three supernatural entities.

In a 2019 interview with Classic Rock, the Black Sabbath guitarist revisited the time he got into a serious car accident as a teenager, and was allegedly "saved" by a trio of angels.

"Three of them saved my life when I was in my late teens", he explains. "I’d just passed my driving test and was in my sports car driving on a dual carriageway. I had just overtaken another car when two tyres blew out”.

He continues, "So I went off the road, the MG flipped over and I hit a tree. I passed out, and when I awoke I smelled petrol, but I managed to get out. As I did so, I saw those angels. To this day, I really believe they were there; I wasn’t stoned. It’s been said that they saved me for a purpose, because I went on to invent heavy metal. And you know what? I quite like that idea”.

Iommi previously recalled the incident in more detail in his 2011 memoire Iron Man, explaining how he was only just 18 or 19 at the time, and had recently earned his driving licence.

"After I passed my driving test I bought an MGB sports car...My mother never wanted me to have it, because I was a bit frantic in the thing. And I actually had a serious accident in it.

"Driving along the dual carriageway I overtook this other car. I looked over and it was a girl driving. And suddenly...bang! I'd driven over something and two tyres went and it pulled me straight off the road. I went flying over into some trees and saw the wings coming off the car as I was sitting there."

He continues, "As I remember it, it all happened in slow motion. It sounds mad, but I saw three figures come down, one to the left and two to the right, like angels. And I thought, 'this is it'".

Having flipped the car, Iommi was made unconscious, but quickly woke up after smelling petrol.

"'I thought, 'fuck, I hope it doesn't blow up...It was upside down, but I managed to get out because I had landed in soft earth...I had concussion and I didn't know what was going on."

Fortunately for the musician, a stranger soon arrived on the scene to pick him up and make sure he was okay. Despite his predicament, Iommi recalls mostly only being concerned about his family's reaction, as he remembers "ranting" to the man, “‘Don’t tell my parents, don’t tell them!'”.

Iommi was promptly taken to hospital, where his short-lived secret was blown and he received a serious telling-off from his mother: “‘You barmy bastard, fancy doing that. You should have never bought that car! Bloody hell'”.

Reflecting on the life-changing moment, the guitarist muses in the book: "Seeing those three figures, it was so vivid. It made me think, Christ, I’ve been saved here. And saved for a purpose: to do something. Someone once suggested it was to invent heavy metal. What a great purpose. The angels must have said to each other: ‘Oops, that went wrong!'”.

Concluding with the humorous anecdote, he says: "It took me a while to get back into a car after that. But I had to drive the band’s transit van. So I didn’t have all that much time to get over it. And I did have sports cars again later. But I don’t look at women now when I overtake them”.

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Liz manages Louder's social media channels and works on keeping the sites up to date with the latest news from the world of rock and metal. Prior to joining Louder as a full time staff writer, she completed a Diploma with the National Council for the Training of Journalists and received a First Class Honours Degree in Popular Music Journalism. She enjoys writing about anything from neo-glam rock to stoner, doom and progressive metal, and loves celebrating women in music.