Home > Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael Osbourne (born December 3 1948, in Aston, a suburb of Birmingham, West Midlands, England), better known as Ozzy Osbourne, was the lead singer of the rock band Black Sabbath and later a popular solo artist. Osbourne has been married twice and is father to five children: Jessica Hobbs and Louis Osbourne by first wife Thelma; and Aimee, Kelly and Jack, by current wife Sharon. He is also a football fan, supporting Aston Villa.
1 Early career
Ozzy Osbourne, who earned his nickname in his youth, sought a career as a rock singer after hearing The Beatles on the radio, in hopes that it would lift him out of his difficult working-class existence, in which he had some scrapes with the law. Ozzy was not a particulary talented criminal. He wore gloves to steal from houses and shops so as not to leave fingerprints, but they were fingerless gloves and he was soon arrested. He was sentenced to six weeks at Winson Green Prison . He used his time there to give himself his now famous tattoos: OZZY across his knuckles and a smiling face on each knee to cheer himself up. He had several jobs before turning to music, including testing car horns in the Lucas car factory and on the kill floor of an abattoir. Osbourne slowly began to realize his ambitions in 1967; after filling in on vocals for a band called The Music Machine, he landed the singer's duties in an outfit called The Approach, playing R&B tunes in a church basement. Personal differences led Ozzy to split with the group, however. Thanks in part to the advantage of owning his own P.A. equipment his next gig was with a group called Rare Breed, where he met and played with future Black Sabbath bandmate, bassist Terence "Geezer" ButlerTerence "Geezer" Butler (born 17 July, 1949 in Birmingham, England) is the long time bassist for the hard rock band Black Sabbath. Terrance Butler formed his first band, Rare Reed with schoolmate John "Ozzy" Osbourne in the autumn of 1967. Separated for a. Rare Breed did not last long, but Osbourne's collaboration with Butler did; in late 1968, Butler was invited to form a new group with guitarist Tony IommiTony Iommi (born February 19, 1948, real name Frank Anthony Iommi) is a guitarist from Birmingham, UK who is best known as a member of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath. In an industrial accident in his youth, he lost the tips of the middle and ring fing and drummer Bill WardBill Ward was the drummer for the British heavy metal band Black Sabbath. He was with the band throughout its entire tenure from the late 1960s to its eventual demise during about the mid- 1980s. As of early June 2004, he agreed to return to the band for, both formerly of a fairly successful local group called Mythology. At Butler's urgings, Osbourne was brought on board, along with saxophonist Alan Clarke and another guitar player, Jim Phillips, to form the Polka Tulk Blues Band. Ozzy came up with the name after seeing it on a can of talcum powder. Iommi's style of guitar playing did not mesh well with Phillips's, however, nor with Clarke's saxophone. Polka Tulk disbanded, to reform almost immediately as a four-piece consisting of Osbourne, Iommi, Butler, and Ward.
2 Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath met with swift and enduring success; their early records such as their self-titled debut, Paranoid and Master of Reality in particular are considered heavy metalHeavy metal is a form of rock music characterized by aggressive, driving rhythms and highly amplified and distorted guitars, and the themes explored in heavy metal lyrics are often dark or sexually explicit. Heavy metal is a development of blues, blues ro canon, and selections from Ozzy's Sabbath days have featured prominently in his solo performances. The rigors of touring and financial success combined to lead some of the band members to drug and alcohol abuse, including Osbourne. Nevertheless, the group remained a steadily successful act for over eight years. Over the duration, however, Iommi began to take the band's music in a more progressive and experimental direction, to Osbourne's distaste. Osbourne left the group briefly after the band's 1976 effort Technical Ecstasy, and Sabbath went so far as to begin writing and recording with a new singer. Ozzy returned however, to record and tour behind 1978's Never Say Die, after which he left the group again in 1979, to be replaced by Ronnie James Dio. Depressed, his drug and alcohol abuse continued. He divorced his first wife, Thelma, and developed bipolar disorder. Undaunted, Osbourne attempted to launch a solo career, and met with considerable success on his very first effort.
