Heavy Metal legend Ozzy Osbourne dies at 76

Los Angeles, July 23 (IANS) Founding father of British heavy metal and Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne passed away aged 76 after a yearslong struggle with Parkinson’s disease.

The heavy metal legend passed away on Tuesday. A statement from his family read: “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. He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time.”

Just two weeks ago, he had performed at what was billed as Black Sabbath’s last concert, a festival titled “Back to the Beginning,” in his and the band’s hometown of Birmingham, England, that amounted to a massive tribute to the legendary band, including from such legendary spiritual offspring as Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Slayer, Tool, Pantera, Alice in Chains and more.

In January 2020, following two years of escalating health problems, Osbourne announced that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

In February 2023, he issued a statement saying that he was retiring from touring, citing spinal injuries he had sustained in a 2018 accident, reports variety.com.

He said, “(I)n all good conscience, I have now come to the realization that I’m not physically capable of doing my upcoming European/U.K. tour dates, as I know I couldn’t deal with the travel required. Believe me when I say that the thought of disappointing my fans really…, more than you will ever know.

“Never would I have imagined that my touring days would have ended this way.”

From 1969-79, Osbourne was the head-banging front man for the Birmingham, England-based Black Sabbath, which codified the bottom-heavy, churning sound and lyrical demonology that would course through dozens of metal bands to come.

Fired from Sabbath in 1979, Osbourne launched a solo career of his own that, in commercial terms, surpassed the success of his former band. His groups launched Zakk Wylde and the late Randy Rhoads as metal guitar stars.

His popularity among metal fans was so immense that his wife and manager Sharon Osbourne built a touring festival, Ozzfest, around him. Osbourne garnered additional fame early in the new millennium as the addled paterfamilias of “The Osbournes,” an MTV reality series that focused its lens on the rock star’s home life.

Plagued by lifelong battles with drug addiction and alcohol, and sometimes blatantly out of it on stage, the unpredictable Osbourne was a magnet for trouble and a lightning rod for controversy, reports variety.com.

He was born John Michael Osbourne in Birmingham on December 3, 1948. One of six children in a working-class family, he performed in secondary-school operettas and was later an early fan of the Beatles. After dropping out of school at 15, he was a manual laborer and turned briefly to petty crime, drawing a six-week jail sentence for burglary.

At the age of 19, he partnered with bassist Terence “Geezer” Butler as the vocalist in an unsuccessful local band; they were soon joined by two former members of Mythology, guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward. Originally known as Earth, the quartet was forced to change its handle after they learned of a like-named group; the musicians selected Black Sabbath, after director Mario Bava’s 1963 horror anthology.

Black Sabbath issued its debut album in 1970. Though the morbid LP was widely reviled by the press, it became a top-10 hit in Britain and climbed to No. 23 in the U.S.

A swiftly recorded and released follow-up, “Paranoid,” put the band firmly on the map on both sides of the Atlantic, topping the English charts and reaching No. 12 stateside. It contained several heavy-riffing numbers, with lyrics penned by Butler and yowled convincingly by Osbourne, which helped define the metal sound: “War Pigs,” “Paranoid,” “Hand of Doom” and what ultimately became the group’s best-known signature, “Iron Man.”

An album and tour, featuring the same lineup and both titled “The End,” marked the last run for the band in 2016-17.

Osbourne sold over 100 million albums, including his solo work and Black Sabbath releases.

Osbourne and Black Sabbath called it quits with a February 2017, date in their hometown of Birmingham. Yet it was just one of several retirements for him and the band, and they reunited one last time earlier this month at the “Back to the Beginning” concert.

Osbourne issued two popular late-career solo albums, “Ordinary Man” and “Patient Number 9” .

A new reality show starring the Osbourne family, “Home to Roost,” documenting their return to the UK after 25 years in the US, was announced by the BBC in late 2022.

He is survived by his wife and five children.

--IANS

dc/