Tony Martin sang for Black Sabbath between 1987 and 1991, and then again between 1993 and 1997. Martin sang on the albums The Eternal Idol, Headless Cross, Tyr, Cross Purposes, and Forbidden, all of which are largely unavailable. Martin recently revealed that Black Sabbath struck a record deal for his five albums with the band, though he's not quite sure what will be in it.
In an interview with The Rock And Metal Profs: The History And Philosophy Of Rock And Metal, Martin said he hasn't heard much of anything from the Black Sabbath camp about exactly what the set will entail. Martin adds that all he knows is two separate record labels will release it, and that there will be nothing new on there due to contractual agreements.
"I don't know. As always with Black Sabbath, you don't get a lot of information, to be honest; they keep things close to their chest. They don't sort of say anything, especially if you're in the band — they don't tell you anything if you're in the band. All I know is that it's happening."
"I know that two record labels are releasing it. I don't know when, and I don't know what it's gonna look like. There was some suggestion a while back that we might be able to put extra tracks and stuff on it. I did offer, and I went to see Tony Iommi and offered some things. And then he said we can't use anything new 'cause nothing new can be released under the Black Sabbath name. It can only be stuff that's got the original four members on it. I'm expecting it to be a remixed version of whatever the original was; that's what I'm expecting. So I await as you do to find out. Let me know if you hear it first."
Martin then said he hoped Black Sabbath's jam sessions with Eddie Van Halen for the 1994 Cross Purposes album would surface in the box set, though again – who knows.
"I recorded the writing session with… Eddie Van Halen came over and helped us write one of the tracks [for Cross Purposes]. And I had an eight-track recorder at the time in the 1980s, and I used to take it everywhere, this thing. I've got all of the writing sessions and rehearsals recorded. So I sent [Iommi] this, and he went, 'Wow! That's fucking great.' And I said, 'Well, you're welcome to use it, if you wanna put that on.' So, I don't know… Maybe you'll get that on there."
