Birmingham City Council is set to honour the members of heavy metal band Black Sabbath and posthumously award a medal to poet and campaigner Benjamin Zephaniah.
The founding members of Black Sabbath – Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Terence ‘Geezer’ Butler and Bill Ward – are set to be given Freedom of the City.
The honorary title of City Freeman is awarded to people in recognition of their service to the city.
Black Sabbath, which is considered a pioneer of heavy metal, was formed in 1968 in Aston, Birmingham.
The band went on to sell more than 75 million albums and was presented with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019.
The City of Birmingham Medal is set to be awarded to Benjamin Zephaniah, who died of a brain tumour in December 2023 aged 65.
The award recognises his ‘unique and distinguished contribution to the field of literature and his charitable and community work’.
Born in Handsworth, Zephaniah wrote an extensive body of poetry, which became part of the national curriculum, and was also a writer, musician and actor.
Deputy council leader Sharon Thompson said: ‘Conferring these honours on these Birmingham legends would be the perfect way of saying thank you for all that they have done for the city.’
Reports recommending the honours will go before councillors on 28 January.
