Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath frontman and icon of British heavy metal, dies aged 76 | Ozzy Osbourne

Ozzy Osbourne, whose gleeful “Prince of Darkness” picture made him some of the iconic rock frontmen of all time, has died aged 76.An announcement from the Osbourne household reads: “It’s with extra unhappiness than mere phrases can convey that we have now to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has handed away this morning. He was together with his household and surrounded by love. We ask everybody to respect our household privateness at the moment.” No reason behind dying was given, although Osbourne had skilled numerous types of sick well being in recent times.Osbourne was some of the infamous figures in rock: an innovator whose eerie wail helped usher in heavy steel, a showman who as soon as bit the pinnacle off a bat on stage, an addict whose substance abuse led him to try to homicide his spouse, and latterly, a actuality TV star a lot beloved for his bemusement at household life on The Osbournes.His dying comes lower than three weeks after his retirement from efficiency. On 5 July, Osbourne reunited together with his unique bandmates within the pioneering group Black Sabbath for the primary time since 2005, for Again to the Starting: an all-star farewell live performance that includes among the largest names in steel. “I’ve been laid up for six years, and also you’ve obtained no concept how I really feel,” he informed the group that evening, referring to in depth well being points together with a type of Parkinson’s and quite a few surgical procedures on his backbone. “Thanks from the underside of my coronary heart.”He was born John Michael Osbourne in Aston, Birmingham, in 1948, the son of a pair of manufacturing unit staff. He had a troublesome upbringing. In addition to dwelling in relative poverty, aged 11 he was repeatedly sexually abused by two boys: “It was horrible … It appeared to go on for ever,” he informed the Mirror in 2003. He was additionally jailed for housebreaking: “I used to be no good at that. Fucking ineffective,” he admitted in 2014.Ozzy Osbourne, icon of British heavy steel, dies aged 76 – video obituaryThis industrial working-class surroundings fed into the sound of Osbourne’s defining musical undertaking, Black Sabbath, whose heavy sound revolutionised British rock music. “We needed to place how we thought in regards to the world on the time,” the band’s bassist, Geezer Butler, stated in 2017. “We didn’t need to write pleased pop songs. We gave that industrial feeling to it.”Black Sabbath within the 70s … from left, Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Invoice Ward and Ozzy Osbourne. {Photograph}: Chris Walter/WireImageNamed after a Boris Karloff horror film, the band, additionally that includes Tony Iommi on guitar and Invoice Ward on drums, launched their self-titled debut in 1970, adopted by additional albums thought to be basis stones of the heavy-metal style. Paranoid (1970) featured the strutting anthems Iron Man and Warfare Pigs and topped the UK album chart, whereas the cacophonous, psychedelic sound of Grasp of Actuality (1971) stays an enormous affect on the slower sound of doom steel.Osbourne recorded an extra 5 acclaimed albums with the group, however grew to become so depending on alcohol and medicines that he was fired in 1979, and changed by Ronnie James Dio. Osbourne ultimately returned to the band for the 2013 album 13, which topped the charts within the US and UK. Black Sabbath additionally went on tour, enjoying what was billed as their ultimate live performance in Birmingham on 4 February 2017, previous to their 2025 reunion gig.Osbourne went solo shortly after leaving Black Sabbath, and starting with 1980’s Blizzard of Ozz – which went 5 instances platinum within the US – launched 13 studio albums, the latest being 2022’s Affected person Quantity 9.Probably the most infamous incident involving Osbourne occurred in 1982, when he bit off the pinnacle of a lifeless bat he believed to be a stage prop whereas performing in Des Moines, Iowa. He later went to hospital to obtain a precautionary rabies inoculation. He additionally claimed – and this was corroborated by his one-time publicist Mick Wall – to have bitten the heads off two doves throughout a 1981 file label assembly that went bitter, having initially supposed to launch the birds as an indication of peace.Within the 80s and 90s, he had occasional UK High 40 hits, together with Bark on the Moon (1983) and Perry Mason (1995). He ultimately hit No 1 in 2003 with Adjustments, a duet together with his daughter Kelly, 40.Ozzy Osbourne and Sharon Osbourne pictured in 2014. {Photograph}: Dave Hogan/MTV 2014/Getty ImagesOsbourne has two different kids with spouse Sharon – Jack, 39, and Aimee, 41 – and two with first spouse, Thelma – Jessica and Louis. His marriage to Thelma had deteriorated due to his alcoholism, and he later admitted he couldn’t keep in mind Jessica and Louis being born.In 1982, he married Sharon, who had begun managing his solo profession after the pair met three years earlier. Her enterprise acumen paired together with his enduring reputation helped them accrue enormous wealth. Ozzfest, the steel music pageant based by Sharon in 1996, toured the US most years and likewise had outings within the UK and Japan.In 1989, he was arrested for making an attempt to homicide Sharon by strangling her whereas drunk. He recounted the incident in a 2007 interview: “I awakened on this little single cell with human shit up the partitions – and I assumed, ‘What the fuck have I finished now?’ … [A police officer] learn me a chunk of paper, and stated, ‘You’re charged with making an attempt to homicide Mrs Sharon Osbourne.’ I can’t let you know how I felt. I simply went numb.” The couple later reconciled, although briefly break up once more in 2016 after Ozzy was untrue with a hair stylist.Ozzy and Sharon, together with Kelly and Jack, appeared within the actuality TV collection The Osbournes from 2002 to 2005. A fly-on-the-wall documentary collection that adopted the household’s home life – full with canine therapists, “vagina docs” and an countless stream of imaginative dangerous language from everybody – it grew to become a scores hit, and, in 2002, the second ever winner of the Emmy award for excellent actuality programme.Ozzy broke his neck, collarbone and ribs in a quad biking accident at his Buckinghamshire dwelling in 2003. Sharon later stated he had stopped respiratory for a minute and a half “and there was no pulse”; he was additionally informed he was virtually paralysed by the accident. In 2005, he was identified with Parkin syndrome, which causes bodily tremors.In 2013, following years of sobriety, he admitted he had been ingesting and taking medication for a yr and a half, however was dedicated to turning into sober once more, saying: “I used to be in a really darkish place and was an asshole to the folks I like most, my household.”In 2019, Osbourne carried out what was billed as his ultimate world tour, entitled No Extra Excursions 2. (He first introduced his retirement in 1992 with the No Extra Excursions tour, however later reversed his choice.) Sickness pressured him to postpone the European dates in 2020. “It simply appears that since October, every little thing I contact has turned to shit,” he stated in an apologetic assertion – he had additionally frolicked in hospital to obtain remedy for an an infection in his hand.In 2020 he introduced he had been identified with Parkinson’s, and in 2022 had surgical procedure on his backbone, having suffered a fall in 2019 that exacerbated the sooner quad biking accidents. In 2023, he cancelled a UK and Europe tour because of being “bodily weak”, describing “three operations, stem cell therapies, countless bodily remedy classes, and most not too long ago groundbreaking Cybernics (HAL) remedy.”Ozzy Osbourne on stage at Again to the Starting, 5 July. {Photograph}: Ross HalfinOsbourne grew to become depressed amid the in depth remedy, as he described in a Might 2025 interview with the Guardian. “You get up the following morning and discover that one thing else has gone improper. You start to suppose that is by no means going to finish,” he stated. “Sharon may see that I used to be in Doom City, and he or she says to me, ‘I’ve obtained an concept.’ It was one thing to provide me a cause to stand up within the morning.”This was the Again to the Starting live performance held at Villa Park in Birmingham, which noticed Osbourne reunite with Butler, Iommi and Ward for a four-song set, after a five-song solo set. Osbourne carried out seated in a bat-adorned throne, however put in a spirited efficiency, telling the viewers at one level: “I’m Iron Man: go fucking loopy!” The live performance additionally featured performances by legends together with Metallica, Slayer and Weapons N’ Roses.Elton John was amongst these paying tribute to Osbourne, writing: “He was a pricey pal and an enormous trailblazer who secured his place within the pantheon of rock gods – a real legend. He was additionally one of many funniest folks I’ve ever met. I’ll miss him dearly.”