Ray Gillen

In 1986, Black Sabbath started touring for the Seventh Star album when after only a few shows, singer Glenn Hughes got into a fist-fight and lost his voice due to the related sinus and throat injuries. Gillen was offered the job to replace Hughes, which meant leaving Rondinelli to accept the offer. After finishing the Seventh Star tour, Black Sabbath recorded their next album The Eternal Idol with Gillen. However, due to mix of financial burden, writing difficulty (Bob Daisley was recruited for writing as Gillen turned out to be not much of a composer), mismanagement and miscommunication that plagued the band, Gillen and Black Sabbath drummer Eric Singer quit before the album was ever released. Gillen was eventually replaced by Tony Martin, and the vocal track of The Eternal Idol was hurriedly rerecorded note-for-note with Martin before the album was finally released in 1987. However, demo versions of The Eternal Idol featuring Gillen do exist on the bootleg circuit. Also, in an interview Martin revealed that the sinister laugh heard on the track Nightmare is in fact Gillen's voice. The album was re-released on November 1, 2010, in Europe in a 2-disc expanded set including a bonus disc with Gillen's recording.

In 1993, Wilfried F. Rimensberger was planning a remake of his first Metal Hammer Loreley Festival but this time specifically to stage Phenomena's first ever live performance, with Gillen on vocals. It was going to be the launch event for a series of concerts across Europe in 1994. Gillen called from New York and told Rimensberger in Munich that he had to bow out as he was too ill to perform.

Gillen died from an AIDS-related disease in a New York Hospital on December 1, 1993. He first contracted the disease around 1990, and according to his Badlands bandmate Jake E. Lee, "in between the first and the second record, he started getting really thin and didn't look quite as healthy". Lee also claimed that he had not been aware of Gillen's diagnosis with AIDS until a meeting with then-Badlands manager Paul O'Neill, who was going to tell Atlantic Records about his illness if they fired him, and Gillen reportedly said to Lee, "Well, it's not true, so fuck him. Fire him." Lee concluded, "So we did fire him. And he did tell Atlantic Records that. And we got kind of screwed on the second record because of it. They wouldn't even give us tour-support money at all…but, yeah, Paul O'Neill fucked us on that."

Gillen then contacted Jake E. Lee (former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist) to form a band. In 1988 Gillen started to form Badlands with Jake E. Lee and recruited his friend Eric Singer with whom he had played in Black Sabbath. Gillen recorded three albums (Badlands, Voodoo Highway, and Dusk) with Badlands and toured from 1989 until 1992.

Gillen was survived by a daughter, Ashley (born July 1984). He is buried at Fairview Cemetery in Fairview, New Jersey.

Raymond Arthur Gillen (May 12, 1959 – December 1, 1993) was an American rock singer-songwriter. He is best known for his work with Badlands, in addition to his stint with Black Sabbath in the mid-1980s and recording most of the vocals on Phenomena's Dream Runner album.

Gillen was born on May 12, 1959, in New York, but was raised in Cliffside Park, New Jersey. He was an only child and started singing while in high school. He played the New Jersey club circuit with various bands, including club bands Quest (1978–80), the punk rock influenced F-66 (1980–81), Savatage, and, most notably, Vendetta and Harlette. In 1985, he joined Bobby Rondinelli's band, Rondinelli.