John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne was born on 3 December 1948 and is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality.
105 Facts About Ozzy Osbourne
2.
Ozzy Osbourne rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which period he adopted the nickname "Prince of Darkness".
3.
Ozzy Osbourne was fired from Black Sabbath in 1979 due to alcohol and drug problems, but went on to have a successful solo career, releasing 13 studio albums, the first seven of which received multi-platinum certifications in the US.
4.
Ozzy Osbourne has since reunited with Black Sabbath on several occasions.
5.
Ozzy Osbourne rejoined in 1997 and helped record the group's final studio album, 13, before they embarked on a farewell tour that ended with a February 2017 performance in their hometown, Birmingham.
6.
Ozzy Osbourne was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Black Sabbath and into the UK Music Hall of Fame as a solo artist and as a member of the band.
7.
Ozzy Osbourne has been honoured with stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Birmingham Walk of Stars.
8.
In 2015, Ozzy Osbourne received the Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors.
9.
Ozzy Osbourne was born at Marston Green Maternity Hospital near to Coleshill, but grew up in the Aston area of Birmingham.
10.
Ozzy Osbourne's mother, Lilian, was a non-observant Catholic who worked days at a Lucas factory.
11.
Ozzy Osbourne has three older sisters, Jean, Iris, and Gillian, and two younger brothers, Paul and Tony.
12.
Ozzy Osbourne claimed to have attempted suicide multiple times as a teenager.
13.
Ozzy Osbourne left school at 15 and was employed as a construction site labourer, trainee plumber, apprentice toolmaker, car factory horn-tuner, and abattoir worker.
14.
In late 1967, Geezer Butler formed his first band, Rare Breed, and soon recruited Ozzy Osbourne to serve as vocalist.
15.
Ozzy Osbourne recalls a band lament, "in those days, the band wasn't very popular with the women".
16.
At about this time, Ozzy Osbourne first met his future wife, Sharon Arden.
17.
Ozzy Osbourne admits he was attracted to her immediately but assumed that "she probably thought I was a lunatic".
18.
Ozzy Osbourne said years later that the best thing about eventually choosing Don Arden as manager was that he got to see Sharon regularly, though their relationship was strictly professional at that point.
19.
In 1978, Ozzy Osbourne left the band for three months to pursue a solo project he called Blizzard of Ozz, a title which had been suggested by his father.
20.
Ozzy Osbourne recalls being asked to record his vocals over and over, and tracks being manipulated endlessly by Iommi.
21.
At Iommi's insistence, and with the support of Butler and Ward, Ozzy Osbourne was ejected from the band on 27 April 1979.
22.
When responding to a 1969 flyer reading "Ozzy Osbourne Zig Needs Gig- has own PA" posted in a record store, Iommi and Ward arrived at the listed address to speak with Ozzy Osbourne Zig.
23.
When Iommi saw Ozzy Osbourne emerge from another room of the house, he left upon discovering it was the same "pest" he knew from growing up, as he knew of and disliked Ozzy Osbourne from back in their school days.
24.
Arden dispatched his daughter Sharon to Los Angeles to "look after Ozzy Osbourne's needs, whatever they were", to protect his investment.
25.
Ozzy Osbourne was always hovering around trying to get me to join, and I wasn't having any of it.
26.
In late 1979, under the management of the Ardens, Ozzy Osbourne formed the Blizzard of Ozz, featuring drummer Lee Kerslake, bassist-lyricist Bob Daisley, keyboardist Don Airey, and guitarist Randy Rhoads.
27.
The record company would eventually title the group's debut album Blizzard of Ozz, credited simply to Ozzy Osbourne, thus commencing his solo career.
28.
At an audition in a hotel room, Ozzy Osbourne selected Night Ranger's Brad Gillis to finish the tour.
29.
In 1982, Ozzy Osbourne appeared as lead vocalist on the Was pop dance track "Shake Your Head ".
30.
Meanwhile, Ozzy Osbourne found Zakk Wylde, who was the most enduring replacement for Rhoads to date.
31.
The subsequent tour saw Ozzy Osbourne reunited with erstwhile Black Sabbath bandmate Geezer Butler on bass.
32.
In 1988, Ozzy Osbourne performed on the rock ballad "Close My Eyes Forever", a duet with Lita Ford, reaching No 8 on the Billboard Hot 100.
33.
In 1989 Ozzy Osbourne performed at the Moscow Music Peace Festival.
34.
At this point Ozzy Osbourne expressed his fatigue with touring, and proclaimed his "retirement tour".
35.
In 1995 Ozzy Osbourne released Ozzmosis and returned to touring, dubbing his concert performances "The Retirement Sucks Tour".
36.
Ozzy Osbourne reunited with the original members of Sabbath in 1997 and has performed periodically with them since.
37.
Shortly after Ozzfest 2005, Ozzy Osbourne announced that he will no longer headline Ozzfest.
38.
In 2006 Ozzy Osbourne closed the event for just over half the concerts, leaving the others to be closed by System of a Down.
39.
In 2008, Ozzfest was reduced to a one-day event in Dallas, where Ozzy Osbourne played, along with Metallica and King Diamond.
40.
In 2010, Ozzy Osbourne appeared as the headliner closing the show after opening acts Halford and Motley Crue.
41.
In June 2002, Ozzy Osbourne was invited to participate in the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, performing the Black Sabbath anthem "Paranoid" at the Party at the Palace concert in the grounds of Buckingham Palace.
42.
In 2003, Ozzy Osbourne recruited former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted, though his time with Ozzy Osbourne would be short.
43.
On 8 December 2003, Ozzy Osbourne was rushed into emergency surgery at Slough's Wexham Park Hospital when he had an accident with his quad bike on his estate in Jordans, Buckinghamshire.
44.
Ozzy Osbourne broke his collar bone, eight ribs, and a neck vertebra.
45.
Sharon later revealed that Ozzy Osbourne had stopped breathing following the crash and was resuscitated by Ozzy Osbourne's then personal bodyguard, Sam Ruston.
46.
In March 2005, Ozzy Osbourne released a box set called Prince of Darkness.
47.
The fourth disc, is entirely new material where Ozzy Osbourne covers his favourite songs by his biggest influences and favourite bands, including the Beatles, John Lennon, David Bowie and others.
48.
In November 2005, Ozzy Osbourne released the covers album Under Cover, featuring 10 songs from the fourth disc of Prince of Darkness and 3 more songs.
49.
Ozzy Osbourne helped judge the 2005 UK series of the X-Factor where his wife Sharon was one of the main judges.
50.
Ozzy Osbourne revealed in July 2009 that he was currently seeking a new guitar player.
51.
Negative fan feedback was brought to Ozzy Osbourne's attention regarding the album title.
52.
On 13 April 2010, Ozzy Osbourne announced the release date for Scream would be 15 June 2010.
53.
On 9 August 2010, Ozzy Osbourne announced that the second single from the album would be "Life Won't Wait" and the video for the song would be directed by his son Jack.
54.
In October 2014, Ozzy Osbourne released Memoirs of a Madman, a collection celebrating his entire solo career.
55.
On 6 November 2017, Ozzy Osbourne was announced as the headline act for the Sunday of the 2018 Download Festival held annually at Donington Park in Leicestershire, England.
56.
On 6 February 2018, Ozzy Osbourne announced that he would embark on his final world tour dubbed No More Tours II, a reference to his 1992 tour of the same name, with support from Stone Sour on the North American portion of the tour.
57.
On 6 September 2019, Ozzy Osbourne featured on the song "Take What You Want" by Post Malone.
58.
On 21 February 2020, Ozzy Osbourne released his first solo album in almost ten years, Ordinary Man, which received positive reviews from music critics and debuted at number three on the UK Albums Chart.
59.
One week after the release of the album, an 8-bit video game dedicated to Osbourne was released, called Legend of Ozzy.
60.
Ozzy Osbourne has started working on his follow up album, with Andrew Watt.
61.
On 24 June 2022, Ozzy Osbourne announced his thirteenth album would be titled Patient Number 9 and released the title track along with an accompanying music video that same day.
62.
In January 2023, Ozzy Osbourne announced that the European leg of the No More Tours II would be canceled after almost two years of being postponed.
63.
Ozzy Osbourne effectively retired from touring, citing his accident in 2019 which resulted in the singer suffering spinal damage, while affirming his plan to continue performing in a more limited context.
64.
Ozzy Osbourne achieved greater celebrity status via his own brand of reality television.
65.
On 20 February 2008, Ozzy, Sharon, Kelly and Jack Osbourne hosted the 2008 BRIT Awards held at Earls Court, London.
66.
Ozzy Osbourne appears in a commercial for the online video game World of Warcraft.
67.
Ozzy Osbourne was featured in the music video game Guitar Hero World Tour as a playable character.
68.
Ozzy Osbourne becomes unlocked upon completing "Mr Crowley" and "Crazy Train" in the vocalist career.
69.
Ozzy Osbourne says ghost writer Chris Ayres told the singer he has enough material for a second book.
70.
Ozzy Osbourne appeared in a November 2017 episode of Gogglebox along with other UK celebrities such as Ed Sheeran, former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher, and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn as part of Channel 4 and Cancer Research UK's Stand Up to Cancer fundraising campaign.
71.
In November 2017, Ozzy Osbourne entered into a new realm of sponsorship as he signed on as an ambassador of a rock-themed online casino known as Metal Casino, which was founded by metal music fans in August 2017.
72.
In February 2019, Osbourne's merchandising partner announced that Ozzy would have his own branded online slots game as part of the NetEnt Rocks music-themed portfolio.
73.
Ozzy Osbourne has received several awards for his contributions to the music community.
74.
At the 2004 NME Awards in London, Ozzy Osbourne received the award for Godlike Genius.
75.
In 2008 Ozzy Osbourne was crowned with the prestigious Living Legend award in the Classic Rock Roll of Honour Awards.
76.
Ozzy Osbourne was presented with the award by Sir Ben Kingsley.
77.
Ozzy Osbourne was a judge for the 6th, 10th and 11th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.
78.
In May 2015, Ozzy Osbourne received the Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors at a ceremony held at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London.
79.
In 2016, Ozzy Osbourne had a tram named after him in his home city of Birmingham.
80.
In 1971, Ozzy Osbourne met his first wife Thelma at a nightclub in Birmingham called the Rum Runner, where she worked.
81.
Ozzy Osbourne later referred to his first marriage as "a terrible mistake".
82.
Guitarist Randy Rhoads predicted in 1981 that the couple would "probably get married someday" despite their constant bickering and the fact that Ozzy Osbourne was still married to Thelma at the time.
83.
Ozzy Osbourne wrote a song for his daughter Aimee, which appeared as a B-side on the album Ozzmosis.
84.
Ozzy Osbourne suffered minor burns after a small house fire in January 2013.
85.
On 6 February 2019, Ozzy Osbourne was hospitalised in an undisclosed location on his doctor's advice due to flu complications, postponing the European leg of his "No More Tours 2" tour.
86.
Ozzy Osbourne later cancelled the tour entirely, and ultimately all shows scheduled for 2019, after sustaining serious injuries from a fall in his Los Angeles home while still recovering from pneumonia.
87.
Ozzy Osbourne was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in February 2019, which he publicly revealed in January 2020.
88.
In February 2020, Ozzy Osbourne cancelled the 2020 North American tour, seeking treatment in Switzerland until April.
89.
Ozzy Osbourne has misused alcohol and other drugs for most of his adult life.
90.
Ozzy Osbourne claimed to have taken LSD every day for two years while in Black Sabbath.
91.
On 18 February 1982, while wearing his future wife Sharon's dress for a photoshoot near the Alamo, Ozzy Osbourne drunkenly urinated on a cenotaph erected in honour of those who died at the Battle of the Alamo in Texas, across the street from the actual building.
92.
Ozzy Osbourne had been on a long drinking binge and earlier that same day had drunkenly fired his entire band, including Randy Rhoads, after they had informed him that they would not participate in a planned live album of Black Sabbath songs.
93.
Ozzy Osbourne physically attacked Rhoads and Rudy Sarzo in a hotel bar that morning, and Sharon informed the band that she feared he had "finally snapped".
94.
Ozzy Osbourne later had no memory of firing his band and the tour continued, though his relationship with Rhoads never fully recovered.
95.
In May 1984, Ozzy Osbourne was arrested in Memphis, Tennessee, again for public intoxication.
96.
The most notorious incident came in August 1989, when Sharon claimed that Ozzy Osbourne had tried to strangle her after returning home from the Moscow Music Peace Festival, in a haze of alcohol and drugs.
97.
In 2003, Ozzy Osbourne told the Los Angeles Times how he was nearly incapacitated by medication prescribed by a Beverly Hills doctor.
98.
Ozzy Osbourne experienced tremors for some years and linked them to his continuous drug misuse.
99.
Ozzy Osbourne will have to take daily medication for the rest of his life to combat the involuntary shudders associated with the condition.
100.
Ozzy Osbourne apologised to Sharon, his family, friends, bandmates and his fans for his "insane" behaviour during that period.
101.
Ozzy Osbourne admitted to having been sober for about seven years.
102.
On 20 January 2019, Osbourne commemorated the 37th anniversary of the bat incident by offering an 'Ozzy Plush Bat' toy "with detachable head" for sale on his personal web-store.
103.
McCollum's suicide led to allegations that Ozzy Osbourne promoted suicide in his songs.
104.
The family's lawyer suggested that Ozzy Osbourne should be criminally charged for encouraging a young person to commit suicide, but the courts ruled in Ozzy Osbourne's favour, saying there was no connection between the song and McCollum's suicide.
105.
In lawsuits filed in 2000 and 2002 which were dismissed by the courts in 2003, former band members Bob Daisley, Lee Kerslake, and Phil Soussan stated that Ozzy Osbourne was delinquent in paying them royalties and had denied them due credit on albums they played on.