Which Black Sabbath member was born on July 17, 1949?

Geezer Butler was the Black Sabbath member born on 17 July 1949.

Born Terence Michael Joseph Butler in Aston, Birmingham, he became the band’s bassist and primary lyricist. Butler grew up in a working-class Irish Catholic family and attended Holte Grammar Commercial School, where his interest in literature helped shape his later songwriting.

Butler first played with school friend Ozzy Osbourne in Rare Breed in 1967. After that group dissolved, the pair reunited with Tony Iommi and Bill Ward in Polka Tulk Blues Band, later shortened to Polka Tulk and then renamed Earth. The group eventually became Black Sabbath, with Butler helping define its dark lyrical identity.

A common mix-up is to associate the date with Osbourne, the band’s best-known vocalist, or Tony Iommi, its guitarist. Butler’s role extended beyond bass: he wrote or co-wrote many of Sabbath’s lyrics and helped establish the group’s occult, philosophical and socially charged themes.