A John Osbourne who bacame known as Ozzy Osbounre was born December 3, 1948 in Brimingham, England. He grew up in a working-class family and left school at age 15 to work a series of law-paying jobs. He has been a car horn tester, a slaughter house worker, a plumber and other things. He didn't like the law pay of these jobs, so Ozzy turned to petty crimes, burglarizing houses and shops before he was cought and put in jail. That is where he got that now famous tattoo of "O-Z-Z-Y" across his knuckles. Ozzy was released and then decided to go straight. He had run into an old friend who was in a band. They were looking for a singer. Ozzy joined, despite having no experence.

Ozzy grew out of his friend's abnd and joined a succession of local rock groups. Eventually he ened up in a band called Earth. It was a band with Tony Iommi on guitar, Geezer Butler on bass, and Bill Ward on drums. Soon they found a group with the same name. The members of Earth changed their name to Black Sabbath, taking the name from an old Boris Karloff movie. Black Sabbath sounds so much better than Earth, if you ask me anyways!

Black Sabbath released their self titled debut album on Friday, Feb. 13, 1970. Their success hit in a cult type way. The next album expanded futher with the release of their 1971 hit follow up Paranoid, whose title single becme a radio staple and a heavy metal anthem. That same year Black Sabbath released their thrid album, Master of Reality, followed by Vol. 4 (1972), Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1975), Sabotage (1975), and Technical Ecstacy (1976).

Durring this time Ozzy married Thelma Mayfair ad they had two children. Sadly, he and the rest of the band became seriously dependent on alcohol and cocaine, they soon gained a reputation for trashing cars and hotel rooms. Ozzy was at home one night, became frustrated and in a drunken anger shot a bunch of chickens that he kept in a coop in his back yard, starting rumors that he tortured animals for fun.

1977 Ozzy's father passed away, causing him to part from the band for a period of time. This was right before their next album, 1978's Never Say Die. Ozzy lost interest in the band and quit showing up for pratices. At the end of the Never Say Die tour the band had enough and Tony Iommi kicked Ozzy off the band. They replaced him with ex-Rainbow singer Ronny James Dio.

Ozzy ended up in a divorce from the despair and drug abuse. Months after Ozyy met Sharon Arden (daughter of rick manager Don Arden.) Sharon, the sweet lady, helped turn his life around. Sharon encouaged Ozzy to launch his solo career, she took on the role of manager, and helped him orchestrate every move along the way.

Ozzy joined forces with Quiet Roit guitarist Randy Rhoads to begin work on the 1980 solo debut, Blizzard of Ozz.The album was a huge success, reaching platinum status, and Ozzy had an equally secessful tour.

1981 Ozzy released his next album Diary of a Madman, which sold more than 5 million copies. The Diary of a Madman tour was one of the most troubled outings in rock history. Bad publicity and protesters dogging Ozzy the whole way. Ozzy stared to throw raw meat into the audience, and soon he started getting pelted with disgusting things in return, including a live bat... Bats freeze when they hit bright lights. So when it was thrown at at him it went into the bright lights and froze. Ozzy thought it was a rubber bat. He bit into the bat only to find it was actually alive. Ozzy had a series of rabies shots after the horrible, strange incident, which was blown way out of proportion by the media and caused his record sales to skyrocket.

 

 

February of 1982, Ozzy urinated on a part of the Alamo while in a drunken night. Outraging Texans and putting him in jail on charges of defacing a national monument. The next month while stopped at an airstrip in Florida, the bus driver, who was also a private pilot, offered to take the band's entourage on rides on the rented plane. With Randy Rhoads and Ozzy's wardrobe assistant on the plane, the drunk bus driver/pilot tried to "buzz" Ozzy's tour bus, but instead slammed the plane into a garage killing everyone on board Randy was replaced by Brad Gillis from Night Ranger and the show went on. Ozzy was still depressed by the loss of his friend.

That summer Ozzy married his girlfriend/manager, Sharon Arden and recorded a live album Speak of the Devil, a clooection of Black Sabbath Covers.

Ozzy grew increasingly unstable due to his growing drug problem and lingering depression over Randy's death. To celebrate a new contract with CBS Record, Ozzy showed up at a gathering of Epic Records executives carrying two doves, which his wife suggested releasing as a gimmickly "peace offering." Ozzy arrived so drunk that he bit the head off on of the doves, causing yet another media uproar.

After the new inncodent Ozzy entered rehab. But when he came out he found himself the subject of a lawsuit by angery parents who claimed their sons commited suicide after listening to Ozzy's anit-alcohol song, Suicide Solution written as a tribute to AC/DC member Bon Scott, who died of an alcohol overdose. Ozzy quickly won the suit...

For Ozzy's 3rd studio album, Bark at the Moon, 1984, Ozzy got Jake E. Lee. The album was a success, reaching double platinum status. After a two and a half year hiatus and another switch, Ozzy returned in 1988 with No Rest for the Wicked, featuring the new guitarist Zakk Wylde.

By 1991 Ozzy had successfully sobered and released a softer more personal album No More Tears. 1993 Ozzy released Live and Loud following the "farewell" tour. The album contained a live version of the sone "I don't Want to Change the World" which earned Ozzy his first Grammy Award for "Best Metal Performance."

Thanks to success of the tour and album, Ozzy decided to put his retirement on hold and return with Ozzmosis in late 1995. Zakk Wylde then left the band and was replaced by Randy Rhoad's friend Joe Holmes.

In the fall of 1996 Ozzy made a big success of Ozzfest, a gathering of 1990 heavy metal bands which continued through the summer of 1997. Grossing more than $12 million. Ozzfest was the second most successful tour of the year. November of 1997 Ozzy released the album, The Ozzman Cometh, a double C.D. retrospective including never-before-heard rehwarsal tapes of the four classic Sabbath songs.

Ozzy is still touring. He is also the man of my site because despite his past he is a great man. He is still a great inseriation. Early in 1970 he sold his first record, and continues to hold a title for a heavy metal artist. Teens today still like his music. 3 decades and Ozzy is still on his toes... well so to speak...

He is kind of a poster child for the was against drugs. Ozzy is rather slow and seems his mind is also kinda gone. He is still quite a man. A loving father and husband. He seems to be very close to his family when he is around them.

I will never forget the first time I started to like Ozzy. He was talking on T.V. quite some time ago. He was telling how this group would go on tours of famous people's house. This bus-load of people came to his front door. Ozzy answered the door, thinking it was his daughter, Kelly's friends he sent this tour group on up to her room. It was funny but the tour group got a free tour of his house!

Copyright © 2001-Current Release Me