English singer and Black Sabbath co-founder (1948-2025) who helped invent heavy metal and became a cultural icon through music, mayhem and reality television.
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Ozzy Osbourne 11
1948Ozzy Osbourne born in Marston Green, BirminghamJohn Michael Osbourne was born on 3 December 1948 in Marston Green, Warwickshire, and grew up in Aston, a working-class area of Birmingham. His father Jack worked night shifts at a GEC factory; his mother Lillian worked days. He was one of six children. Dyslexic and bullied at school, he left at fifteen and worked in a slaughterhouse, a car factory and as a plumber's apprentice before discovering music.
1968 – 1979Black Sabbath -- inventing heavy metalIn 1968, Osbourne co-founded Black Sabbath with guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward in Birmingham. The band's self-titled debut album (1970), with its tritone-based riffs and occult imagery, is widely regarded as the birth of heavy metal. Albums including Paranoid (1970), Master of Reality (1971) and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973) established the template for the genre. Osbourne's voice -- a piercing, otherworldly tenor -- became metal's defining instrument.
1979Fired from Black SabbathIn 1979, amid escalating drug and alcohol abuse that rendered him unable to perform reliably, Osbourne was fired from Black Sabbath by his bandmates. He was replaced by Ronnie James Dio. The dismissal, devastating at the time, proved to be the making of his solo career. He later said being fired was the best thing that ever happened to him.
1980 – 1995Solo career -- Crazy Train, Randy Rhoads, and mayhemManaged by his future wife Sharon Arden, Osbourne launched a hugely successful solo career. His debut album Blizzard of Ozz (1980), featuring guitarist Randy Rhoads, produced the anthems Crazy Train and Mr. Crowley. The tragic death of Rhoads in a plane crash in 1982 devastated Osbourne. He continued releasing platinum albums throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, becoming as famous for his outrageous behaviour -- biting the head off a bat on stage, urinating on the Alamo -- as for his music.
1982Sharon Arden becomes Sharon OsbourneOsbourne married his manager Sharon Arden on 4 July 1982 in Hawaii. Sharon transformed his career, providing the organisational discipline and business acumen that Osbourne lacked entirely. Their tempestuous but enduring marriage -- surviving his addictions, infidelities and near-fatal overdoses -- would become one of rock's most famous partnerships. They had three children together: Aimee, Kelly and Jack.
1996 – 2017Ozzfest and Black Sabbath reunionsIn 1996, Osbourne and Sharon created Ozzfest, an annual touring heavy metal festival that became one of the most important events in the genre, launching the careers of numerous bands. Osbourne reunited with Black Sabbath multiple times, most significantly from 2012 when they recorded the album 13 (2013), which debuted at number one in multiple countries. The band's farewell tour, The End, concluded in Birmingham in February 2017.
2002 – 2005The Osbournes -- reality television pioneerMTV's The Osbournes (2002-2005), following the chaotic daily life of the Osbourne family, became one of the most-watched reality television shows in history and reinvented Osbourne for a new generation as a lovable, bewildered patriarch. The show won an Emmy and transformed public perception of the former Prince of Darkness into something approaching a national treasure.
2003 – 2025Health crises and Parkinson's diagnosisOsbourne's health was battered by decades of substance abuse. He nearly died in a quad bike accident in 2003, broke his neck, and suffered a genetic condition that scientists studying his DNA in 2011 called him a 'genetic mutant' for surviving. He revealed a Parkinson's disease diagnosis in 2020 (later clarified as PRKN 2) and underwent multiple surgeries. Despite it all, he continued recording and performing.
2020 – 2023Final solo albums -- Ordinary Man and Patient Number 9Defying his health problems, Osbourne released two critically acclaimed late-career albums: Ordinary Man (2020) and Patient Number 9 (2022), featuring collaborations with Elton John, Post Malone, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck. Both albums demonstrated that his voice, though weathered, retained its distinctive power and emotional range.
2025Back to the Beginning -- final show, Birmingham, 5 July 2025On 5 July 2025, Osbourne performed his final concert, Back to the Beginning, in his hometown of Birmingham, reuniting with all three original Black Sabbath bandmates -- Iommi, Butler and Ward -- for the first time in decades. The show was announced as his farewell performance due to his deteriorating health. Sharon later said it was the perfect way to end a career that had begun in the same city nearly sixty years earlier.
2025Ozzy Osbourne dies at home in BuckinghamshireOzzy Osbourne died on 22 July 2025 at his home in Jordans, Buckinghamshire, seventeen days after his final performance. His cause of death was cardiac arrest caused by acute myocardial infarction, coronary artery disease and Parkinson's disease. His family announced: 'He was with his family and surrounded by love.' Black Sabbath's official page posted two words: 'Ozzy Forever.' His funeral procession passed through Birmingham, and the hearse paused at the Black Sabbath bench on Broad Street.