Osbourne was born in Aston, barely a back garden away from Aston Villa FC \u2013 a football club he loved and where he would end his musical career just three weeks ago in a final concert at which Black Sabbath reunited.<\/p>\n
Black Sabbath\u2019s sound came out of the dark metallic clang and hammer of the UK\u2019s second city \u2013 quite literally, in that Osborne had been working in a factory in 1968 when he teamed up with former school friend Geezer Butler and Tony Iommi and Bill Ward to create a group.<\/p>\n
Initially, they were called Earth Blues Company \u2013 but later changed to Black Sabbath after Osbourne wrote a song with that title, having been inspired by a Boris Karloff film of the same name.<\/p>\n
Earth Blues Company had been more soulful, but the name change brought a much darker, harsher vibe \u2013 at a time when the peace and love of the 1960s had become something much darker in the wake of the stabbing at the Altamont Free Festival stabbing of Meredith Hunter.<\/p>\n
![\"FILE](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SEI_259774708.jpg\")
Black Sabbath backstage at London Music Festival \u201973 at Alexandra Palace L-R Tony Iommi, Bill Ward, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler. (Photo credit: Watal Asanuma\/Shinko Music\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Black Sabbath\u2019s sound, epitomised in songs such as \u2018Paranoid\u2019 and \u2018War Pigs,\u2019 struck a chord not only in the UK but also in the US. Their albums sold in the millions, and their success put them at the very forefront of heavy metal.<\/p>\n
Their albums did not just touch on themes of war and societal breakdown \u2013 they smashed into them.<\/p>\n
Very few bands in music history can quite so directly claim to have inspired an entire music genre. In their wake came Iron Maiden; Guns \u2018n\u2019 Roses; Nine Inch Nails; Slipknot.<\/p>\n
But in Osbourne\u2019s case, the music was only half the story. He was known for his showmanship, powered by extraordinary amounts of alcohol and drugs. The most excessive of this behaviour came in the early 1980s, after he was fired by the band and went solo in 1979.<\/p>\n
His album Blizzard Of Ozz, released in 1980, was a massive hit and featured two of his most revered songs, \u2018Crazy Train\u2019 and \u2018Mr Crowley\u2019. But on the subsequent tour, he bit the head off a bat on stage at a gig in Des Moines, Iowa. The year before, he had stunned CBS Records executives by similarly decapitating a dove at their offices.<\/p>\n
![\"(FILES)](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SEI_259780615.jpg\")
Ozzy Osbourne and his wife and longtime manager, Sharon Osbourne (Photo credit: Joe KLAMAR \/ AFP) <\/p>\n
He also notoriously urinated on the cenotaph commemorating the dead at the Alamo \u2013 while wearing one of his wife Sharon\u2019s dresses.<\/p>\n
It was also around this time that \u2013 according to Motley Crue\u2019s bassist Nikki Sixx, with whom he was touring \u2013 Osbourne snorted a line of ants up his nose.<\/p>\n
But the behaviour only added to Osbourne\u2019s legend. He ultimately made 11 solo albums, even appearing at Live Aid.<\/p>\n
During the 1990s, his fame began to wane, in the wake of grunge \u2013 another low-fi, hard-edged sound centred on a very certain city, this time Seattle.<\/p>\n
But in the 2000s, he found a whole new audience when he, Sharon and their children Jack and Kelly agreed to have their lives documented on MTV show The Osbournes.<\/p>\n
The show was a massive hit. By now in his 50s, Osbourne became a star amongst young people all over again, his Birmingham-twanged shout of \u201cSharaaaaan!\u201d the stuff of the playground as much as parody shows. He even got an extended part in an Austin Powers movie off the back of it.<\/p>\n
![\"Ozzy](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SEI_259778795.jpg\")
Unable to stand due to Parkinson\u2019s disease, Osbourne performed Black Sabbath\u2019s farewell show from a black throne (Photo credit: REUTERS\/Sachin Ravikumar)<\/p>\n
The show equally made Sharon a star \u2013 to the extent she was made a judge on The X-Factor at its zenith.<\/p>\n
Osbourne was once again at the vanguard of a new genre \u2013 this time, the reality TV show.<\/p>\n
He and Sharon briefly separated in 2016, but reunited in 2017 and renewed their vows.<\/p>\n