Heavy metal pioneer and Black Sabbath lead singer Ozzy Osbourne has died, aged 76, just weeks after his final concert.
His family confirmed the singer and reality star’s death on Tuesday (early Wednesday AEST).
“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,” his wife Sharon and children Jack, Kelly, Aimee and Louis said in a statement.
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“He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time.”
The man who came to be known as the “Prince of Darkness” formed Black Sabbath in 1968 in Birmingham, a city then known for its heavy industry that became the crucible of the British metal scene.
Tributes from rock superstars began pouring in within less than an hour of the news of Ozzy’s death breaking.
Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood said he was “so very sad” to hear of the death and metal icons Metallica posted a picture of members with Osbourne, accompanied by a broken heart emoji.
“What a lovely goodbye concert he had at Back To The Beginning in Birmingham,” Wood said on social media.
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https://x.com/OzzyOsbourne/status/1947731442622206170
From devil imagery to eating live bat onstage
Black Sabbath’s devil imagery and thunderous sound made them one of the era’s most influential — and parent-scaring — metal acts.
Both the band and Osbourne as a solo artist have been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
In a career that lasted a staggering length of time, Osbourne lent his iconic voice to hard rock classics such as Paranoid, War Pigs, Iron Man and Heaven and Hell.
He also infamously ate a bat live onstage, an accident – he has said he thought it was plastic – that forced him to rush to hospital after the gig but only added to his myth.
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Osbourne’s fame expanded into the mainstream in the early 2000s, when he joined his wife Sharon Osbourne, and two of their children, Kelly and Jack, in the MTV reality TV show The Osbournes.
The MTV show was one of the first celebrity reality shows and opened Osbourne and the rest of his family up to an audience far broader than his already massive musical influence.
It also showed even existing fans another side of the man famed for his Satanic, intense stage persona, captivating viewers with his charismatic, funny, somewhat bewildered approach to life, exhibiting hallmarks of years of drug and alcohol abuse.
And the show made stars in their own right of wife, Sharon, and daughter, Kelly.
Ozbourne has struggled with health issues since 2003 following a near-fatal quad bike crash. He revealed his Parkinson’s diagnosis in 2020 and paused touring in 2023 after spinal surgery.
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‘The Beatles of heavy metal’
Black Sabbath’s 1969 self-titled debut LP has been likened to the Big Bang of heavy metal. It came during the height of the Vietnam War and crashed the hippie party, dripping menace and foreboding.
The cover of the record was of a spooky figure against a stark landscape. The music was loud, dense and angry, and marked a shift in rock ‘n’ roll.
The band’s second album, Paranoid, included such classic metal tunes as War Pigs, Iron Man and Fairies Wear Boots. The song Paranoid only reached No.61 on the US Billboard Hot 100 but became in many ways the band’s signature song. Both albums were voted among the top 10 greatest heavy metal albums of all time by readers of Rolling Stone magazine.
“Black Sabbath are the Beatles of heavy metal. Anybody who’s serious about metal will tell you it all comes down to Sabbath,” Dave Navarro of the band Jane’s Addiction wrote in a 2010 tribute in Rolling Stone.
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“There’s a direct line you can draw back from today’s metal, through Eighties bands like Iron Maiden, back to Sabbath.”
Sabbath fired Osbourne in 1979 for his legendary excesses, like showing up late for rehearsals and missing gigs.
“We knew we didn’t really have a choice but to sack him because he was just so out of control. But we were all very down about the situation,” wrote Butler in his memoir, Into the Void.
Osbourne continued his hell-raising alcohol and drug binges.
“Looking back, I should have died a thousand times but never did,” he said in the 2011 documentary God Bless Ozzy Osbourne.
“By 12 o’clock in the old days I’d have powder up my nose, f—ing shit in my veins, all kinds of stuff.”
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The drugs and alcohol also led to domestic violence and abuse. In an interview with CNN in 2011, Sharon Osbourne spoke of her husband’s violent outbursts.
“It was damn pretty scary,” she said.
“You’re in a house, no neighbours each side, the kids asleep, you know you’re on your own, what the hell do you do?”
Osbourne reemerged the next year as a solo artist with Blizzard of Ozz and the following year’s Diary of a Madman, both hard rock classics that went multi-platinum and spawned enduring favourites such as Crazy Train, Goodbye to Romance, Flying High Again and You Can’t Kill Rock and Roll.
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Ozzy’s final show
On July 6, hard-rock royalty and some 40,000 fans gathered for an ear-splitting tribute to the icon as the original Black Sabbath lineup performed for the final time at Villa Park football stadium.
“I don’t know what to say, man, I’ve been laid up for like six years. You have no idea how I feel — thank you from the bottom of my heart,” Osbourne said on the night.
“You’re all … special. Let’s go crazy, come on.”
The show was billed as a farewell to the beloved Brummie, who performed seated on a throne.
Osbourne performed several songs solo before being joined onstage, for the first time in 20 years, by Black Sabbath bandmates Tony Iommi, Terence “Geezer” Butler and Bill Ward. The band ended a short set with Paranoid.
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It capped a day-long metal festival that included performances from the likes of Anthrax, Metallica and Guns N’Roses.
Artists who sent plaudits and well-wishes included Jack Black, Dolly Parton and Elton John.
“You are one of the most remarkable singers of our time,” John said.
“You are the king, you are the legend.”
– Reported with Associated Press and CNN
