\n<\/p>\n
\n\tOzzy Osbourne, the singular metal legend whose Black Sabbath virtually invented heavy metal and in later years became a reality TV pioneer, has died. He was 76.<\/p>\n
\n\tOsbourne\u2019s family confirmed his death in a statement shared with\u00a0The Guardian<\/em>. \u201cIt is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning,\u201d they said. \u201cHe was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time<\/p>\n \n\tAn exact cause of death was not given, though Osbourne has battled an array of health issues over the past several years, including Parkinson\u2019s disease and injuries he sustained from a late-night tumble in 2019.<\/p>\n \n\tThe singer had an electrifying and unpredictable onstage presence and a dry sense of humor that endeared him to hordes of adoring fans. His excitable energy helped transform the anthems he sang \u2014 \u201cIron Man,\u201d \u201cParanoid,\u201d and \u201cCrazy Train\u201d \u2014 from radio hits into sports-stadium staples. As a member of Black Sabbath, he helped draft the blueprints for heavy metal, but in conversation, he was always humble about his contributions to music. He knew his limitations and was open about his addictions, but he always attempted to better himself. He was an underdog everyone would want to rally behind.<\/p>\n \n\tAs Black Sabbath\u2019s doomsayer-in-chief, Osbourne could summon a true sense of terror in his keening cries in a way that heightened the band\u2019s muscular dirges. When he bellowed, \u201cWhat is this that stands before me, figure in black which points at me?\u201d in the song \u201cBlack Sabbath,\u201d it was a performance worthy of a horror flick. He sang \u201cIron Man,\u201d about a scorned golem seeking revenge, with believable wrath. And when he screeched, \u201cDreams turn to nightmares, Heaven turns to Hell,\u201d in \u201cSabbath Bloody Sabbath,\u201d it was with a demonic fury not even Milton could have summoned. He made sense of his bandmates\u2019 heavy swagger and brought their supernatural racket back down to earth in a way that has resonated with millions for decades.<\/p>\n \t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n \n\tAlthough groups had been testing the limits of hard rock for a few years by the time Black Sabbath arrived, the band purified their aggression into a forceful, unrelenting sound that would define a new style of rock. \u201cOn any given day, the heavy metal genre might as well be subtitled \u2018Music derivative of Black Sabbath,’\u201d Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich said, when inducting Black Sabbath into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. Osbourne\u2019s voice and performances were crucial ingredients to the group\u2019s modus operandi. Queen guitarist Brian May once described Osbourne as \u201ca willowy singer wailing in a way that made the kids\u2019 parents despair\u201d \u2014 and that is exactly what the kids wanted in the music.<\/p>\n \n\tAs a solo artist, Osbourne zeroed in on the more gothic aspects of Sabbath\u2019s approach and tweaked the tempos so fans could graduate from head nodding to headbanging. But his art still reveled in darkness \u2014 mutually assured destruction (\u201cCrazy Train\u201d), Hammer Horror vignettes (\u201cBark at the Moon\u201d), false prophets (\u201cMiracle Man\u201d). The big difference was that, as bandleader, Osbourne discovered a new side of himself \u2014 an entertainer whose sharp wit and lust for partying was just as outsized as his music \u2014 and let it overcome him. Aided by his wife and manager, Sharon, and a succession of six-string virtuosi \u2014 Randy Rhoads, Jake E. Lee, Zakk Wylde \u2014 he reinvented himself as a performer who could both preside over a s\u00e9ance and a kegger with equal panache. His legend grew.<\/p>\n \n\tBetween his solo music and recordings with Black Sabbath, Osbourne was the most ubiquitous artist on Rolling Stone\u2019s <\/em>ranking of the Greatest Metal Albums of All Time; Sabbath\u2019s Paranoid<\/em>, claimed the list\u2019s top spot. He won four Grammys, including a Lifetime Achievement nod with Black Sabbath, and nearly all of his albums have been certified gold or platinum.<\/p>\n \t\tRelated Stories<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n \n\tBy the late Nineties, Osbourne was metal\u2019s ringmaster, lending his name to the touring Ozzfest and headlining the annual touring festival either as a solo artist or with Sabbath. When it seemed like popular culture wanted to spurn heavy artists, he had created a haven for them to reach their audience directly at a one-stop event. He was once a misfit and, in turn, provided a gathering spot for misfits to find fit in.<\/p>\n \n\tBut he eventually charmed the mainstream simply by being himself, a loving dad who couldn\u2019t figure out his TV\u2019s remote (like many dads across the country) on The Osbournes.<\/em> The show even won an Emmy. Where he was once a jaw-dropping rock savage with an appetite for small, winged animals in the drunken Eighties, he was now America\u2019s sweetheart. He was a rock & roll survivor who lived long enough to make it through the other side.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cMy life has just been unbelievable,\u201d Osbourne once told Rolling Stone<\/em>. \u201cYou couldn\u2019t write my story; you couldn\u2019t\u00a0invent<\/em>\u00a0me.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tJohn Michael Osbourne, born in Birmingham, England on December 3rd, 1948, was the fourth of six siblings in a working-class family. Their father, John Thomas \u201cJack\u201d Osbourne, was a toolmaker who labored nights at an electronics factory. When Jack would come home in the morning, Ozzy\u2019s mother, Lillian, would leave for her factory job for a company that worked in the motor and aerospace industries. Domestic violence was a common scene in the Osbourne household, and its effects weighed on Ozzy later in life.<\/p>\n \n\tBy Ozzy\u2019s estimate, the Osbournes lived right on the poverty line, somehow making ends meet week after week. The family did not attend church, though Ozzy recalled in his autobiography, I Am Ozzy<\/em>, that he went to Sunday school \u201c\u2018coz there was fuck-all else to do, and they gave you free tea and biscuits,\u201d yet religion was present in his later art, as he wore a cross and sang lyrics that warned of hell \u2014 possibly the kind of perdition he had climbed out of in his youth. Craters left by bombs in World War II were frequent play sites for Ozzy when he was young.<\/p>\n \n\tSuffering from dyslexia and attention-deficit disorder, Osbourne struggled in school. He was an easy target on the playground and later recalled getting clobbered by future Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi. \u201cI always felt crappy and intimidated by everyone,\u201d Osbourne reflected in Esquire<\/em>. \u201cSo my whole thing was to act crazy and make people laugh so they wouldn\u2019t jump on me.\u201d Depression overtook him several times as a schoolkid, and he first attempted suicide at age 14, \u201cjust to see what it would feel like.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBut it was also that year that the heavens opened up for Osbourne the second he first heard the Beatles\u2019 \u201cShe Loves You\u201d for the first time. \u201cIt was a divine experience,\u201d he told Esquire<\/em>. \u201cThe planets changed.\u201d But other than a new infatuation and a new calling in the back of his mind, not much else in his world shifted for the better. He dropped out of school at 15 and entered the workforce \u2014 attempting construction, learning toolmaking, tuning car horns, slaughtering cattle \u2014 but nothing stuck and he turned to crime by age 17 and spent two months in prison for burglary.<\/p>\n \n\tAfter Osbourne did his time, his father took pity and purchased a microphone, amplifier, and speakers, costing a princely \u00a3250, for him. The aspirant singer advertised his wares at a local music shop with a dubious ad \u2014 \u201cOZZY ZIG NEEDS GIG \u2013 Experienced front man owns own PA system\u201d \u2014 and attracted the interest of a young guitarist named Terence \u201cGeezer\u201d Butler, who played in an acid-rock band, similar to the groups Art and Tomorrow, called Rare Breed. After that group disintegrated, the pair linked up with the guitarist and drummer of another band, Mythology \u2014 Iommi and Bill Ward \u2014 in late 1968 and formed a sextet called the Polka Tulk Blues Band, named after the brand of talcum powder Osbourne\u2019s mother used. After jettisoning two members, the band rechristened itself Earth and began playing blues, jazz, and covers of songs like \u201cKnock on Wood\u201d and \u201cBlue Suede Shoes.\u201d The band\u2019s manager, Jim Simpson, once recalled that the band\u2019s first-ever recording, never released, included a rendition of Count Basie\u2019s \u201cEvenin’\u201d partially because Osbourne was so enamored with singer Jimmy Rushing.<\/p>\n \n\tAt one band rehearsal, Butler, who had switched to bass, told his bandmates about a nightmare he had had in which he felt a sinister presence next to him. The tale inspired Osbourne to sing, \u201cWhat is this that stands before me?\u201d over the quiet part of a new song they were working on with crushing power chords. He summoned the words in a way that made Butler\u2019s dread cling to the air. They stayed with that feeling and finished the tune, which they dubbed \u201cBlack Sabbath,\u201d taking the title from a 1963 horror film. The song\u2019s heavy new direction inspired more originals, custom written to scare audiences in a manner similar to fright flicks, and they ditched the Earth moniker in favor of Black Sabbath.<\/p>\n \n\tThe quartet had found its new sound, but Osbourne had trouble fitting in. \u201cHe was insecure,\u201d Simpson told Rolling Stone<\/em> of Osbourne\u2019s formative years, \u201cand he needed an arm around his shoulders and to be comfortable \u2014 \u2018It\u2019ll be all right, don\u2019t worry\u2019 \u2014 because he was worried around his performances. He was very sensitive, very curious. But he gave everything onstage. He left nothing behind.\u201d Osbourne and his bandmates found their mojo through heavy gigging, playing up to seven times a day for months on end in Switzerland and Germany. When working on originals, Osbourne would often improvise a melody and, if no words came to him, Butler would compose the lyrics. \u201cThe amazing thing about Oz was he could take Geezer\u2019s lyrics and spit them out \u2018Ozzy,’\u201d Ward once said.<\/p>\n \n\tIt was also around the time of these residencies where Osbourne began taking drugs regularly, smoking hash and taking acid. One possibly tall tale regarding the band was that he and Ward both took LSD every day for two years. Within a few years, cocaine would split the band wide open, but at the time, the slow-churning riffs of \u201cWar Pigs,\u201d \u201cThe Wizard,\u201d and \u201cBehind the Wall of Sleep\u201d established the group\u2019s stoner-metal aesthetic.<\/p>\n \n\tThe band recorded its self-titled debut at the tail end of 1969 in a two-day sprint on a shoestring budget of \u00a3600. Due to the tight turnaround, the musicians simply played their pub set, complete with extended guitar solos. Despite the rush, Osbourne commanded chilling performances on \u201cBlack Sabbath,\u201d \u201cN.I.B.,\u201d and \u201cWarning,\u201d among other tracks, and the band\u2019s raw, lumbering riffs cast the mold for heavy metal. Despite a lack of radio play, the LP shot to Number Eight on the U.K. chart.<\/p>\n \n\tAbout half a year later, Black Sabbath reconvened at the same studio to cut their second LP, which they hoped to call War Pigs<\/em>, and recorded another set of instant classics: \u201cIron Man,\u201d \u201cFairies Wear Boots,\u201d \u201cParanoid.\u201d The immediacy of the last track, coupled with devilish lyrics like \u201cMake a joke and I will sigh, and you will laugh, and I will cry,\u201d made it the album\u2019s standout, and the group\u2019s record label retitled the album Paranoid<\/em>. The album shot to Number One in England, and \u201cParanoid,\u201d a Number Four hit single, earned the band a slot on Top of the Pops<\/em>.<\/p>\n \n\tThe band\u2019s U.S. record label delayed the releases of Black Sabbath <\/em>and Paranoid, <\/em>but both became commercial hits, and the RIAA has certified Paranoid <\/em>four-times platinum. Fans loved them, but critics at the time hated them. Lester Bangs described Black Sabbath <\/em>in Rolling Stone<\/em> as \u201cjust like Cream! But worse,\u201d and Nick Tosches didn\u2019t bother even listening to Paranoid <\/em>for his Rolling Stone <\/em>review, referring to the singer as \u201cKip Treavor,\u201d a mangled invocation of Kip Trevor, frontman for a Satanism-obsessed band called Black Widow. But Black Sabbath pressed forward undeterred. Osbourne tested his vocal limits on the band\u2019s third album, 1971\u2019s Master of Reality<\/em>, screeching on \u201cLord of This World,\u201d crooning on \u201cSolitude,\u201d and howling on the ode to marijuana, \u201cSweet Leaf,\u201d and nuclear warning, \u201cChildren of the Grave.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAround this time, Osbourne married a woman he\u2019d fallen for at first sight, Thelma Riley, when he saw her working the cloakroom of a pub. \u201cThey\u2019re crazy mad in love,\u201d Ward told Rolling Stone <\/em>of the Osbournes\u2019 relationship in Rolling Stone\u2019s <\/em>first Sabbath profile. \u201cHe really can\u2019t stand being away from her.\u201d The couple survived a turbulent decade for Ozzy, who later looked back on the relationship with regret after it fell apart. \u201cI was a raving drug addict and an alcoholic and about as much good as an ashtray on a motorbike,\u201d he told Esquire<\/em>. \u201cMy father was abusive to my mum, and I would slap my first wife around because I thought that\u2019s what men have to do.\u201d The couple had two children, Jessica and Louis, and Ozzy adopted Thelma\u2019s son from a previous relationship, Elliot. Osbourne later claimed to have a strained relationship with the children from his first marriage.<\/p>\n \n\tBlack Sabbath decamped to Los Angeles to record 1972\u2019s Vol. 4<\/em> and nursed fierce cocaine addictions while there. Osbourne crystalized his love for the drug with a passionate performance on the album\u2019s \u201cSnowblind,\u201d but still managed to summon a more tender side on the plaintive \u201cChanges.\u201d He returned to banshee screaming on the title cut for 1973\u2019s Sabbath Bloody Sabbath<\/em>. Osbourne also stretched his wings beyond simply singing, keying the musical line to the album\u2019s jaunty prog rocker \u201cWho Are You?\u201d on a synthesizer. No longer were Black Sabbath playing plodding, primitive heavy rockers; there was a new sophistication in the band\u2019s music and Osbourne\u2019s performances. After parting ways acrimoniously with then-manager Patrick Meehan, the group found new vitriol on 1975\u2019s Sabotage<\/em>, with Osbourne screeching about the betrayal on \u201cThe Writ\u201d and existential pain on \u201cSymptom of the Universe.\u201d It was an artistic rebirth, but soon everything began to unravel.<\/p>\n \n\tOsbourne quit Black Sabbath in 1978, after touring in support of the previous year\u2019s lackluster Technical Ecstasy<\/em>. His drug abuse and drinking had gotten out of control to the point that he checked himself into an asylum to clean up and was taking stock of his life. He had also started considering life after Sabbath, as he\u2019d already begun wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the words \u201cBlizzard of Oz,\u201d an epithet he once described as his \u201ccoke name\u201d that he\u2019d hoped to call a solo band. More pressing was the fact that Osbourne\u2019s father had just died of cancer, and he needed time to process the loss. The band recruited Savoy Brown and Fleetwood Mac vocalist Dave Walker for a couple of weeks but they ultimately coaxed Osbourne back for another album. Although they titled the LP Never Say Die!<\/em> the band would not last another year. Osbourne\u2019s bandmates felt his substance abuse had stymied his creative contributions to the band and dismissed him on April 27th, 1979.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cFiring me for being fucked up was hypocritical bullshit,\u201d Osbourne wrote in I Am Ozzy<\/em>. \u201cWe were all <\/em>fucked up. If you\u2019re stoned and I\u2019m stoned, and you\u2019re telling me that I\u2019m fired because I\u2019m stoned, how can that fucking be? Because I\u2019m slightly <\/em>more stoned than you are?\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tOsbourne was 30 years old, jilted, and dejected. He resolved to spend what money he had left on a hotel room and booze so he could drink himself into oblivion. Then Sharon Arden, the daughter of Sabbath\u2019s manager at the time, Don Arden, took pity on him and encouraged him to go solo. Within a year, he linked up with the flashy ex\u2013Quiet Riot guitarist Randy Rhoads, Rainbow bassist Bob Daisley, and Uriah Heep drummer Lee Kerslake, and the band recorded Osbourne\u2019s solo debut, 1980\u2019s Blizzard of Ozz<\/em>.<\/p>\n \n\tThe music was faster-paced and harder hitting than Black Sabbath\u2019s, festooned with Rhoads\u2019 neo-classical filigrees, and it fit in perfectly with the new generation of hard rock bands inspired by Van Halen. Osbourne, too, sounded revitalized, singing passionately about the horrors of the Cold War on \u201cCrazy Train,\u201d occult mysticism on \u201cMr. Crowley,\u201d and the personal carnage of alcoholism on \u201cSuicide Solution.\u201d He would tell his bandmates how excited he felt to be starting over and proving himself again to skeptical audiences. The hard work paid off, too. The album was a Top 10 hit in the U.K., and made it up to Number 21 in the U.S. The RIAA has since certified it five-times platinum.<\/p>\n \n\tDespite feeling rejuvenated, Osbourne continued to abuse alcohol and drugs to the point that his wild-man antics nearly overshadowed his art. In 1981, the year he separated from his wife Thelma, he shocked an L.A. conference room full of Columbia Records execs when he pulled a dove out of his pocket and bit its head off. A year later, while touring in support of his stellar second solo record, Diary of a Madman<\/em>, he similarly decapitated a dead bat that a fan had thrown onstage, thinking it was a toy. Doctors treated him with rabies shots. A month later, San Antonio police arrested Osbourne ostensibly for urinating on the Alamo; Arden had hidden his clothes from him so he wouldn\u2019t go out drunk, and he put on one of her dresses and went out anyway, unaware of where he was relieving himself.<\/p>\n \n\tSpurred on by media sensationalism, the tour continued until March 19th, 1982, when Rhoads died in a freak accident. On a Florida off-date, the guitarist, who was afraid to fly, agreed to get in a private plane with the tour bus driver, who was also a pilot. The plane attempted to buzz the bus, clipped the wing, and spun out of control. It crashed into a house and instantly killed Rhoads, makeup artist Rachel Youngblood, and the bus driver. Osbourne was in shock.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for Sharon, I\u2019d still be in that fucking field, looking at the house as it was burning, he remembered in Rolling Stone <\/em>years later. \u201cIt was a bad scene, man. She said, \u2018We are not stopping now.’\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe tour resumed on April 1st with former Gillan guitarist Bernie Torm\u00e9 accompanying Osbourne for a week and a half of dates before Night Ranger guitarist Brad Gillis stepped in to finish out the tour. Originally, Osbourne had planned on releasing a live album to finish his contract with manager Don Arden but changed his mind after Rhoads\u2019 death. Instead, he recorded a double-LP of Sabbath songs, dubbed Speak of the Devil<\/em>, with the Gillis lineup to compete with his former band\u2019s Live Evil <\/em>release, which featured Osbourne\u2019s replacement, Ronnie James Dio. It sold better than Sabbath\u2019s. In 1987, Osbourne released a stunning live album that featured Rhoads, Tribute<\/em>, which he co-billed to the guitarist.<\/p>\n \n\tIn the midst of turmoil, Osbourne married Sharon Arden on July 4th, 1982. Their first daughter, Aimee, was born in 1983, a second, Kelly, was born the following year, and son Jack arrived in \u201985. Sharon continued to manage Osbourne\u2019s career until his death. The family kept residences in England and Los Angeles.<\/p>\n \n\tOsbourne released his third solo LP, Bark at the Moon<\/em>, in 1983, and it featured another young, showy guitarist, Jake E. Lee, who had previously played with Ratt and Dio, and a harder-edged sound. Other than a one-off Black Sabbath reunion for Live Aid in 1985, Osbourne stayed the course throughout the rest of the Eighties, putting out one hit album after another, eventually recruiting another hotshot guitarist, Zakk Wylde, in 1987. Osbourne\u2019s four-times platinum 1991 album, No More Tears<\/em>, was his biggest hit since Blizzard of Ozz<\/em>, thanks to strong singles like \u201cMama, I\u2019m Coming Home,\u201d \u201cRoad to Nowhere,\u201d and the Grammy-winning \u201cI Don\u2019t Want to Change the World\u201d \u2014 all set list staples until his death.<\/p>\n \n\tStill, controversy stalked Osbourne. In 1985 the parents of a teen who died by suicide sued Osbourne and his record label, alleging the song \u201cSuicide Solution\u201d had convinced him to do it. The case was thrown out of court. Before the decade was up, the parents of two other teens attempted to file similar suits, but Osbourne prevailed legally. \u201cIf I was going to put some backward message in a record, I\u2019d put in something like, \u2018This is the Devil! Buy six more copies of this record,’\u201d Osbourne joked in Spin <\/em>in 1986, before adding, \u201c\u2018Six hundred and sixty-six more!’\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe headlines made him a demon to evangelicals. He later appeared in the movie Trick or Treat<\/em>, portraying a preacher ironically as a dig at the religious leaders who had railed against him. A year later, he paid several thousand dollars in fines after his fans trashed the Meadowlands Arena in 1986. He also entered the Betty Ford Clinic that year in an attempt to clean up his addictions but ultimately failed.<\/p>\n \n\tIn 1989, shortly after he\u2019d played a triumphant concert with Sabbath\u2019s Geezer Butler playing bass in his solo band for the Moscow Music Peace Festival, he woke one day in a jail cell. A policeman then charged him with the attempted murder of his wife. In a blackout state, Osbourne had lunged at Sharon and tried to strangle her. \u201cWe\u2019ve made a decision, and you\u2019ve got to die,\u201d he told her. She escaped his grip and, after he spent time in jail, she eventually dropped the charges. When a reporter asked her how close he came to killing her years later, Sharon said, \u201cPretty damn close.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tOsbourne got his drinking under control for a few years, and Sharon spent the Nineties raising his profile. After a well-publicized retirement tour (dubbed No More Tours), triggered after Osbourne developed a tremor that doctors warned could be M.S., and a brief Sabbath reunion at the final show, he waited four years before venturing back on the road for his Retirement Sucks tour. By then, he\u2019d found medication that helped his condition, which was not M.S. but a disease in the same family as Parkinson\u2019s, and he was determined to keep going.<\/p>\n \n\tAfter the alternative-rock fest Lollapalooza rejected Osbourne as a performer, Sharon assembled the first Ozzfest lineup in 1996 with Slayer, Danzig, and Neurosis, among others, supporting Ozzy. Black Sabbath reunited for Ozzfest \u201997, and a live recording of \u201cIron Man\u201d from their Reunion <\/em>record earned them a Grammy.<\/p>\n \n\tOver the years, Osbourne\u2019s tours had introduced metal fans to Metallica, M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce, Korn, and several other heavy hitters, so when Ozzfest became an international, annual touring event, it became the most desired touring gig for heavy bands. Toward the late Nineties, the festival rode a crest of popularity with the burgeoning nu-metal scene, whose bands treated Osbourne like a deity.<\/p>\n \n\tThen came The Osbournes<\/em>, and Ozzy officially became the foul-mouthed Prince of Bleeping Darkness. The reality TV show presented Ozzy, Sharon, Kelly, and Jack as a lovingly dysfunctional family (Aimee opted out of the show), and it became a ratings blockbuster. Suddenly, the softer side of Ozzy Osbourne \u2014 depicted as a sailor-cursing, befuddled dad \u2014 made him the darling of Midwestern moms. \u201cI\u2019m not a musician,\u201d he once said. \u201cI\u2019m a ham.\u201d But his hamminess made him a superstar, and the show became the paradigm for later programs like Keeping Up With the Kardashians<\/em>.<\/p>\n \n\tSuddenly, Ozzy Osbourne had a table at the 2002 White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner (\u201cOzzy, Mom loves your stuff,\u201d President George W. Bush joked) and performing at the Queen\u2019s Golden Jubilee. Osbourne also received a star on Hollywood\u2019s Walk of Fame in 2002.<\/p>\n \n\tOsbourne faced more controversy in 2002 when he allowed his contemporary band members, bassist Robert Trujillo and drummer Mike Bordin, to replace the rhythm tracks on Blizzard of Ozz <\/em>and Diary of a Madman<\/em> as a workaround for a dispute over royalties with the original musicians; he restored the originals in 2011. And in 2004, he narrowly survived a quad-bike wreck sent him into the ICU with several broken bones. But within a year, he had come out with a new box set, Prince of Darkness<\/em>, and was back on the road.<\/p>\n \n\tOsbourne spent his later life touring and recording solo and with Black Sabbath. The latter band released 13<\/em>, its first LP with Ozzy behind the mic since Never Say Die!<\/em> in 2013, and it became a Number One album on both sides of the Atlantic. Shortly after the album was a hit, Osbourne cleaned up his act for good and told reporters he maintained sobriety until his death.<\/p>\n \n\tThe group embarked on a farewell tour that ended in 2017, after which Osbourne announced his own final world tour (No More Tours 2) but he did not get far into it before it started to fall apart. First, a staph infection forced him to cancel several dates and then a late-night tumble sent him into a hospital for surgery that forced him to be bedridden for months. He revealed a diagnosis of Parkinson\u2019s disease in 2020 and resolved to carry on. That year, he released a solo album, Ordinary Man<\/em>, that found him playing alongside an impressive guest list \u2014 Elton John, Post Malone, Slash \u2014 but a combination of his injuries and the coronavirus pandemic kept him off the road. As of 2021, he was working on a new album with producer Andrew Watt that would feature a similar guest list.<\/p>\n \n\tOn July 5, 2025, Osbourne gave his final performances both as a solo artist and with the original members of Black Sabbath at Villa Park in his hometown of Birmingham, England. For weeks prior to the Back to the Beginning benefit concert, the city celebrated its most famous sons\u2019 homecoming and the lauded sold-out concert drew fans from around the world to witness the heavy metal royalty take their final bow.<\/p>\n \n\tTheir \u201copening acts\u201d \u2014 an all-star crew that included Metallica, Guns N\u2019 Roses, Slayer, Pantera, Alice in Chains,\u00a0and more \u2014 paid tribute with Sabbath covers. Osbourne performed \u201cI Don\u2019t Know,\u201d \u201cMr. Crowley,\u201d \u201cSuicide Solution,\u201d \u201cMama, I\u2019m Coming Home,\u201d and \u201cCrazy Train.\u201d Following his solo set, he was joined by his fellow original Black Sabbath members \u2014 guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler, and drummer Bill Ward and together they performed \u201cWar Pigs,\u201d \u201cN.I.B.,\u201d \u201cIron Man,\u201d and \u201cParanoid.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tOutside of music, Osbourne had cameos in several films and TV shows including The Jerky Boys<\/em> (1995), Private Parts <\/em>(1997), South Park<\/em> (1998), Little Nicky <\/em>(2000), Austin Powers in Goldmember<\/em> (2002), Ghostbusters <\/em>(2016), and The Conners <\/em>(2020), among several others. In 2009, Fox attempted an Osbournes <\/em>reboot, dubbed Osbournes Reloaded<\/em>, but it failed to catch on. Osbourne later co-starred in a reality show with his son, Ozzy & Jack\u2019s World Detour<\/em>, in which the two road-tripped around the United States, and The Osbournes Want to Believe<\/em>, in which he, Sharon, and Jack weighed in on found-footage paranormal videos.<\/p>\n \t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n \n\tIn 2010, he released I Am Ozzy <\/em>and followed the book up the next year with Trust Me, I\u2019m Dr. Ozzy<\/em>, a compendium of his Rolling Stone <\/em>advice column. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006 as a member of Black Sabbath and received a Lifetime Achievement Award with the band from the Grammys in 2019. He was nominated for eight other Grammys, both as a solo artist and with Black Sabbath, and won three of them.<\/p>\n \n\tBut awards never meant as much to him as applause from an audience. Up until his death, Osbourne\u2019s goal was to ascend a stage one last time and thrill his fans. When the subject of retirement came up in a 2020 Rolling Stone <\/em>interview, Osbourne huffed. \u201cRetire from what?\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not a job. How can you retire from a rock band? It\u2019s like saying, \u2018Don\u2019t plug in your amp.\u2019 I don\u2019t know anything else. I\u2019ll retire when they put the fucking nail in the lid.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ozzy Osbourne, the singular metal legend whose Black Sabbath virtually invented heavy metal and in later years became a reality TV pioneer, has died. He was 76. Osbourne\u2019s family confirmed his death in a statement shared with\u00a0The Guardian. \u201cIt is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11769,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[706,1596,5250,3053,5248,5247,5251,5249,4378],"class_list":{"0":"post-11768","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-black","9":"tag-dead","10":"tag-heavy","11":"tag-metal","12":"tag-osbourne","13":"tag-ozzy","14":"tag-pioneer","15":"tag-sabbath","16":"tag-singer"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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