Former Black Sabbath keyboardist, Geoff Nicholls, who played in albums and performed live with the band for more than 30 years died on Saturday morning (28/1/2017) after a long battle with lung cancer at 68. The tragic news were confirmed by Tony Iommi who wrote: “I’m so saddened to hear the loss of one of my dearest and closest friends Geoff Nicholls. He’s been suffering for a while now with lung cancer and he lost his battle this morning. Geoff and I have always been very close and he has been a real true friend to me and supported me all the way for nearly 40 years. I will miss him dearly and he will live in my heart until we meet again. Rest in peace, my dear friend.” Nicholls’ first appearance with the band was on the album “Heaven And Hell” in 1980 and since then played in all of them until 1995. He was replaced by Adam Wakeman, Rick’s son, in 2004. Except from Sabbath Nicholls was also a member of Quartz, whose debut album was produced by Tony Iommi in 1977.
