Black Sabbath: Birmingham MPs call on Queen to honour band

A group of Birmingham MPs are calling for Black Sabbath to be honoured for their services to music.

They have written to the Queen asking for her "direct intervention".

The band, formed in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, "seem to have been overlooked by the usual process", said the MPs.

The singer and lead guitarist made a surprise appearance together at the Commonwealth Games closing ceremony.

Performing the band's classic track Paranoid, it was the first time Iommi and Osbourne had performed together since 2017.

Signatories to the letter from the cross-bench group of MPs also include the Labour leader of Birmingham City Council, Ian Ward, and deputy leader Brigid Jones.

Khalid Mahmood, Labour MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, has also started a petition calling for the band to be recognised for their services to music and the city of Birmingham.

"For all their global fame, they have kept strong links with Birmingham, demonstrated by their barnstorming surprise performance at the closing ceremony of Commonwealth Games," he said.

"I appreciate this request is not within the normal procedures of seeking royal honours. However, we feel that this extraordinary occasion deserves extraordinary recognition of this extraordinary group of musicians," the letter continued.

"We therefore seek direct intervention and support from Your Majesty to recognise the great contribution made by these fine and ground-breaking musicians, who were made in Birmingham and who have once again not just entertained Birmingham, the United Kingdom and the whole of the Commonwealth but perhaps the world."