A documentary feature uncovering and celebrating the life and work of one of Britain’s most acknowledged and respected hard rock drummers of all time, Cozy Powell.

Featuring exclusive and extensive interviews with family, friends, work associates and fans, inbetween various archival footage, “Dance with the Devil – The Cozy Powell Story” will be an essential, in-depth and personal account of the man who, from humble beginnings, would go on to play an essential part in British and American rock drumming by playing in and alongside multiple bands and solo artists including Jeff Beck, Rainbow, Whitesnake, Black Sabbath and Brian May, as well as his own solo recordings including his signature instrumental “Dance With The Devil”, up until his tragic death in 1998.

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I originally started this site in the fall of 1997 with Cozy himself.  We launched it in December of 1997, and it stayed that way for quite some time past hisdeath.  I finally revamped it in 2006 again, but I felt it was time to give it a better look, so I got all the content converted over to the new layout you can see now.   There’s been a few changes:

• You can now leave comments on the news stories here, or on the albums in the discography.
• Each discography item has it’s own page, and they’re listed in date order starting with the most recent first.   I also verified all purchase links.
• The old videos page is gone, replaced with a video “slider” on the front page.
• The old forums are gone.  I did that because the software was old, and the company that made it sold the product, and I wasn’t willing to keep up with it anymore.  I’ve exported the forums to a new location that look like the old ones but don’t actually work.  You can’t post or login or anything, it’s just an HTML mirror.
• I’ve added a new Twitter Feed. Link is on the top of the page next to the menu bar.
• I’ve added a new Facebook page – that is the intended place to replace the forums for Cozy Powell discussions.  Link is on the top of the page next to the menu bar.

I’ve also added a couple of new pictures, but the one that I’m most proud of getting on here is a photo of Cozy’s kit in Tony Iommi’s house.  If you remember, when Black Sabbath (with Dio) reconvened to record the three new tracks for the “Black Sabbath: The Dio Years” compilation, Bill Ward was originally going to participate.  He bowed out, and they had to get Vinny Appice over to England in a hurry to play the tracks.  So quick that they couldn’t arrange for his gear to come.   So Vinny ended up playing the kit that is in Tony Iommi’s home studio, and that kit used to be one of Cozy Powell’s old kits.   I asked Tony Iommi’s manager if Tony could go snap a picture of the kit for the site for something “new” to have.   I’m pleased to say that Tony Iommi honored that request, and sent along the photo that you see below (and in the photo gallery).

Cozy's kit in Tony Iommi's home studio - 2011

Ultimately, given Cozy has been gone now for 13 years, there won’t be little new here, but if there is anything new, this will be the place for it.

I wanted to thank several folks who were helpful during the relaunch project.  They are Thijs Leenders, Joe Geesin, Neil Murray, Dave Ball, Ralph Baker, & Tony Iommi.  Each of you contributed something to the new relaunch.

Let me know what you think of the new coat of paint in the comments below!

In picture L-R:  Denny Ball, Neil Murray, Don Airey.

This is the same drum kit that was used when Vinny Appice had to record the three new tracks for the 2006 compilation, “Black Sabbath: The Dio Years”.  It was done rather in a hurry, which is why Vinny used Cozy’s kit here as opposed to his own equipment.

Livewire, our music charity, has just received a donation of Cozy Powell’s custom Gold and Black drum kit, this kit was used amongst other things with Black Sabbath (headless Cross) and Cozy’s work with Brian May, it was donated at Livewire to help inspire young musicians, I’m currently trying to collate a few memories of people who played with Cozy which we can put up on a display behind his kit.  The drum kit will be available to the public to look at during various open days etc and we wondered if Tony might be willing to share a memory of Cozy.

If you want to read more about Livewire, you can check out their site here, or their Twitter page here.