Ozzy Osbourne, the legendary lead singer of the British heavy metal band Black Sabbath, has died at the age of 76, the BBC reported Tuesday, citing a statement from his family. The multiple Grammy Award-winning artist passed away peacefully, surrounded by loved ones.
Born John Michael Osbourne on December 3, 1948, he left school at the age of 15 and worked as a manual laborer before being sentenced to six weeks in jail for burglary. In 1967, he was recruited on the street to join the forming band “Approach” as a vocalist, later founding his own group, Rare Breed. After several name changes, they became known as Earth. In 1969, after watching a horror movie starring Bela Lugosi titled Black Sabbath, the four members — Ozzy, Bill Ward, Tony Iommi, and Geezer Butler — adopted the name and began creating a dark, brutally heavy style of metal.
Their first two albums quickly went platinum, but due to their style and aesthetic, the band was often labeled as satanic, and Ozzy as a psychopath — baseless accusations he later rejected.
“I’ve done some bad things in my life. But I’m not the devil. I’m just John Osbourne: a working-class kid from Aston who quit his factory job and went looking for the good life,” he wrote in his autobiography.
Nicknamed the “Prince of Darkness” and the “Godfather of Heavy Metal” by fans, Osbourne gained infamy for an incident in 1982 when a fan threw a bat onto the stage during a concert, and Ozzy bit its head off. He later claimed he thought it was a toy until he realized his mistake and had to rush to the hospital for rabies shots.
After ten years and eight (some sources say seven) albums, Ozzy and Black Sabbath parted ways due to his escalating substance abuse and declining reliability. However, he went on to enjoy major success as a solo artist, supported by a revolving lineup of highly skilled musicians whose sound appealed more to a wider audience. In 1989, he was ordered into rehab after attempting to kill his wife, Sharon.
In the 1990s, the Ozzfest tours signaled his return, and in 1998 he reunited with the original members of Black Sabbath to release a new album. In 2005, he was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame both as a solo artist and with Black Sabbath, and in 2006, into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the United States with the band. He won five Grammy Awards over his career, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019.
He also made several film and TV appearances, including Private Parts (1997), Little Nicky (2000), and The Osbournes (2001–2005). His memoir I Am Ozzy was published in 2009. In 2016, a tram in Birmingham was named after him. In 2020, he revealed in an interview that he was suffering from a milder form of Parkinson’s disease and had to undergo neck surgery after a fall, which forced him to cancel his North American tour. His 13th solo album, Patient Number 9, was released in 2022. He had planned a European tour in early 2023, but canceled due to serious spinal issues. Just two weeks ago, he held a farewell concert in Birmingham, with tickets selling out in just 16 minutes.
Ozzy is survived by his wife and longtime manager, Sharon, their five children, and many grandchildren.
