A heavy steel icon. Ozzy Osbourne has offered over 100 million data worldwide between his solo profession and his days as a member of Black Sabbath.
The England native acquired his begin in 1967 when he joined bassist Geezer Butler’s first band, Uncommon Breed, as a vocalist. Though the group didn’t final lengthy, the duo shaped Black Sabbath in 1969 together with guitarist Tony lommi and drummer Invoice Ward. The rock group is commonly credited with pioneering the heavy steel style.
Throughout a November 2020 interview with GQ, Osbourne was modest when requested if he knew the band was making groundbreaking music on the time.
“We had been simply having enjoyable and if it felt like a good suggestion, we did it. Tony lommi is an unbelievable guitar participant. There’s nobody who can provide you with these demonic riffs like him. He’s the king,” he advised the outlet.
The “Loopy Prepare” singer recorded eight studio albums with Black Sabbath — together with the genre-defining data Sabbath, Paranoid and Grasp of Actuality — earlier than he was ejected from the band in 1979 amid struggles with substance abuse.
“Ozzy was going to golf equipment and getting actually out of it and never coming residence,” Iommi mentioned for the Might 2013 e book Louder Than Hell: The Definitive Oral Historical past of Metallic. “It acquired to a stage the place nothing was taking place with him. He got here aside on us.”
Osbourne, for his half, claimed in his January 2010 autobiography, I Am Ozzy, that his bandmates had been utilizing medicine simply as a lot as he was on the time.
“I’d be mendacity if I mentioned I didn’t really feel betrayed by what occurred with Black Sabbath,” he wrote. “We had been 4 blokes who’d grown up collectively a number of streets aside. We had been like household, like brothers. And firing me for being f—ked up was hypocritical bulls—t. We had been all f—ked up.”
The “Bark on the Moon” songwriter launched into a solo profession after his firing, releasing 13 studio albums between 1980 and 2022, the primary seven of which obtained multi-platinum certifications within the U.S. In 1994, he received a Grammy award for Greatest Metallic Efficiency for his music “I Don’t Need to Change the World.”
As for his private life, Osbourne married his supervisor Sharon Osbourne (née Levy) in 1982. The Rock and Roll Corridor of Famer has usually credited Sharon with conserving him alive all through his battle with habit.
“If it wasn’t for Sharon, I’d be lifeless. I used to be doing f—king enormous quantities of medication and booze,” he advised Unbiased in September 2022. “I by no means stopped. Individuals wouldn’t know if I used to be gonna undergo the door, the roof or the window.”
Ozzy and Sharon welcomed three youngsters after their nuptials: Aimee, born in 1983, Kelly, born in 1984, and Jack, born in 1985. The clan shared glimpses into their life by way of their MTV actuality present, The Osbournes, which aired from 2002 to 2005. Aimee uncared for to take part within the sequence.
Whereas talking on his SiriusXM Channel, Ozzy’s Bonehead, in January 2023, the “No Extra Tears” musician mirrored on how the present had affected his household.
“I don’t know the way the Kardashians have achieved it for thus lengthy. It despatched us loopy on the finish,” he mentioned. “I’m not sorry I did it, however after three or 4 years I mentioned, ‘Have you learnt what, we’re going to lose anyone as a result of it’s getting too loopy.’”
Along with his youngsters with Sharon, Ozzy can also be father to Elliott, Louis and Jessica with ex-wife Thelma Riley.
Scroll by means of to see Osbourne’s life through the years:
