Goodnight, sweet prince of darkness. Just two and a half weeks after the final Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath show, Ozzy has died at age 76. A statement from the Osbourne family reads:
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. He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time.
No cause of death has been given at the moment, though Ozzy publicly struggled with Parkinson’s disease and other health issues towards the end of his life that resulted in multiple tour/show cancellations, and that forced him to perform his final show seated on a throne.
Born John Michael Osbourne in Aston, Birmingham, in 1948, Ozzy found his calling as a musician in his teenage years and formed the band Rare Breed with bassist Geezer Butler in 1967. They only lasted for two shows, but the pair then teamed up with guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward to form a band in 1968 called Polka Tulk Blues, later renamed Earth, and eventually named Black Sabbath in 1969. On their very first album, 1970’s Black Sabbath, that four-piece band revolutionized rock music forever and invented heavy metal in the process. 55 years later, the same lineup played their very last show, and first with Ward in the band since 2005. The show also included opening sets from Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Guns N’ Roses, Mastodon, Anthrax, Tool, Lamb of God, Alice In Chains, Gojira, and more, all of whom covered Black Sabbath songs, just to give you a small sample size of this band’s impact and influence. The list of bands and artists who wouldn’t exist without Ozzy and Sabbath is damn near endless.
Ozzy remained the vocalist of Black Sabbath through their eighth album, 1978’s Never Say Die!, and after being ejected from the band in 1979 due to personal issues, Ozzy launched a solo career with 1980’s Blizzard of Ozz, home of his breakthrough solo hit “Crazy Train.” His lengthy solo career remained successful into the 1990s, and that decade he and wife Sharon Osbourne also launched their own long-running music festival, Ozzfest. In 2002, he and his family achieved reality TV success with their hit MTV show The Osbournes, which starred Ozzy, Sharon, and two of their three children, Kelly and Jack. His wild, wild life has been full of ups, downs, and various controversies, including the time he bit off the head of a bat on stage.
Ozzy returned to Black Sabbath in 1997, and continued to tour on and off with the band for the remainder of his life. In 2013, Black Sabbath released their final album and first with Ozzy since 1978, titled 13. Ozzy’s solo career was also in the midst of a comeback during his final years. 2020 saw the release of his first album in 10 years, Ordinary Man, and that was followed in 2022 with Patient Number 9.
It’s impossible to quickly sum up Ozzy’s life or his impact. He and Black Sabbath helped invent an entire subculture that continues to thrive after 55 years and their early/mid ’70s records are still to this day as good as heavy metal gets.
Rest in power to an absolute legend.