Ozzy Osbourne, the famous Black Sabbath vocalist known as much for his excesses and bizarre onstage antics as for his pioneering heavy metal music, has died in London.
Tormented by health problems for years, Osbourne died on the morning of this Tuesday (22), his family announced in a statement obtained by The Times.
He was 76 years old.
“It is with more sadness than mere words can express that we must inform you that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne passed away this morning. He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family’s privacy at this time,” the family said in a statement released by Osbourne’s press representative.
Osbourne announced in early 2020 that he had been diagnosed nearly a year earlier with Parkinson’s disease, just the latest but by far the most serious illness that, throughout his career, repeatedly forced him to cancel public appearances, postpone the release of new material, and cancel shows, including his own retirement tour.
The heavy metal pioneer’s career spanned more than four decades, as a member of Black Sabbath and solo artist, and later as the mastermind behind the annual Ozzfest, which featured him—sometimes—alongside emerging artists. Being widely ignored by critics didn’t seem to bother Osbourne: fans applauded him intensely, he sold more than 100 million records as Black Sabbath’s frontman and as a solo artist, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with his bandmates in 2006.
Guided by his wife, Sharon Osbourne, who was his manager and constant force, Osbourne reinvented himself in the 1990s as a heavy metal veteran. The musician also achieved late notoriety through the family’s popular MTV reality show, “The Osbournes,” where he played himself—the grumbling, almost comatose patriarch of a completely dysfunctional family.
“People wonder why they can’t understand him,” his wife said. “You’d be hard to understand too if you drank two barrels of coffee, two barrels of wine, and took 25 Vicodin a day.”
Osbourne didn’t disagree. “If anyone has lived the depraved rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle,” Osbourne admitted, “I think it’s me.” Born John Michael Osbourne on December 3, 1948, the youngest of four siblings, Osbourne was raised in a working-class neighborhood in Birmingham, England. His mother worked in a factory; his father worked nights as a toolmaker. Osbourne said his parents were poor and had few expectations that their son could achieve great success.
“All I ever wanted was to do something good so my parents could be proud of me,” he told GQ. “I never got any encouragement.”
From an early age, he was interested in theater, acting in school plays. But when he first heard the Beatles, he knew he wanted to be a musician.
Alongside guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler, and drummer Bill Ward, Osbourne emerged as the voice and face of Black Sabbath in 1969.
The band was menacing and dark. But it was credited with introducing the fundamentals of heavy metal, including aggressive vocals, heavy bass riffs, demonic themes, and a general spirit of rebellion.
Black Sabbath released its first self-titled album on Friday the 13th of February 1970, a date that was no coincidence. It went platinum in England and the US. Rejected or simply ignored by critics, it still became mandatory listening in college dorms across the country. The band released more than a dozen studio albums, many of which coincided with world tours.
Tired of his vocalist’s erratic behavior, Tony Iommi fired Osbourne from the band in 1979, when he found himself immersed in a wave of alcohol and drugs. For years, other singers (from Ronnie James Dio to Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan) fronted Black Sabbath. Osbourne reunited with various lineups periodically and, in 2006, the band performed at their Hall of Fame induction.
Osbourne married Sharon Arden, daughter of the band’s promoter Don Arden, in 1982, and she took over managing his career. The couple launched Ozzfest in 1996, and the traveling festival became the first dedicated to hard rock and emerging heavy metal artists. Osbourne headlined the inaugural shows in Phoenix and Devore, California, and donated part of the proceeds to charities nationwide.
Osbourne released his first solo album, “Blizzard of Ozz,” in 1980, which went platinum. Other solo albums followed and, in 1985, he performed at the Live Aid concert in support of famine relief at Wembley Stadium in London, alongside Queen, David Bowie, Madonna, and The Who. His 13th album, “Patient 
Number 9,” was released in 2022, with generally positive reviews and quickly entered the charts.
His antics, sometimes alarming, onstage became part of the band’s charm but also proved controversial.
In 1982, Osbourne reportedly bit the head off a dead bat onstage during a show in Iowa. He already had a history of animal decapitations after allegedly biting the head off a live dove during a meeting with record label executives. The stunt led the Des Moines Vets Auditorium to ban concert artists from using or presenting live animals onstage without management consent.
He was also taken to court over the lyrics of one of his songs, “Suicide Solution”—a track from “Blizzard of Ozz.” He was accused in a 1985 civil suit of causing the deaths of two teenagers who allegedly committed suicide after listening to the song. Osbourne later said the song was inspired by the death of AC/DC lyricist Bon Scott in 1980, related to alcohol, although the composer himself, Bob Daisley, said he was actually thinking of Osbourne when he wrote the lyrics.
In 1989, Osbourne performed at the Moscow Music Peace Festival, the first major rock show by Western artists in the then-Soviet Union.
The musician released five more albums in the 1990s, and his 1993 song “I Don’t Want to Change the World” earned him his first Grammy for metal performance.
Ozzy Osbourne received the Black Sabbath’s 2014 Grammy for best metal performance.
Never fully detached from his history of addiction and substance abuse, Osbourne’s nebulous mental state became evident to the global public during his family’s MTV reality show. The unscripted program lasted four seasons and, during its run, Osbourne signed a $10 million renewal deal with MTV, met President George W. Bush at a dinner in Washington, performed at Buckingham Palace, and shook hands with Queen Elizabeth II.
Osbourne later said his unwavering stupor was due to Valium use and a series of other powerful narcotics prescribed by a Beverly Hills doctor who was under investigation for overprescribing medications to famous patients.
“I was exhausted from pills. I couldn’t speak. Couldn’t walk. Could barely stand. I dragged myself around like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. I got to a point where I was afraid to close my eyes at night—afraid I wouldn’t wake up.”
Prescription records obtained during the investigation showed Osbourne was taking more than 40 pills a day, a regimen that included opioids, tranquilizers, amphetamines, antidepressants, and an antipsychotic.
One day before a New Year’s show in 2018, Osbourne said he had been drug-free, alcohol-free, and even tobacco-free for more than four years.
“I mean, now I have grandchildren and I’m 70, and I don’t want to be found dead in a hotel room somewhere.” Even so, his health worsened. In 2019, he was diagnosed with a severe respiratory infection that his doctors believed could develop into pneumonia, given the physical intensity of his live performances and an extensive European travel schedule in harsh winter conditions.
He canceled his farewell tour and then canceled even more shows on his relaunched farewell tour, before being hospitalized for complications from the flu. Months later, he postponed more shows due to an undisclosed injury that required surgery after a fall at his home. The fall aggravated an injury suffered in a near-fatal quad bike accident in 2003.
In a 2020 “Good Morning America” interview, Osbourne speculated that the fall may have been an early sign of Parkinson’s, a debilitating neurodegenerative disease for which there is no cure.
Osbourne said the diagnosis actually helped unite his family, though he was left with the idea that he was now the only one in the family not working. Despite concerns, the Osbournes were ranked by Forbes in 2018 among England’s richest couples, with a net worth over $200 million.
“Coming from a working-class family, I hate letting people down. I hate not doing my job,” Osbourne told Roberts. “And then, when I see my wife going to work, my kids going to work, everyone trying to help me, it gets me down because I can’t contribute to my family, you know?”
But he worked, painstakingly returning to the studio to begin recording his 12th album, “Ordinary Man.”
Osbourne leaves his wife and three children, Aimee, Kelly, Jack Osbourne, and grandchildren. He also leaves three children from a previous marriage: Jessica, Louis, and Elliot.
ISAURA LA COUR
Journalist