Ozzy Osbourne, the close main singer of Black Sabbath known both for his excesses and his strange mischief on stage and his pioneer Heavy Metal music, has died in London.
Based on health problems for years, Osbourne died on Tuesday morning, his family announced in a statement obtained by The Times. He was 76 years old.
“It is more sad that the simple words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has died this morning. He was with his family and is surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time,” said the family in a statement published by the Osbourne publicist.
Osbourne announced at the beginning of 2020 that he had been diagnosed almost a year earlier with Parkinson's disease, the last one, but with much, the most serious ailment that during his career had repeatedly forced him to cancel public appearances, delay the new concerts of material and waste, including his own retreat tour.
The Heavy Metal's pioneer covered more than four decades as a member of Black Sabbath and a solo artist, then as the teacher behind the annual Ozzfest who presented it, some of the time, along with the next acts. He did not seem to bother Osbourne that the critics ignored him largely: fans encouraged him wildly, he sold more than 100 million albums as Leader of Black Sabbath and as a soloist, and was included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with his bandmates in 2006.
Guided by his wife, Sharon, who was his manager and stable force, Osbourne reinvented himself in the 1990s as an old heavy metal statesman. The musician also found the notoriety of life in the popular MTV reality series of his family, “The Osbournes”, where he played himself, the Murmullo and Murm during Patriarch almost comatoso of a totally dysfunctional family.
“People ask why they can't understand it,” his wife told GQ magazine. “Well, you would also be difficult to understand if you drink two coffee dressers, two wine turbulations and drink 25 vicodin per day.”
Osbourne did not disagree
“If someone has lived the Rock 'N' Roll lifestyle,” Osbourne admitted, “I guess it's me.”
Born John Michael Osbourne on December 3, 1948, the youngest of four children, Osbourne grew up in a working class neighborhood in Birmingham, England. His mother worked in a factory; His father worked nights as a tool manufacturer. Osbourne said his parents were poor and had few expectations that his son was too much.
“Everything I always wanted to do was do something good for my parents to be proud of me,” he told GQ. “I never received any breath.”
He had an early interest in the theater, acting in school plays. But when he first listened to the Beatles, he knew he wanted to be a musician.
Together with guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward, Osbourne emerged as the voice and face of Black Sabbath in 1969.
The group was threatening and dark. But he was attributed to the introduction of the basic concepts of Heavy Metal, including the aggressive vocal lament, heavy riffs of bass, the demonic theme and a general spirit of rebellion, according to the former music critic of Times Richard Cromelin.
Black Sabbath launched its first homonymous record on Friday, February 13, 1970, the date just a coincidence. He became a platinum in England and the United States dismissed or simply ignored for critics, however, it was required to hear in university bedrooms throughout the country. The band launched more than a dozen studio albums, many who coincided with world tours.
Clear of the erratic behavior of its main singer, IOMMI made Osbourne shoot the band in 1979 while descending to an alcohol and drug fog. For years, other singers, from Ronnie James, gave to Deep Purple's main singer, Ian Gillan, faced Black Sabbath. Osbourne met with several iterations periodically and, in 2006, the band acted in its induction of the Hall of Fame.
Osbourne married Sharon Arden, the daughter of the band's manager, Don Arden, in 1982, and took over the administration of his career. The couple launched Ozzfest in 1996, and the Touring Festival became the first dedicated to Hard Rock music and emerging artists of Heavy Metal. Osbourne headed the inaugural shows in Phoenix and Devore, California, and donated a part of the profits to beneficial organizations throughout the country.
Osbourne released her first solo album, “Blizzard of Ozz”, in 1980, and became platinum. More solo albums followed, and in 1985 he performed at the Help concert at Live Aid hunger at the Wembley Stadium in London along with Queen, David Bowie, Madonna and The Who. His 13th album, “patient number 9”, was released in 2022 for generally positive reviews and was quickly recorded.
His sometimes alarming mischief on stage became part of the group's charm, but were also controversial.
In 1982, according to the reports, Osbourne bit the head of a dead bat on the stage during an Iowa concert. He already had a history of decapitations of animals after, according to the reports, he bit the head of a live dove during a meeting with executives of the record company. The measure led to the Vets Auditorium in Des Moines to ban concert artists to use or present live animals on stage without the consent of the management, according to the DES MOINS registry.
He was also dragged into the court for the lyrics of one of his songs, “Suicide Solution”, a song about “Blizzard of Ozz”. He was accused in a 1985 civil lawsuit of causing the death of two teenagers who allegedly died from suicide after listening to the song. Osbourne said later that the song was inspired by death related to alcohol of the lyricist of AC/DC Bon Scott in 1980, although the real composer, Bob Daisley, said he was actually thinking of Osbourne when he wrote the lyrics.
In 1989, Osbourne acted in the Moscow Music Peace Festival, the first big rock concert in what was then the Soviet Union of Western artists.
The musician released five more albums in the 1990s, and his 1993 song “I Don's Want to Change The World” earned him his first Grammy prize for the interpretation of metal.
Ozzy Osbourne with the Black Sabbath Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Never completely unleashed from its history of addiction and substance abuse, Osbourne's mental stadium was in full exhibition to the global public during the MTV reality series of his family. The show without a script worked for four seasons, and during his career, Osbourne signed a $ 10 million renewal agreement with MTV, met with President George W. Bush at a Washington dinner, acted in Buckingham Palace and the Queen Elizabeth II crashed.
Later, Osbourne said that his unwavering stupor was due to its use of valium and a large number of other powerful narcotics prescribed by a Beverly Hills doctor under investigation to prescribe medications to famous patients.
“I was erased in the pills,” Osbourne told Times in 2003. “I couldn't speak. I couldn't walk. I could barely get up. I was going around like Notre Dame's hunchback. I reached the point where I was afraid to close my eyes at night, fearing not to wake up.”
The prescription records obtained during the investigation showed that Osbourne was taking more than 40 pills per day, a regime that included opiates, tranquilizers, amphetamines, antidepressants and an antipsychotic.
The day before an New Year's Eve concert in 2018 at the forum, Osbourne said he had been free of drugs, alcohol and even tobacco for more than four years.
“I mean, now I have grandchildren and I'm 70 years old, and I don't want them to find me dead in a hotel room somewhere,” he told Pasadena-Star news.
Even so, your health decreased. It was diagnosed in 2019 with a severe infection at the top of the breath, which their doctors considered that they could become pneumonia given the physicality of their live performances and an extensive travel schedule throughout Europe in hard winter conditions.
He canceled his farewell tour and then canceled even more shows on his relaunched farewell tour, before being hospitalized for flu complications. Months later, he postponed more shows after an unleashed injury that required surgery after falling into his house. The fall had aggravated an injury suffered in an almost fatal ATV accident.
In an interview with Robin Roberts for “Good Morning America” in 2020, Osbourne speculated that the fall may have been an early sign of Parkinson's, a weakening neurodegenerative disorder for which there is no cure.
Osbourne said that the diagnosis actually helped his family approaching his family, although he felt the idea that he was now the only one in the family that did not work. Leaving the concerns aside, the Osbournes were classified by Forbes in 2018 among the richest couples in England, with a net worth greater than $ 200 million.
“Coming from a working class experience, I hate to disappoint people. I hate not doing my job,” Osbourne told Roberts. “And so, when I see my wife go to work, my children are going to work, everyone is doing, trying to be useful for me, that depresses me because I can't contribute to my family, you know.”
But the work he did, walking back to the studio to start recording his 12 album, “Ordinary Man”.
Osbourne is survived by his wife and three children, Aimee, Kelly and Jack Osbourne, and numerous grandchildren. Three children of a previous marriage also survive: Jessica, Louis and Elliot.
Staff writer Steve Marble contributed to this story.
