Black Death

Black Death are an American band who have been noted as the "first all-African-American heavy metal band". The group were also mentioned in Ian Christe's book Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal, and mentioned in Rock 'n' Roll and the Cleveland Connection by Deanna R. Adams as "one of the only, if not the only, all-black metal bands in the country" in 1987. History Lineup, name, and status Black Death was formed in 1977 by Cherokee, guitarist Greg Hicks, drummer Phil Bullard, and bassist Clayborn Pinkins as an unnamed group. They persisted for a year without a vocalist until Siki Spacek joined; Spacek would also fulfill roles as a guitarist for the band alongside Hicks. The band would not have an official name until nearly two years after its creation; Hicks and Pinkins eventually decided on "Black Death." Shortly thereafter, Pinkins was shot and killed. The resulting lineup changes consisted of two new bassists, the latter of which, Darell Harris, would become the final member of the classic lineup heard on the band's debut album. At the end of the band's first major hiatus, which lasted from 1988 to 2009, the lineup took another significant turn when the band was officially re-formed as "Mandrake." There was an unofficial change in 2007 by Bullard in an effort to change Black Death's name, but this was not fulfilled until after his death in 2008 from colon cancer. The band was then split into two separate groups, one of which was rechristened as Siki Spacek and the Resurrection (later known as Black Death Resurrected, which was Bullard's original idea for the band's new name); the second group toured until disbanding in 2010.