Ozzy Osbourne, the gloomy, demon-invoking lead singer of the pioneering band Black Sabbath who grew to become the throaty, growling voice — and drug-and-alcohol ravaged id — of heavy metal, died on Tuesday (July 22, 2025), simply weeks after his farewell present. He was 76.
Either clad in black or bare-chested, the singer was usually the goal of mother and father’ teams for his imagery and as soon as prompted an uproar for biting the top off a bat. Later, he would reveal himself to be a doddering and candy father on the truth TV present “The Osbournes.”
Black Sabbath’s 1969 self-titled debut LP has been likened to the Big Bang of heavy metal. It got here in the course of the peak of the (*76*) War and crashed the hippie celebration, dripping menace and foreboding.
The band’s second album, “Paranoid,” included such basic tunes as “War Pigs,” “Iron Man” and “Fairies Wear Boots.” The music “Paranoid” solely reached No. 61 on the Billboard Hot 100 however grew to become in some ways the band’s signature music. Both albums have been voted among the many prime 10 biggest heavy metal albums of all time by readers of Rolling Stone journal.
Ozzy Osbourne, of Black Sabbath, performs at Ozzfest on Sept. 24, 2016, in San Bernardino, Calif.
| Photo Credit:
AP
“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.
Sabbath fired Osbourne in 1979 for his legendary excesses, like displaying up late for rehearsals and lacking gigs. He reemerged the following 12 months as a solo artist with “Blizzard of Ozz” and the next 12 months’s “Diary of a Madman,” each arduous rock classics that went multi-platinum and spawned enduring favorites equivalent to “Crazy Train,” “Goodbye to Romance,” “Flying High Again” and “You Can’t Kill Rock and Roll.” Osbourne was twice inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame — as soon as with Sabbath in 2006 and once more in 2024 as a solo artist.
The unique Sabbath lineup reunited for the primary time in 20 years in July 2025 within the U.Ok. for what Osbourne mentioned was his closing live performance. “Let the madness begin!” he informed 42,000 followers.
Metallica, Guns N Roses, Slayer, Tool, Pantera, Gojira, Alice in Chains, Lamb of God, Halestorm, Anthrax, Rival Sons and Mastodon did units. Tom Morello, Steven Tyler, Billy Corgan, Ronnie Wood, Travis Barker, Sammy Hagar, Yungblud and Vernon Reid made appearances.
Osbourne embodied the excesses of metal. His outlandish exploits included relieving himself on the Alamo, snorting a line of ants off a sidewalk and, most memorably, biting the top off a reside bat {that a} fan threw onstage throughout a 1981 live performance. (He mentioned he thought it was rubber.)
Osbourne was sued in 1987 by mother and father of a 19-year-old teen who died by suicide whereas listening to his music “Suicide Solution.” The lawsuit was dismissed. Osbourne mentioned the music was actually concerning the risks of alcohol, which prompted the loss of life of his good friend Bon Scott, lead singer of AC/DC.
Then-Cardinal John J. O’Connor of New York claimed in 1990 that Osbourne’s songs led to demonic possession and even suicide. “You are ignorant about the true meaning of my songs,” the singer wrote again. “You have also insulted the intelligence of rock fans all over the world.”
Audiences at Osbourne reveals may very well be mooned or spit on by the singer, however the Satan-invoking Osbourne would normally ship the crowds residence with their ears ringing and a hearty “God bless!”
He began an annual tour — Ozzfest — in 1996 after he was rejected from the lineup of what was then the highest touring music competition, Lollapalooza. Ozzfest would host such bands as Slipknot, Tool, Megadeth, Rob Zombie, System of a Down, Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park.
In 2013, he reunited with Black Sabbath for the dour, uncooked “13,” which reached No. 1 on the U.Ok. Albums Chart. In 2019, he had a Top 10 hit when featured on Post Malone’s “Take What You Want,” Osbourne’s first music within the Top 10 since 1989.
In 2020, he launched the album “Ordinary Man,” which had as its title music a duet with Elton John. “I’ve been a bad guy, been higher than the blue sky/And the truth is I don’t wanna die an ordinary man,” he sang. In 2022, he landed his first profession back-to-back No. 1 rock radio singles from his album “Patient Number 9,” which featured collaborations with Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Robert Trujillo and Duff McKagan. t earned 4 Grammy nominations, profitable two. (Osbourne received 5 Grammys over his lifetime.)
At the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2024, Jack Black known as him “greatest frontman in the history of rock ‘n’ roll” and “the Jack Nicholson of rock.”
John Michael Osbourne was raised within the gritty metropolis of Birmingham, England. Kids at school nicknamed him Ozzy, brief for his surname.
In the late Sixties, Osbourne teamed up with bassist Terry “Geezer” Butler, guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward. They named themselves after the American title of the basic Italian horror film “I Tre Volti Della Paura,” starring Boris Karloff: Black Sabbath.
The music was all about industrial guitar riffs and disorienting adjustments in time signatures, together with lyrics that spoke of alienation and doom. “All day long I think of things but nothing seems to satisfy/Think I’ll lose my mind if I don’t find something to pacify,” Osbourne sang in a single music.
The Guardian in 2009 mentioned the band “introduced working-class anger, stoner sludge grooves and witchy horror-rock to flower power.”
Much later, a wholesome Osbourne would be revealed when “The Osbournes,” which ran on MTV from 2002-2005, confirmed this one-time self-proclaimed madman ingesting Diet Cokes as he struggled to seek out the History Channel on his new satellite tv for pc tv.
He is survived by Sharon, and his kids.
