In a brand new interview with the “Disturbing The Priest” podcast, legendary rock vocalist Graham Bonnet (RAINBOW, MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP, ALCATRAZZ, GRAHAM BONNET BAND) was requested if it is true that he was as soon as approached by Tony Iommi about presumably becoming a member of BLACK SABBATH. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Yeah, he referred to as me someday and I believed, ‘I do not learn about that.’ I could not think about me one way or the other in a band referred to as BLACK SABBATH with the best way I look. [Laughs] I do not look very BLACK SABBATH. I might must develop my hair actually lengthy and dye it darkish black and develop a beard or one thing. I wasn’t positive. And I wasn’t positive concerning the music both, as a result of I believed I needed to do one thing that wasn’t like BLACK SABBATH. I used to be so kind of anti-heavy in a means, as a result of the best way I write a tune, the best way my different mates who’re guitar gamers, the best way they wrote songs, it wasn’t the standard so-called heavy steel, heavy rock, no matter you wanna name it, means.”

Bonnet beforehand mirrored on his discussions with the SABBATH camp in a 2018 interview with The Steel Voice. On the time, he mentioned: ” I am unable to bear in mind the precise 12 months — 1980-something. And I had a name from one of many guys from BLACK SABBATH — I am unable to bear in mind whom — asking me if I might be involved in becoming a member of as a result of I’d simply left RAINBOW. And it was one thing I wasn’t actually positive of. I believed, ‘Nicely, possibly not.’ I wasn’t fairly positive of the music. I wasn’t positive if I might actually match with my brief hair and all the remainder of it. As a result of I needed to do one thing totally different by myself than to be in one other band as one other — right here comes the opposite singer, one other one after; you understand, the revolving-door factor. I needed to start out one thing by myself, which is my very own band, so I turned it down.”

Requested in a February 2023 interview with Basic Album Evaluate why he turned down the SABBATH audition, Bonnet mentioned: “I did not suppose I used to be proper. I imply, do I appear like a BLACK SABBATH man? … BLACK SABBATH had the hair and the mustaches. I did not see that. And I did not actually like their music — I did not. There was nothing that attracted me to that in any respect. Not that they are not good at what they do. All these bands are so nice, however I simply did not just like the music. My style was elsewhere. And when Ronnie [James Dio] got here alongside and joined them, it was incredible for him. They did three albums, I believe, which Ronnie was singing on it. And it turned that band round. He did nice; he actually did. And so I like him for doing that.”

Bonnet was born in Skegness in 1947 and had his first hit single with THE MARBLES in 1968, “Solely One Girl”, which reached No. 5 within the U.Okay. singles chart. A well-regarded solo album in 1977 noticed him excessive within the Australian charts. This was the springboard for his rock profession, with each THE SWEET and RITCHIE BLACKMORE’S RAINBOW eager to safe his providers. Blackmore‘s provide was the extra tempting, although following singer Ronnie James Dio in 1979 was a removed from straightforward experience.

“‘Mistreated’ was my audition tune, as a result of I did not know any RAINBOW songs,” Bonnet later mentioned.

RAINBOW immediately discovered themselves with well-crafted AOR hits within the form of “Since You Been Gone” and “All Evening Lengthy”. The band peaked on the first Donington Monsters Of Rock pageant in 1980, however friction between Bonnet and Blackmore noticed the singer go away the next 12 months. A star-studded solo album adopted, in addition to a High Ten single (“Evening Video games”),however Bonnet was shortly snapped up by the ex-UFO guitarist for the MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP (MSG) till he had considered one of his momentary lapses of motive. “I noticed I had screwed up huge time,” he later mentioned. “They have been so mad at me, they virtually received Gary [Barden] to redo the entire vocal tracks. So that they took me down within the combine as punishment for my silly conduct.”

Bonnet‘s most constant rock mission got here in 1983 when he determined to place his personal rock band collectively, and ALCATRAZZ turned an enormous draw on the rock circuit for the following 4 years, significantly in Japan. Now based mostly in Los Angeles, the ever-adaptable Bonnet continues to report and tour frequently, most not too long ago along with his GRAHAM BONNET BAND.