Ozzy Osbourne
"Ozzy" Osbourne (born
John Michael Osbourne on
December 3 1948 in
Aston,
Birmingham,
England) is the lead
singer of the
heavy metal band
Black Sabbath, and is a popular solo artist and
reality television star. Osbourne has been married twice and is the father of five children: Jessica Hobbs, Louis Osbourne, (with first wife Thelma Riley),
Aimee,
Kelly and
Jack (with current wife
Sharon). He has two grandchildren by daughter Jessica.
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath met with swift and enduring success. Built around
Tony Iommi's driving guitar riffs and
Geezer Butler's horror-laden lyrics, topped by
Ozzy's eerie, loud vocals, their early records such as their
self-titled debut,
Paranoid and
Master of Reality in particular are considered definitive of
heavy metal.
[Dodd, P, The Book of Rock, Pavilion, 2001, ISBN 1862052921 ] This was despite rather modest investment from their US record label
Warner Bros.
Several of their early singles, especially "
Paranoid" and "
Iron Man", continue to draw significant radio airplay to this day. Osbourne himself continues to play these hits when performing as a solo artist.
Solo Success
In 1979, Osbourne was fired from Black Sabbath. Though many believe it is directly due to drug use, it was in fact due to his increasing unreliability and failure to show up for gigs. He was replaced by former
Rainbow singer
Ronnie James Dio. Depression now fueled his drug and alcohol problems, and his divorce from his first wife Thelma and a diagnosis of
bipolar disorder piled even more stress onto the singer. Despite these difficulties, Osbourne attempted to launch a solo career, managed by Sharon Arden, who was Black Sabbath manager
Don Arden's daughter. With Sharon Arden's help, Ozzy Osbourne was able to gain a recording deal with
Jet Records, then a subsidiary of
CBS. However, Sharon herself recounts that the band was lucky to be able to record and tour under the modest financial deal received from Jet.
The Ozzy Osbourne Band actually started out as
The Blizzard of Ozz. When the first album, which was to be a self-titled album, was to be released, it was agreed to name it
Blizzard of Ozz featuring Ozzy Osbourne, but the record company featured
Ozzy Osbourne with the album simply annotated
Blizzard of Ozz. After this, things were simplified to
The Ozzy Osbourne Band. Drummer
Lee Kerslake (of
Uriah Heep) and bassist/lyricist
Bob Daisley (of
Rainbow), however, still refer to that era as the "Blizzard of Ozz". Ozzy met with considerable success on his first solo effort. The debut collection immediately sold well with heavy rock fans.
To keep Ozzy from delving into his addictions following the momentum of the first album and tour, Sharon decided to try to keep the band working. During this time period, Ozzy's second album,
Diary of a Madman, took shape. Like the first album,
Diary of a Madman was hailed as an instant classic, and featured more of Bob Daisley's gifted songwriting, and more incredible guitar work by Randy Rhoads. The album release did not go without controversy though. Even though the songs were written and performed by the same four band members who created the
Blizzard of Ozz album, the internal album art and credits were seemingly given to Ozzy's new touring band consisting of Ozzy and Randy, along with bassist
Rudy Sarzo (
Quiet Riot) and drummer
Tommy Aldridge, formerly of
Black Oak Arkansas. Also not shown was keyboardist Don Airey, who played on the first three Ozzy Osbourne albums but was never credited until the third album,
Bark at the Moon.
Tragedy strikes
In March 1982, while in Florida for the follow-up album
Diary of a Madman tour, and a week away from playing
Madison Square Garden in
New York City, a light aircraft carrying guitarist
Randy Rhoads crashed while performing low passes over the band's tour bus. The pilot (also the tour bus driver) who was apparently trying to scare his ex-wife (also part of the Osbourne entourage) clipped the parked tour bus and crashed into a nearby house, killing himself, Rhoads, and the band's hairdresser, Rachell. Osbourne awoke from the tour bus and managed to save the life of the man living in the house, but those on the plane died on impact. Osbourne subsequently fell into a deep depression following the death of his close friend and bandmate. The record company gave Osbourne a break from performing to mourn for his late band member, but Ozzy stopped work for only one week.
Ex-
Gillan guitarist
Bernie Torme was the first guitarist hired to replace Randy once the tour resumed. Torme, however, could not handle the pressure of learning the guitar parts at short notice, and balked at the idea of playing in front of thousands of fans still mourning the loss of Randy Rhoads. There are very few photos of Bernie Torme playing with Ozzy, as his tenure with the band lasted less than one month.
In a rare interview later in
Guitar Player magazine,
Night Ranger guitarist
Brad Gillis discussed how he came to play for Ozzy following Bernie Torme, and a few tidbits about the recording of the infamous 1982 Ozzy live album,
Speak of the Devil. During an audition for guitarists in a hotel room, Ozzy discovered Gillis. Ozzy sat on the edge of a bed and sang "Flying High Again," while Brad played the song and solo with his electric guitar unplugged. He played it so well that Ozzy hugged him and asked him to help out in the tour. The tour continued, and culminated in the release of the aforementioned live album, recorded at the Ritz in New York City over two days.A
live tribute album was later released in which Osbourne talks about his relationship with Rhoads. This album included a studio song by Randy, taken from studio outtakes, called "Dee". This was a record for his mother.
Controversy
|
Ozzy's mugshot taken on May 16, 1984 |
According to the press, Osbourne's antics progressively worsened during the 1980s; his
alcoholism and drug abuse continued. (He later underwent a number of treatments for alcoholism and drug abuse.)
He is infamous for biting off the head of a live dove during a meeting with his newly signed record company. He was banned from CBS's buildings, but he still retained his contract with
CBS; though it has been speculated that this was a calculated stunt meant to intimidate the label executives into giving Osbourne more favourable contractual terms. Osbourne was also hospitalised for
rabies after biting off the head of a stunned
bat thrown on stage by a fan in
Des Moines, Iowa. He later claimed to have thought the bat was a rubber toy. He was arrested after urinating near the base of the
Cenotaph, a monument located in front of
The Alamo, while wearing one of his wife's dresses, for which he was banned from
San Antonio, Texas for ten years. (The dress was worn due to Sharon's attempt to prevent Ozzy from going out drinking, by removing all his clothes from the hotel where they were staying.)
Recovery
In the 1980s and 1990s, Osbourne's career was an effort on two fronts: continuing to make music without Rhoads, and becoming sober. Rhoads' first replacement was
Bernie Torme (who reportedly could not cope with the pressures of learning the set list at short notice, and who never recorded with Osbourne), followed by Brad Gillis of
Night Ranger, who filled in for the rest of the tour and associated live album
Speak of the Devil. This live title, known in the
United Kingdom as
Talk of the Devil, was originally planned to consist of live recordings from 1981, primarily from Osbourne's solo work. With news of Black Sabbath also about to release a live album titled "
Live Evil" however, Osbourne and Sharon decided to pre-empt his former band's efforts, and the album ended up consisting entirely of
Black Sabbath cover material, recorded with Gillis, bassist
Rudy Sarzo, and drummer
Tommy Aldridge. In the same
Guitar Player interview where Brad Gillis discussed how he came to play for Ozzy, he discussed the live album, and admitted that everyone in the band wanted to rework some parts, but were not given the opportunity.
Speak of the Devil was musically left alone.
In 1982, Osbourne was the guest vocalist on the
Was (Not Was) pop dance track "Shake Your Head (Let's Go to Bed)" with
Madonna performing backing vocals (a little known fact). Osbourne's cut was remixed and re-released in the early 1990s for a Was (Not Was) greatest hits album in
Europe, and it cracked the UK pop chart. Madonna asked that her vocal not be restored for the hits package, so new vocals by
Kim Basinger were added to complement Osbourne's lead.
Jake E. Lee, formerly of
Ratt and
Rough Cutt, was a more successful recruit than Torme, recording 1983's
Bark at the Moon (with Daisley, Aldridge, and former
Rainbow keyboard player
Don Airey) and 1986's
The Ultimate Sin (with bassist
Phil Soussan and drummer
Randy Castillo), and touring behind both albums.
Meanwhile, Osbourne was involved in a legal battle of his own. In late 1986, he was the target in the first of a series of US lawsuits brought against him, alleging that one of his songs, "
Suicide Solution", drove two teenagers to commit
suicide because of its "
subliminal lyrics". The cases were decided in Osbourne's favour, essentially on the premise that Osbourne cannot be held accountable for a listener's actions. Soon after, Osbourne publicly acknowledged he wrote "Suicide Solution" about his friend,
AC/DC lead singer
Bon Scott, who died from alcohol abuse, and that alcohol as a solution of one's problems is not the answer (hence the song's title). However, Bob Daisley asserts he wrote this song, about his concerns over Osbourne's own ongoing battle with substance abuse.
Lee and Osbourne parted ways in 1987, however, reportedly due to musical differences. Osbourne continued to struggle with his chemical dependencies, and commemorated the fifth anniversary of Rhoads' death with
Tribute, the live recordings from 1981 that had gone unreleased for years. Excellently recorded, the album cemented Rhoads' legendary status as an imaginative and talented musician. In 1988, Ozzy appeared in
The Decline of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years and told the director,
Penelope Spheeris, that "sobriety fucking sucks." Meanwhile, Osbourne found his most enduring replacement for Rhoads to date — a guitarist named
Zakk Wylde, plucked from a
New Jersey bar. Wylde joined Osbourne for his 1988 effort,
No Rest for the Wicked, in which Castillo remained on drums and Daisley once more returned to co-writing/bass duties. The subsequent tour saw Osbourne reunited with erstwhile Black Sabbath bandmate Geezer Butler on bass, and a live EP (entitled
Just Say Ozzy) featuring this lineup was released two years later. Geezer continued to tour with Ozzy for the subsequent 4 tours, and was a major stage presence throughout, playing as strongly as anyone since Rudy Sarzo.
Commercial success
While very successful as a heavy metal act through the 1980s, Osbourne sustained commercial success into the 1990s, starting with 1991's
No More Tears, which enjoyed much radio and
MTV exposure. It also initiated a practice of bringing in outside composers to help pen Osbourne's solo material, instead of relying solely upon his recording ensemble to write and arrange the music. The platinum selling, top-10
No More Tears album was mixed by veteran rock producer Michael Wagener, who also mixed the
Live and Loud album which followed in 1993. At this point Osbourne expressed his fatigue with the process of touring, and proclaimed his "retirement", which was to be short-lived. Osbourne's entire CD catalogue was remastered and reissued in 1995. Also that year, he released
Ozzmosis and went on stage again, dubbing his concert performances "The Retirement Sucks Tour". A greatest hits package,
The Ozzman Cometh was issued in 1997.
Osbourne's biggest financial success of the 1990s was a venture named
Ozzfest, created by his wife/manager Sharon and managed loosely by his son
Jack. Ozzfest was a quick hit with metal fans, spurring up-and-coming groups like
Incubus and
Slipknot to broad exposure and commercial success. Some acts even had the pleasure to share the bill with a reformed, yet much older
Black Sabbath. Osbourne reunited with the original members of Sabbath in 1997 and has performed periodically with the band ever since. Since 1997 there have been rumours of a new Black Sabbath album, though Ozzy has denied any further studio plans as Black Sabbath.
Osbourne's first album of new studio material in seven years, 2001's
Down to Earth, met with only moderate success, as did its live follow up,
Live at Budokan.
In the wake of a lawsuit by former band members Daisley and Kerslake, reportedly for unpaid royalties, Osbourne's catalogue was "remastered" again in 2002. This time, the original bass guitar and drum track contributions from the said musicians on Osbourne's first two albums were controversially removed and re-recorded entirely for a reported sum of $30,000 each by bassist Robert Trujillo (Suicidal Tendencies, Infectious Grooves; now of Metallica) and drummer Mike Bordin (Faith No More, Black Sabbath (1997 "reunion" gigs at OzzFest). The pair also played on the "Down To Earth" album.
Subsequent titles, such as "Speak Of The Devil", "The Ultimate Sin", "Just Say Ozzy" and "Live And Loud" were permitted to go out of print entirely. Osbourne has stated that he has hated the sound of "The Ultimate Sin", and he didn't like his image during this period as it was very "glam". More royalty disagreements sprouted up in later years between the Osbourne camp and Phil Soussan over this album; perhaps this was a way of squashing the argument.
As for the live material which was deleted, it can be speculated that Ozzy or the fans were getting tired of one live record after another piling up, containing most of the same songs and perhaps this was a way of cutting the slack since the release of Black Sabbath's "Reunion" set in 1998 and the release of Ozzy's "Live At Budokan" at the same time of the 2002 remasters.
However, possibly gauging the reaction of angry fans worldwide, most of the original 1995 remasters (with the minature cover art) have been made available through a number of retailers, notably Amazon.com. Most new copies of the 1995 reissues are now only available as imports. It has been stated that the out-of-print material may be reissued again soon by
Sony BMG, which is parent company to Osbourne's label Epic Records.
TV show
Osbourne garnered still greater
celebrity status by the unlikely success of his own brand of
reality television.
The Osbournes, a series featuring the domestic life of Osbourne and his family (wife
Sharon, children
Jack and
Kelly, but not his oldest daughter
Aimee, who declined to participate), has turned into one of
MTV's greatest hits. It premiered on
March 5 2002, and the final episode aired
March 21 2005. It should be noted that
Howard Stern was the individual who originally proposed the idea for this show.
Recent news
In 2002, Osbourne and wife Sharon were invited to the
White House Correspondents' Association dinner by
Fox News Channel correspondent
Greta Van Susteren for that year's event. Bush noted Ozzy's presence by making a couple jokes such as: "The thing about Ozzy is he's made a lot of big hit recordings: 'Party With the Animals'; 'Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath'; 'Face in Hell'; 'Black Skies and Bloodbath in Paradise.' Ozzy, Mom loves your stuff."
During 2003, a member of
Birmingham City Council campaigned for him to be given
Freedom of the City.
On
December 8,
2003, Osbourne was rushed into emergency
surgery when he was involved in an accident involving the use of his
all-terrain vehicle on his estate in
Chalfont St Peter,
Buckinghamshire, UK. Osbourne broke his
collar bone, eight
ribs, and a
neck vertebra. An operation was performed to lift the collarbone, which was believed to be resting on a major artery and interrupting blood flow to the arm. Sharon later revealed that Osbourne had stopped breathing following the crash and was resuscitated by Osbourne's then personal bodyguard,
Sam Ruston.
While in the hospital, Osbourne achieved his first ever UK number one single, a duet of the Black Sabbath ballad, "Changes" with daughter Kelly. In doing so, he broke the record of the longest period between an artist's first UK chart appearance (with Black Sabbath's, "
Paranoid", number four in August 1970) and their first number one hit; a gap of 33 years.
Since the accident, he has fully recovered and headlined the 2004 Ozzfest, where he again reunited with Black Sabbath. He has also turned his hand to writing a Broadway musical. The reputed topic is that of the Russian monk
Grigory Rasputin, who held sway with Russia's last royal
Romanov family. In 2005, he released a box set called
Prince of Darkness. The first and second discs are collections of live performances, B-sides, demos and singles. The third disc contained duets and other odd tracks with other artists, including "
Born to Be Wild" with
Miss Piggy. The fourth disc is entirely new material where Ozzy covers his favourite songs by his biggest influences and favourite bands, including
The Beatles,
John Lennon,
David Bowie and others.
He and wife Sharon starred in yet another
MTV show, this time a competition reality show entitled "
Battle for Ozzfest". A number of yet unsigned bands send one member to compete in a challenge to win a spot on the 2005
Ozzfest and a possible recording contract.
In 2004, Osbourne received an
NME award for "godlike genius".
In May 2005, the tremors he experienced and always linked to his continuous drug abuse were diagnosed as Parkinsonian Syndrome, a non-progressive genetic condition, the symptoms of which are very similar to
Parkinsons disease.
Shortly after Ozzfest 2005, Osbourne announced that he will no longer headline Ozzfest.
In 2005, he was inducted into the
UK Music Hall of Fame along with
Black Sabbath where he decided to
moon the crowd because of their poor reception while they were playing. This led to a standing ovation.
In March 2006, he said that he hopes to release a new studio album soon with long time on-off guitarist,
Zakk Wylde of
Black Label Society.
* Osbourne has shown symptoms of a mild hearing loss, as evidenced in the television show,
The Osbournes, as he often asks his family members to repeat what they say. This is possibly as a result of being exposed to dangerous noise levels at music venues.
* Osbourne is a supporter of the
football team
Aston Villa FC
* Ozzy Osbourne suffers from
dyslexia and
Attention deficit disorder* In 1982, during the
Diary tour where Ozzy bit into a bat onstage, he was required to receive a series of
rabies vaccination injections as a preventative measure against the disease. The treatments caused some temporary hair loss, and as a result Ozzy shaved his head. At one point there were a large number of photos taken by the media where Ozzy is bald and posing wearing military fatigues and holding various weapons. At another point, he admitted to wearing a blonde wig, coloured "hooker blonde", and stated he would begin a show with it on, then pull it off at another point in the concert, to the complete surprise of fans. Such photos were used in music magazines at the time, but are now rarely seen.
* The main chords and melody of the song
Diary of a Madman were created while Randy Rhoads was teaching a student
classical guitar. Randy would hold guitar lessons while the band was touring around the United States. Ozzy was asleep and was awakened by the ongoing guitar lesson. He ran into the room, happily yelling at Randy something like; "What is that? What is that you're playing?!" It's brilliant, I'm taking it!" Randy tried to explain it was already a written classical part, but Ozzy would have none of it.
* Ozzy made more than a few well known rock bands famous by touring with them as opening acts, and supporting their musical styles and success. In 1984, the opening band for the
Bark at the Moon tour was
Mötley Crüe, touring their second album, "
Shout at the Devil". During
The Ultimate Sin tour, Ozzy toured with
Metallica, supporting their latest effort
Master of Puppets. Others include
Soundgarden during their
Badmotorfinger tour, and
Korn, during their
ADIDAS tour.
*Osbourne appeared at
Wrestlemania 2 in 1986, accompanying his fellow countrymen the
British Bulldogs to the ring for their WWF Tag Team Championship match, along with their manager,
"Captain" Lou Albano.
* Ozzy Osbourne's alcohol abuse and misadventures resulting from his
alcoholism came to a very serious peak in 1989 after an assault on his wife/manager Sharon Osbourne.
* Ozzy Osbourne has been parodied by
Horatio Sanz on
Saturday Night Live, most memorable is an SNL
Celebrity Jeopardy! (Saturday Night Live) , in which Horatio says the first lines from
Crazy Train.
* A multiplayer mode playable character named Lenny Oldburn is in the game
TimeSplitters: Future Perfect. Lenny looks and talks like Ozzy Osbourne with a bio indicating a heavy metal history(the character shows up in story mode, albeit as a diferent character- a one-time scientist who'd lost his mind)
The Numbers
Osbourne's attitude was always the focus of attention. It gave him nicknames such as "the madman" (in the 1980s, thanks to the commercial success of
Diary of a Madman), "the Godfather of heavy metal" (in the 90s, due to his long lasting contribution to rock music) and "Prince of Darkness" (in the 2000s, as he started calling himself).
Despite media criticism, Osbourne's on-stage charisma managed to turn Black Sabbath in a major act, hitting #1 in UK with the landmark album
Paranoid and selling 8 million copies during the 70s. The four
Black Sabbath founders are widely considered the creators of
heavy metal style. Since 1969, the band sold over 70 million albums worldwide, and over 25 million in the US alone; their biggest album,
Paranoid, is quadruple platinum in US since 1995.
During his solo career, Osbourne's only #1 single hit was a re-recording of Black Sabbath's 1972 classic "Changes", performed in a duet with his daughter Kelly in 2003. However, he managed to hit #4 in US with his last two studio albums.
Osbourne sold over 27 million albums in the US, by far his biggest market, and over 50 million worldwide, more than any other hard rock/heavy metal solo act. Two albums,
Blizzard of Ozz (1980) and
No More Tears (1991) are certified quadruple platinum, for sales of over 4 million copies in US.
5 million people have attended Ozzfest and it grossed over US$100 million. It helped promote many new hard rock/heavy metal acts of late 1990s and early 2000s, including
System of a Down,
Limp Bizkit,
Korn,
Disturbed,
Linkin Park,
Papa Roach,
Velvet Revolver,
Godsmack and
Slipknot in spite of always having Osbourne (either solo or with Black Sabbath) as the headliner, it also featured other famous artists such as
Pantera,
Iron Maiden,
Judas Priest,
Slayer and
Megadeth. Ozzfest also helped Osbourne to become the first hard rock star to hit US$ 50 million in merchandise sales.
Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne are one of UK's richest couples, according to
The Sunday Times Rich List. They rank #458 in the
2005 list, with an estimated £100 million earned from recording, touring and TV shows. They rank above most music stars, such as
Rod Stewart,
George Michael,
Robbie Williams, the Rolling Stones'
Charlie Watts and
Ron Wood, and
Pink Floyd,
Led Zeppelin,
Queen, and
Dire Straits members.
Favourite Rock albums
In June 2004 British newspaper
The Observer asked Osbourne to name his top ten favourite
Rock albums of all time. He named:
#
Revolver -
The Beatles#
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band -
The Beatles#
Band on the Run -
Paul McCartney & Wings#
So -
Peter Gabriel#
Dark Side of the Moon -
Pink Floyd#
Abbey Road -
The Beatles#
Imagine -
John Lennon#
Blizzard of Ozz - Ozzy Osbourne/
Randy Rhoads#
Led Zeppelin -
Led Zeppelin#
Machine Head -
Deep PurpleSee: Ozzy Osbourne discography*
The Official Ozzy Osbourne Website*
Ozzy Osbourne FAQ and Biography*
Ozzfest Information*
Ozzy's Epic Records Website*
Daisley-Kerslake Lawsuit Dismissed In U.S. Federal Court*
Ozzy Osbourne - Profile on FamousWhy.com*
Ozzy Osbourne Soundboard*
MTV.TV's guide to Ozzy's appearances on MTV's The Osbournes*
Ozzy Osbourne Print by Shepard Fairey
