Music Correspondent
Getty ImagesOzzy Osbourne, one of the most recognisable and influential musicians in rock, has died at the age of 76.
As frontman of Black Sabbath, the Birmingham-born musician is credited with inventing heavy metal, thanks to songs songs like Iron Man and Paranoid.
Less than three weeks ago, the self-styled “Prince of Darkness” performed a farewell concert in his hometown, supported by many of the musicians he had inspired, including Metallica and Guns ‘n’ Roses.
In a statement, his family said: “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. He was with his family and surrounded by love.”
Born John Michael Osbourne, he dropped out of school aged 15, holding several low-paid jobs and spending a short spell in prison for burglary before embarking on his musical career.
After singing with several local bands, he joined Black Sabbath alongside guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler, and drummer Bill Ward in the late 1960s.
They developed a unique sound, inspired by the blues but slower, louder and more sinister – with frequent references to the occult.
Considered pioneers of heavy metal, they released their self-titled album in 1970 and followed it up with platinum records such as Paranoid and Master of Reality throughout the rest of the decade.
Fired from the band in 1978, he launched a successful solo career with the 1980 album Blizzard of Ozz, featuring the classic single Crazy Train.
The following year’s Diary of a Madman was even more popular, selling more than five million copies.
Along the way, Osbourne developed a reputation for his unhinged live performances, exemplified by the (possibly apocryphal) story that he had once bitten the head off a bat during a concert, having mistakenly thought it was a toy thrown on stage by a fan.
His intake of drink and drugs was legendary, leading to some unusual behaviour. The rock band Motley Crue once described how Osbourne, in a competition to see whose habits were the most debauched, snorted a line of ants from a hotel floor.
But in the 1990s, his wild image transformed thanks to the MTV reality show The Osbournes – which portrayed the star as the well-meaning, frequently befuddled patriarch of an unruly household.
The show also made stars of his manager-wife Sharon Osbourne, and daughter Kelly – with whom he duetted on a chart topping version of the Sabbath song Changes, reaching number one in 2003.
Getty ImagesThe same year, however, he suffered a spinal injury in 2003 after a crash involving an all-terrain vehicle, or ATV.
The injury was exacerbated by a late-night fall in 2019, that required several rounds of extensive surgery.
In 2020, the star revealed he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s and largely stepped back from touring after playing the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in 2022.
However, he was determined to make one last appearance, bowing out with last month’s concert at Birmingham’s Villa Park – a stone’s throw from his childhood home in Aston.
The musician sang while seated on a black throne – clapping, waving his arms and pulling wild-eyed looks as he performed hits including Crazy Train, Mr Crowley and War Pigs
He appeared overwhelmed at some moments. “You have no idea how I feel. Thank you from the bottom of my heart,” he told the audience – and almost six million more people who tuned in for the live stream.
Speaking on stage, Pantera frontman Phil Anselmo said the artists on the bill “would all be different people” without Osbourne and Black Sabbath.
“That’s the truth. I wouldn’t be up here with this microphone in my hand without Black Sabbath. The greatest of all time.”
