Good new, it seems Heaven & Hell are NOT breaking up. The management for awesome heavy metal vocalist Ronnie James Dio has released the following statement:

“[We] just want to quash any rumors that Heaven & Hell have broken up. [Heaven & Hell guitarist] Tony Iommi has to have surgery on his hand and [needs] some down time for recovery. Therefore DIO will be performing some dates in the U.K. and Europe in November/December during this time off. Heaven & Hell are already making plans for dates next year.”

In a recent interview with The Aquarian Weekly, Iommi stated that it’s essential he has an operation on his hand, and that he needs to get it done as he’s been putting it off for a while. He went on to say that the band is going to have some time off while he gets that done; ‘That’ll be a bit of a break, I think. Not for everybody, but it’ll be some time off from touring for me for sure.’ When queried about his injured hand, Iommi responded.

And of course, Dio is touring the UK later this year.
 
“The cartilage is gone from the thumb in my fingering hand. It’s been like that now, to be honest, for a year and I’ve been taking anti-inflammatories and all sorts of stuff to try and calm it down, but it’s inevitable I’ve got to have the operation because the bone is rubbing on the bone. Funny enough, I talked to Eddie Van Halen this morning, because he’s had the same sort of problem, so I’m seeing him to have a chat about what happened to him. He thinks it’s very successful, so we’ll see.”