Ozzy Osbourne, frontman of the 1970s heavy metal band Black Sabbath, earned his infamy biting the head off a bat on stage and pursuing a drug-fuelled lifestyle before reinventing himself as a lovable if often foul-mouthed reality TV star.
Osbourne, known to fans as “The Prince of Darkness” and the godfather of heavy metal, died Tuesday morning at the age of 76, according to a family statement.
“It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning,” said the statement sent to CBC News on behalf of the family.
“He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time.”
Osbourne kicked off his career blaring out Black Sabbath’s hits, from Paranoid to War Pigs to Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Those plus a string of solo releases saw him sell more than 100 million records worldwide.
WATCH | Osbourne’s farewell performance with Black Sabbath on July 5:
The hard riffs and dark subject matter — from depression to war to apocalypse — were combined with an instinct for Halloween theatrics. As a performer, Osbourne sprinkled audiences with raw meat and, in 1982, had his encounter with a bat thrown on stage by a fan.
He always insisted he thought it was a toy until he bit into it, realized his mistake and rushed to hospital for a rabies shot. He later sold branded bat soft toys with a removable head.
Osbourne was a regular target for conservative and religious groups concerned about the negative impact of rock music on young people. He always acknowledged the excesses of his lifestyle and lyrics — but poured scorn on the wilder reports that he was an actual devil-worshipper.
Members of the band Black Sabbath, from left, Geezer Butler, Osbourne, Tony Iommi, and Bill Ward, react after being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York in 2006. (Mike Segar/Reuters)
“I’ve done some bad things in my time. But I ain’t the devil. I’m just John Osbourne: a working class kid from Aston who quit his job in the factory and went looking for a good time,” he said in a 2010 biography.
Born John Michael Osbourne, he was the fourth of six children, growing up in Aston, in the city of Birmingham in central England. He struggled with dyslexia, left school at age 15, did a series of menial jobs and at one point served a brief prison sentence for burglary. Then came Black Sabbath.
“When I was growing up, if you’d have put me up against a wall with the other kids from my street and asked me which one of us was gonna make it to the age of 60, with five kids and four grandkids and houses in Buckinghamshire and California, I wouldn’t have put money on me, no f–king way.”
It was those latter stages of his life that provided the setting for his reinvention in 2002 as the star of U.S. TV show The Osbournes.
Cameras followed the aging rock god ambling round his huge house, pronouncing on events in his heavy Birmingham accent and looking on bemused at the antics of his family — a format that won them all legions of new fans.
Osbourne’s is survived by wife and manager Sharon; five children, including Jack, Kelly and Aimee; and several grandchildren.
Osbourne, left, and his wife, Sharon Osbourne, at the Metal Hammer Golden God awards in London in 2020. That year, he revealed he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, a nervous system disorder that affects movement. (Vianney Le Caer/Invision/Associated Press)