Ozzy Osbourne Unveiled: From Dark Prince to Metal’s Shining Icon

There were tears in many eyes on July 5th at Villa Park in Birmingham when Black Sabbath bid farewell in their hometown. Ozzy Osbourne, seated on a black leather throne at the center of the stage, appeared weary, his legs trembling from Parkinson’s disease which he had been battling for years and which had impaired his mobility, his voice often faltering, but his made-up eyes sparkled with the joy of being there for this final dark mass, surrounded by the original Black Sabbath members (Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward). About two weeks later, on Tuesday, July 22, Ozzy died at the age of 76, and with him, one of the last giants of heavy metal, perhaps the greatest, bowed out.

Who would have thought back in April 1979, when he was dismissed from Black Sabbath by his bandmates due to substance abuse, that the Prince of Darkness would rise from the ashes and enjoy a second career as impactful as his first? Who else but Ozzy Osbourne to leave behind the band with which he invented an entire musical genre and return to the limelight a year later with Blizzard of Ozz (1980), his first solo album, featuring iconic tracks like Crazy Train, Mr. Crowley, and I Don’t Know, introducing the world to the talents of guitarist Randy Rhoads, whose neoclassical playing influenced many a guitar hero in the metal galaxy.

Ozzy Osbourne’s Early Musical Steps

It seemed destined, however. Born John Michael Osbourne on December 3, 1948, in Marston Green, a small village near Birmingham’s airport, Ozzy was bound to be a rock star. Caught up in the Beatles craze like every teenager in 1963, Osbourne, between odd jobs on construction sites or in a slaughterhouse, waited until 1967 to make his first musical steps alongside Geezer Butler in a short-lived group called Rare Breed. The following year, the duo joined forces with guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward to form a new band which, after several name changes, officially became Black Sabbath in 1969. Initially a rhythm guitarist, Butler switched to bass to let Iommi handle all guitar parts; Ozzy shone as the vocalist.

Inspired by horror films and stories, heavily influenced by the heavy blues rock of Cream and Blue Cheer, Black Sabbath released their eponymous debut album on February 13, 1970. With its heavy rhythm as if emerging from the depths of the earth, a slow gripping riff, and Ozzy Osbourne’s voice floating in the air like a malevolent and despairing incantation, the unnerving Black Sabbath opened this pivotal album. Heavy metal was born, along with its sub-genre, doom, which would inspire countless bands influenced by the Birmingham foursome.

In just two years, Black Sabbath penned one of the most significant chapters in rock history. Starting with their first album, Paranoid (1970), Master of Reality (1971), and Vol. 4 (1972) they created an unparalleled tetralogy in metal history, its influence still heard today. From stoner to sludge, from thrash to grunge, all these styles were nourished at one time or another by these titanic riffs. From Metallica to Dave Grohl, via Judas Priest, Guns N’ Roses, and Pantera, the greats bow down to the forefathers of a genre they helped create countless subdivisions of over a glorious decade.

Controversies That Shaped a Legend

At the center of the stage and attention, Ozzy Osbourne was the perfect frontman, the catalyst for all the hatred that would be poured onto the band, accused by religious figures of all stripes of satanism and of corrupting the youth who would stray from the righteous path under the influence of this devilish music. It must be said that the singer, always on the lookout for a good controversy to spark – and well aided by his addictions to alcohol and various drugs – liked to stir the pot. The controversies that shaped his legend are too numerous to count.

In 1981, just after signing his first contract as a solo artist with CBS Records, completely drunk, he decapitated a dove with his teeth; in 1982, during a concert in Des Moines, Iowa, he bit the head off a bat on stage, which resulted in an emergency hospital visit to get a rabies vaccination. In 2023, in an episode of his family podcast The Osbournes, Ozzy confirmed the truth of the 1984 incident where, while on tour with Mötley Crüe, he snorted a line of ants by a pool before urinating and licking the ground in front of Nikki Sixx and his band. Another madness recounted in the Crüe’s biography, The Dirt (2001), and brought to the screen in 2019 in the biopic of the same name.

His Career After Black Sabbath

A madman on and off stage, Ozzy Osbourne nevertheless had his feet on the ground, greatly assisted by Sharon Arden, who was his manager from 1979 before becoming his wife in 1982. Without Sharon Osbourne, Ozzy might not have had the post-Black Sabbath career he did. For better or for worse. The best part includes the creation of Ozzfest in 1996, which provided many metal bands and artists with an unexpected media exposure while alternative rock dominated the airwaves. The worst, perhaps, was The Osbournes, a reality TV show launched in 2002 and aired on MTV until 2005, which allowed viewers to follow the daily life and intimacy of the Osbourne family (Ozzy, Sharon, and their children Jack and Kelly). This unashamed exhibition came at a time when social media did not exist and helped popularize this type of show, a few years before Keeping Up with the Kardashians (2007).

A man of many lives, retired from the stage since 2018 for health reasons, Ozzy had thus met his fans on July 5th in Birmingham, where it all began. A final farewell to the exuberant lineup that only a star of his caliber could hope to reunite. Metallica, Gojira, Slayer, Tool, Guns N’ Roses, Pantera, Tom Morello, Mastodon, and Alice in Chains had traveled to warm up the crowd for hours before the appearance of the icon. During nine songs (five solo, four with Black Sabbath), Ozzy Osbourne could bid farewell in style by performing I Don’t Know. “People look to me and say/‘Is the end near, when is the final day?’”: sung along by all of Villa Park, the lyrics had a particular resonance for metal fans around the world, now orphaned by a magnificent madman.