“You’ve no idea how I feel – thank you from the bottom of my heart,” an emotional Ozzy Osbourne instructed followers as he carried out from a throne on stage at his beloved Villa Park, reunited with Black Sabbath, lower than three weeks in the past.
It was an exit on his personal phrases by heavy metallic’s largest character, with a supporting line-up of exhausting rock luminaries together with Slayer, Metallica and Weapons’n’Roses, all impressed by his music.
With Black Sabbath, Osbourne was on the forefront of heavy metallic. As Ozzy, he was one of many largest rock stars on the earth. Nowhere was this extra evident than on the Again To The Starting in his house metropolis, the place 40,000 followers gathered to see the present billed as his “final bow”.
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Ozzy’s remaining present
“Without Sabbath, there would be no Metallica,” frontman James Hetfield instructed the group in Birmingham.
It was a sentiment echoed by most of the different acts who carried out on stage. Introduced by his spouse Sharon earlier this 12 months, the present was an opportunity for the performer to reunite with Black Sabbath and say thanks and farewell to followers after years of well being issues, together with Parkinson’s illness, which had compelled him to cancel latest tour exhibits.
Different celebrities, from Sir Elton John to Dolly Parton, despatched video messages of assist. Followers knew it might be his final efficiency, however couldn’t have identified his demise, on the age of 76, would come so quickly.
It was a very metallic goodbye.
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Black Sabbath within the Nineteen Seventies. Pic: Everett/Shutterstock
‘I feel there is a wild man in all people’
John Michael Osbourne was born in Solihull in December 1948 and grew up within the Aston space of the West Midlands metropolis.
As a youngster, he was bullied at college. Drink and medicines later grew to become a option to escape his fears, he stated in interviews, and after leaving college at 15, he labored a number of jobs, together with labouring and in an abattoir.
It was listening to The Beatles, he stated, that made him need to be a musician.
“I think there’s a wild man in everybody,” he says in a resurfaced interview clip. “Ozzy Osbourne and John Osbourne is two different people. John Osbourne is talking to you now.” His eyes widen somewhat manically, he grins, the voice cranks up. “But if you want to be Ozzy Osbourne, it’s like… it just takes over you.”
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(L-R) Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne and Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath on the Grammys in 2014
In 1967, he was recruited to the band that two years later would develop into Black Sabbath, impressed by a movie of the identical title. This was a line-up of 4 working-class schoolfriends – Tony Iommi, Invoice Ward and Geezer Butler, alongside Ozzy – who twisted heavy blues into one thing darker, making a sound and otherworldly picture that felt new, thrilling and rebellious.
A self-titled debut album was launched in 1970 and made the High 10 within the UK. The follow-up, Paranoid, launched simply seven months later, topped the charts after the one of the identical title grew to become their large breakthrough. The album additionally included the unforgettable Iron Man and the anti-war protest music Warfare Pigs – its unmistakeable riff inspiring the Arctic Monkeys’ 2014 single, Arabella.
Black Sabbath went on to launch six extra albums with Osbourne on the helm earlier than he was fired in 1979 resulting from his ingesting and substance use, one thing he claimed was no higher or worse than different members on the time.
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Osbourne in 1978. Pic: Andrew Kent/Retna/Mediapunch/Shutterstock
In 1980, he returned together with his debut solo album, Blizzard Of Oz, and the lead single Loopy Practice. As a solo artist, he went on to launch 13 studio albums – the final being Affected person Quantity 9, in 2022 – and had hits with songs together with Mr Crowley, Diary Of A Madman, No Extra Tears, Bark At The Moon and Shot In The Darkish.
His first UK primary was a re-recording of the Black Sabbath ballad Modifications, as a duet together with his daughter, Kelly, in 2003, and his collaborations over time included everybody from Alice Cooper (Hey Stoopid in 1991) and Submit Malone (Take What You Need in 2019) to, in a considerably uncommon transfer, Hollywood star Kim Basinger for a re-recording of the dance hit Shake Your Head by Was (Not Was) in 1992.
With Black Sabbath and as a solo star, he’s estimated to have offered 100 million information all through his profession – for context, that is reportedly on a par with Sir Paul McCartney’s solo gross sales – so the numbers communicate for themselves.
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With daughter Kelly Osbourne and spouse Sharon in 2020. Pic: AP
Biting the bat
Osbourne was additionally an enormous character and performed as much as his hellraising picture – the Prince of Darkness.
Essentially the most well-known Ozzy story goes like this.
The singer was on stage in Des Moines, Iowa, 1982, when the bat appeared. He assumed it was a toy. So, like several good hellraiser would do, he bit its head off.
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Pic: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
He was typically irritated by the bat connection. However he additionally performed as much as the picture, recounting the story in interviews, providing plush bat toys amongst his merch, and showing as himself, biting a bat, within the 2000 Adam Sandler comedy Little Nicky, concerning the son of Devil.
Recognized for catapulting uncooked meat at followers throughout gigs, there have been loads of different tales of darkness and debauchery. Osbourne’s wild persona and on-stage theatrics all the time went hand-in-hand with the music.
From Prince of Darkness to actuality TV
He was famously managed by his spouse, Sharon, whom he first met when her dad, Don Arden, was managing Black Sabbath. In addition to the music, Sharon and Ozzy collectively based the Ozzfest pageant excursions in 1996 – and in 2002 got here his second act.
It is exhausting to think about it now, however earlier than the peerlessly coiffed Kardashians it was a scruffy 50-something rocker from Birmingham and his household who dominated the Hollywood actuality TV scene. As together with his music, he was a pioneer – this time spherical of a brand new period of addictive viewing.
The Osbournes adopted the lives of Ozzy and Sharon and two of their kids, Kelly and Jack (their eldest daughter, Aimee, famously had nothing to do with the present), and the household fallouts and sunny California tradition conflict proved to be a scores winner. The MTV sequence catapulted the metallic star to world mainstream celeb heights.
His marriage to Sharon was tumultuous however the pair all the time stayed collectively, and so they renewed their marriage ceremony vows in 2017. Sharon was the driving drive behind Ozzy’s successes, to him ultimately getting clear, and behind his farewell present.
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Metallica frontman James Hetfield was amongst those that paid tribute at his remaining gig earlier in July. Pic: Ross Halfin
Regardless of weathering the storm of drink and drug use, Osbourne’s air of indestructibility was challenged when a quad bike accident left him with a damaged collar bone and ribs, in addition to short-term reminiscence loss, in 2003.
The 2020 documentary Biography: The 9 Lives Of Ozzy Osbourne, had summed up with its title the performer’s seeming capability to defy the chances. Nonetheless, the well being issues began to mount up. Scheduled excursions have been postponed, and in 2023 he instructed followers holding on to tickets that he had come to the realisation he was “not physically capable” of coping with life on the highway.
However there was one gig he could not miss – a shock look to shut the Commonwealth Video games in his house metropolis in 2022, simply weeks after present process surgical procedure.
Now, followers will bear in mind the exhibits they did get to see, the music that ushered in a brand new style – and particularly his most up-to-date gig, which was stated to have raised round £140m for charities. Only a few days afterwards, his new memoir, Final Rites, was introduced. It will likely be launched in October.
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Ozzy Osbourne’s star on the ‘Birmingham Stroll of Stars’
Throughout his profession, Osbourne was inducted into the UK Music Corridor of Fame and the US Rock And Roll Corridor Of Fame – twice for each, with Black Sabbath and as a solo artist. “Countless artists from many genres have credited Ozzy as a major influence, including Metallica, Lita Ford, Rage Against The Machine, and Busta Rhymes,” reads his US quotation. “With his longevity, impact, and iconic persona, Ozzy Osbourne is a phenomenon unlike any other.”
He additionally has a star on the Hollywood Stroll Of Fame – in addition to in Birmingham’s Broad Road – an Ivor Novello, and 5 Grammy wins from 12 nominations.
However different honours, such because the NME’s Godlike Genius award, and Traditional Rock’s Residing Legend, additionally give a way of how a lot his character performed an element in why he’s so beloved by followers and critics alike. Within the 9 Lives documentary, daughter Kelly describes him as “the most irresistible mad man you will ever meet in your life”.
Osbourne’s was an unlikely journey from Birmingham to LA. He was a working-class hero of heavy metallic, a actuality TV favorite – perpetually the Prince of Darkness.
“People say to me, if you could do it all again, knowing what you know now, would you change anything?” he as soon as stated. “I’m like, f*** no… If I’d done normal, sensible things, I wouldn’t be Ozzy.”
