R.I.P. Ozzy Osbourne

The godfather of heavy metal, Ozzy Osbourne, has died. He was 76. His family revealed the news of his passing, as reported by The Independent.

“It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning,” a statement from his family read. “He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time.”

Osbourne had just performed his final show with Black Sabbath just weeks ago at Villa Park, at a massive concert that also featured Metallica and Guns ‘N Roses.

In recent years, Osbourne had suffered from a series of health problems, having sustained neck injuries in a 2003 accident, which were complicated by a 2019 fall. That same year, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s and more recently fell ill with Covid.

Born in Warwickshire, England in 1948, Osbourne left school at age 15 to work as a construction laborer. Around the same time, he discovered the music of The Beatles, which inspired him to become a musician. In 1967, he was invited by Geezer Butler to join the band Rare Breed, who played two shows and then broke up. The two then played in another band, Polka Tulk Blues Band, which also featured guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward. They renamed the band Earth shortly thereafter, but to avoid confusion with another band with the same name, they renamed it Black Sabbath.

Black Sabbath played a heavy, bluesy style of music in their early years that came to be regarded as the origins of heavy metal. Within a year of choosing Black Sabbath as their name, they signed to Warner Bros. and released their debut self-titled album, which kicks off with “Black Sabbath,” a song that showcased an even darker new direction for the group. From there the group maintained a regular pace of releasing music, with their sophomore album Paranoid arriving only months after their debut, and 1971’s Master of Reality being released only five months after Paranoid. Their fourth album, Vol. 4, arrived a year later.

Around the same time as the group’s rise, Osbourne met Sharon Arden, the daughter of Don Arden, who the band chose as their manager. Sharon later became Ozzy’s manager, and the two married in 1982. Their life together was documented on the reality show The Osbournes, along with two of their six children, Kelly and Jack.

In the late ’70s, when Black Sabbath split, Ozzy launched his own solo career and developed a reputation for shocking and sometimes gross stunts, including biting the head off a dove during a meeting with executives from CBS Records. He was then escorted out of the building. He also released classic albums such as Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman, which featured the guitar playing of Randy Rhoads and iconic songs such as “Crazy Train.”

Osbourne reunited with the members of Black Sabbath in 1997, and they performed on and off for years, releasing one reunion album, 13, in 2013. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Black Sabbath in 2006, and as a solo artist in 2024.