Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Finished with my woman ’cos she wouldn’t smell my aftershave
Black Sabbath star launches fragrance
HEADBANGERS Paranoid about sweaty nights out have something to fight the pong – a scent from Black Sabbath. Well, their legendary guitarist Tony Iommi, to be precise.
The rocker has launched a designer fragrance range inspired by wild days alongside Sabbath singer Ozzy Osborne. It’s called Tony Iommi Monkey Special – a nod to the Gibson guitar he nicknamed Monkey. The rocker said: “When I was younger every Christmas you’d get a bottle of Old Spice or Brut. “Hopefully, now we’ve come up with something that they’ll like. I like it. Don’t worry. We left the sweat out.”
Iommi, 73, teamed up with Italian fragance guru Sergio Momo after being gifted hundreds of bottles while touring with Brummie band Sabbath. Monkey Special is Iommi’s scent described as “the aromatic reminiscence of rock in the 60s and 70s, festivals and gatherings”.
The scents – for women and men – include patchouli, sandalwood, tonka bean, rum, leather, passion fruit and vanilla.
Iommi told Classic Rock mag he spent decades hoarding perfume. He said: “As the years went by and we were touring more in America and Australia, I used to just pick up different ones. I don’t know, there is probably 80, something like that.
“Patchouli goes back to the 60s, because people used to burn it to cover the smell of dope.”
The perfume is being sold by luxury brand Xerjoff, founded by long-time Sabbath fan Sergio Momo. The price tag is a rock’n’roll £196 per bottle.
Heavy metal pioneers Sabbath split in 2017, after selling more than 70 million records including 1970 hit Paranoid, which opens with the famous lyric “Finished with my woman ’cos she couldn’t help me with my mind”.