TONY IOMMI: Paperback Version Of 'Iron Man' To Include New Chapters On Lymphoma Battle

The paperback version of legendary BLACK SABBATH guitarist Tony Iommi's memoir, "Iron Man: My Journey Through Heaven And Hell With Black Sabbath", will be released in the U.K. on Thursday, November 8 through Simon & Schuster and in the U.S. on December 11 via Da Capo Press/Perseus Books. Iommi states, "It's got new chapters bringing everything up to date, including my battle with lymphoma."

Released in hardback in November 2011, "Iron Man: My Journey Through Heaven And Hell With Black Sabbath", landed at position No. 35 on the New York Times "Hardcover Nonfiction" best sellers list.

Da Capo reportedly paid a six-figure amount at auction for the rights to the 352-page book, which was described as "'Angela's Ashes' meets 'The Ground Beneath Her Feet' meets 'Spinal Tap'" by Foundry Literary + Media co-founder Peter McGuigan, who completed the North American rights deal for the memoir.

In an interview with Guitar World magazine, Iommi explained how his autobiography came together. "I had a chap called TJ Lammers, who I met many, many years ago when he used to work at Phonogram Records," he said. "He later became a journalist and he had his own magazine. He lives in Holland and we've stayed in touch over the years. I've had a few people say, 'Oh, I can write a book for you,' but I wanted a different outlook to the normal music journalist, and that's what happened. He came over to England and stayed with me for a few days. Then he'd write it up, come back again and do more. The whole thing took a couple years to finish."

When asked how his book is different to the typical rock biography, Iommi said, "I don't know. I don't read rock biographies, so it could be the same, it could be different. It's just my life, really. It's about what happened and what I grew up from, and how I've gone through life to where I am now. It's something I probably should have done a long time ago because there are so many books out now. I've been meaning to do it for many, many years but never got around to it."

Iommi was honored with the "King Of Rock 'N' Roll Award" at the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund's second awards gala on October 31 at the Avalon nightclub in Hollywood, California. Speaking about the fund in light of his own recent cancer scare, Iommi told "The Blairing Out With Eric Blair Show", "Well, I'm a survivor up until now. I'm still very new to it. It's great that there's somebody doing something about it and trying to get rid of this awful disease. You can't praise it enough. Things like this is what is needed to make people aware of what is going on."