Remembering Ozzy Osbourne
We’ve all heard the sad news. Ozzy has passed on, mere weeks after his triumphant farewell gig with Black Sabbath.
The metal inventor and titan of rock has lived an unbelievable life, to put it mildly! From his early days in Birmingham to his latter years in Los Angeles, he’s the definitive hard rocker who lived life faster and larger than most. As we mourn his passing, I want to salute a few of his achievements here, briefly.
Black Sabbath
According to his own autobiography, John ‘Ozzy’ Osbourne was saved from a life of petty burglary and squalor by rock n roll. Joining the up-and-coming band Earth, he found an outlet for his manic energy, as well as a focus for his life that would take him beyond the factories and steel mills of midlands England.
Earth toured for a while before bassist Geezer Butler suggested a name change, based on a film title he saw whilst driving past a cinema in the band’s tour bus. With each member of the band interested (to varying degrees) in the occult, Earth switched to Black Sabbath.
Sabbath’s debut record was released in 1970 (their earliest recording is from Dumfries in 1969, believe it or not) and single-handedly invented heavy metal. It’s as simple as that.
Black Sabbath dominated the darker shadows of rock music throughout the 70s, releasing classic album after classic album. This was all whilst indulging in the sort of ‘rock n roll behaviour’ that has literally become mythology these days.
Ozzy Goes Solo
Ozzy actually left Sabbath for a few months in 1977. It’s not spoken about too readily, but he worked on a project called ‘Blizzard of Ozz’ - later to be used as an album title, of course - with members of a band he’d toured with back in the Earth days.
Returning to Sabbath, the band put out the Never Say Die! album and toured with Van Halen, but the cracks were showing. Too much touring and too many drugs put guitarist Tony Iommi and Ozzy against each other. Ozzy was dismissed in 1979, replaced by Ronnie James Dio.
Ozzy expected to go back to the dole, but manager Don Arden had other plans. Ozzy was in a relationship with Arden’s daughter Sharon, and after trying to put together ‘Son of Sabbath’ (vetoed by Ozzy, who wisely hated the idea), instead put together his first solo band. This of course included the late, great Randy Rhoads, the first of many superstar guitarists who made their name with Ozzy.
A string of huge solo albums (Blizzard of Ozz, Diary of a Madman, No More Tears etc) made Ozzy a bigger name in the 80s than Black Sabbath. This is perhaps the era when Ozzy’s most ‘out there’ behaviour manifested. His drug use was huge, and the excesses of 80 hard rock touring were like a red flag to a bull for Ozzy. The stories of plane crashes, strangling attempts and bats getting their heads bitten off are largely true, though I’m hardly giving them context here! Safe to say that there were few Hellraisers more extreme than Ozzy, at least during the 80s.
Lest the headlines distract us, it’s worth remembering just how much kick-ass rock music he put out at this time! He introduced us to Zakk Wylde, Jake E Lee and of course Randy Rhoads, and that’s outside of his iconic previous band! He really dominated, and took it with an easy grace, not to mention an excellent sense of manic fun. He knew that his life was a ridiculous blend of luck and grace, and he was in on it from the beginning.
The Osbournes
In the late 90s, Ozzy was a wealthy elder statesman of metal, a middle-aged Prince of Darkness now living a somewhat quieter life in his LA mansion. I say ‘somewhat’ because this period of life was captured - as we all know - on infamous reality show The Osbournes. The show was a huge hit, and made stars of his family members as well as re-introducing Ozzy to a new generation of music fans. His unpolished, unpretentious behaviour struck a chord with the world, who loved his amiably shambling ways and quietly sly wit. The mischief was still there, and also a kindness brought on by the realisation that he was a survivor with lots to be thankful for.
Reunion
Black Sabbath reunited a number of times, always with Ozzy fronting the band, as it should be. A final album, 13, was released in 2013 and the band toured occasionally. Old wounds had largely healed, though drummer Bill Ward’s health wasn’t always permissible to touring.
Ozzy would alternate between playing with Sabbath and with his solo band, right up until a few years ago, when his own farewell tour was cancelled due to ill health.
Indeed, latter years revealed a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, which curtailed most public appearances and professional engagements. Ozzy didn’t completely retire from public life though, and still appeared in selected musical projects, such as this collaboration with his friend Billy Morrison.
Back To The Beginning
With his advancing years and declining health, what Ozzy needed was a good public send-off for both himself and his fans. You’ll all know about it, and it happened only a few weeks ago: the epic Black Sabbath Back to the Beginning extravaganza at Villa Park, Birmingham.
Not many rock legends get to enjoy their own farewell quite like this! It was a triumphant finish to a career that shot as high (and occasionally crashed as low) as a rock musician can go. All of rock and metal’s royalty lined up to be a part of this moment in history, which formally placed Ozzy and his bandmates at the top of the pantheon of heavy metal.
That was only a few short weeks ago, and now we live in the reality of his passing. 76 years is a good age for anybody, but for someone who pushed themselves as hard in every direction as Ozzy, it’s a quiet miracle that he made it this far! It’s a triumph.
As with other rock legends that we’ve lost over the years, it’s a bittersweet thing to be waving goodbye to such a huge character. They’ve been a part of our lives for so long, but the reality is that Ozzy will continue to be there with us, inside the amazing body of work that he spent his life giving us.
To the Prince of Darkness himself, we are not worthy! To John Osbourne, we wish that he flies high in the night sky and rests the easy peace of a life fully accomplished.
John Michael ‘Ozzy’ Osbourne
3rd December 1948 - 22nd July 2025
