Ozzy Osbourne

Ozzy Osbourne (real name John Michael Osborne; genus. 1948) is a British rock singer, musician, one of the founders, and a member of the Black Sabbath group, which had a significant impact on the emergence of musical genres such as hard rock and heavy metal.

His career success and popularity earned him the unofficial title of "The Godfather of Heavy Metal".

There are many interesting facts in the biography of Ozzy Osbourne, which we will tell about in this article.

So, here is a short biography of Osborne.

Biography of Ozzy Osbourne

John Osborne was born on December 3, 1948 in the English city of Birmingham. He grew up and was brought up in a poor family that has nothing to do with show business. His parents, John Thomas and Lillian, worked at the General Electric plant where they made tools.

The future singer was the fourth child in a family of 6 children. His famous nickname - "Ozzy", Osbourne received at school. Obviously, it was a diminutive form of his name.

When Ozzy was about 15 years old, he was dropped from school. Due to the fact that the Osborn family was experiencing serious financial difficulties, the teenager began to earn money as an assistant plumber. In the subsequent years of his biography, he changed many more professions, performing various dirty jobs.

Ozzy Osbourne worked as a locksmith, slaughterhouse operator, painter and even digging graves. Since the money he earned was still not enough, he started stealing. During another theft, he was caught by the police and placed in jail, where he spent about 2 months.

Music

After his release, Ozzy decided to take up music. As a result, he was offered to become a soloist of the young group "Music Machine", but this collaboration was short-lived.

Osborne wanted to create his own rock band, as a result of which he posted an advertisement in the newspaper about the search for musicians. Initially the band was called The Polka Tulk Blues Band, but later the musicians were renamed to Earth.

However, after they found out that there was already a group called "Earth", the rockers changed their name again to "Black Sabbath" - from their first song.

In early 1970, Ozzy Osbourne, along with other members of the band, recorded their debut album - "Black Sabbath", which became very popular. In the same year, the guys presented their second disc called "Paranoid", which became even more famous.

The group began to actively tour and gain recognition all over the world. In 1977, Osborne announced his retirement from Black Sabbath, but a year later he returned to the band. At this time in his biography, he was in depression, the cause of which was the death of his father.

The guy drank a lot and took drugs, trying to drown out the mental pain. After the release of the next album, Ozzy was determined to leave the group and pursue a solo career. In one interview, he admitted that leaving Black Sabbath was a relief for him.

In 1980, Osborne presented his first solo album, Blizzard of Ozz, which received many positive reviews. Particularly popular was the song "Crazy Train", which the singer still performs at his concerts.

After that, his creative biography began to go uphill sharply. In 1989, the rock ballad "Close My Eyes Forever" was recorded, which the singer performed in a duet with Lita Ford. An interesting fact is that today this composition is considered one of the best ballads in the history of heavy metal.

Ozzy has a highly controversial reputation for his "bloodthirsty" antics. So, in the course of communication with the heads of the recording studio, with whom the musician planned his collaboration, Osborne brought 2 white doves.

As planned, Ozzy wanted to release the birds into the sky, but instead bit off the head of one of them. Later, the rocker admitted that at that moment he was intoxicated.

In the future, Osborne repeatedly entertained himself at concerts by throwing pieces of raw meat to fans. In 1982, in his biography, there was a bright episode associated with a bat. Taking the mouse for a rubber toy, he bit off its head and only then realized that it was alive.

The musician also said that the bat managed to bite him, and therefore he was forced to undergo treatment for rabies.

Even in old age, Ozzy Osbourne continues to "improvise" both on stage and in life. For example, in the summer of 2010, during the release of his 11th solo album "Scream", he carried out an interesting advertising campaign at the American Madame Tussaud's wax museum.

Osborne sat motionless on a sofa in one of the rooms, imitating a wax figure. And when his fans approached him to take a picture, he would stand up abruptly or simply scare the fans with a shout.

Personal life

Ozzy's first wife was Thelma Riley. In this marriage, the couple had a Boy Louis John and a girl Jessica Starshine. It is worth noting that the musician adopted Elliot Kingsley, the son of his wife from a previous marriage.

The couple lived together for about 12 years, after which they decided to leave. The family broke up due to the rocker's alcohol addiction. An interesting fact is that in his autobiography "I am Ozzy" Osbourne frankly talks about his many years of struggle with alcoholism.

According to the man, he began to abuse alcohol at the age of 18, and by the age of 40 he became a chronic alcoholic who consumed 3-4 bottles of vodka or cognac a day. He turned to various rehabilitation centers for help, but periods of sobriety were still often replaced by hard drinking. He managed to overcome the bad habit only in the early 2000s.

Ozzy's second wife was Sharon Arden, who began to manage all of his affairs. In this union, the young people had three children - Amy, Kelly and Jack. They also raised Robert Marcato, whose deceased mother was a friend of the couple.

In 2003, Ozzy was seriously injured after falling from an ATV. He had to urgently operate by inserting several metal vertebrae into his spine.

In the fall of 2016, the History channel launched a TV show featuring Ozzy Osbourne - "Ozzy and Jack's World Tour." In it, the musician with his son Jack went on a trip around the world. During their travels, the men visited many historical sites.

Ozzy Osbourne today

In the spring of 2019, Ozzy's old illnesses worsened with pneumonia. Later it became known that he suffers from a form of Parkinson's disease. According to him, not so long ago he underwent surgery, which negatively affected his health.

In mid-2019, the results of experts who examined the musician's body were published. It turned out that Osborne possesses a gene mutation that allows him to remain relatively healthy after drinking hard liquor over a long period of time.

Ozzy took part in an experiment conducted by doctors in Massachusetts. The singer has a page on Instagram, which is subscribed to by about 4 million people.