A look at Black Sabbath's photo shoots and live concerts would easily lead one to believe that the band consists of only four members. But make no mistake, they do in fact have a 5th member: their behind-the-stage keyboard player Geoff Nicholls. Before joining Black Sabbath in 1979, Nicholls played for Quartz, a band whose 1977 album was produced by Tony Iommi. Nicholls has played on every Black Sabbath album since 1980's "Heaven And Hell". He has made very significant writing contributions to Black Sabbath, most predominantly on the album "Seventh Star". He is the only member other than Tony Iommi to have played with every other past and present member of Black Sabbath, playing keyboards with every single reunion or other line-up change over the years. Whether he's credited on the albums as an equal member or an "additional musician", this invisible 5th member of Black Sabbath has seen it all. His interviews are constantly quoted throughout Gary Sharpe-Young's "Never Say Die!", an incredibly revealing book about Black Sabbath's turbulent 1979-1997 history.
Is dressed as a police officer in Black Sabbaths "No Stranger To Love" video, but his head is cut off from view.
Plays keyboards for Black Sabbath, but typically plays out of view from the audience, either from the side stage or from backstage. A number of other hard rock bands have hidden their keyboard players like this (Don Airey in Ozzy Osbournes band, Scott Warren in Dio, etc.), presumably due to the assumption that an on-stage keyboard player doesnt look "cool" in the heavy metal genre.
Last name is actually spelled "Nicholls", even though some (but not all) albums credit him as "Geoff Nichols".
