\n He was 76.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning,\u201d Osbourne\u2019s family said in a statement to CNN. \u201cHe was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n No details surrounding cause of death were immediately available.\n <\/p>\n
\n The news comes just weeks after Osbourne performed with Black Sabbath in his hometown of Birmingham, England earlier this month, where he reunited with bandmates, including bassist Geezer Butler, drummer Bill Ward and guitarist Tony Iommi. The show was a concert event called Back to the Beginning and marked Black Sabbath\u2019s first performance in two decades. It was billed as Osbourne\u2019s \u201cfinal bow,\u201d according to Black Sabbath\u2019s official website<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n Famed for his outrageous antics on stage, including once biting the head off a bat and throwing raw meat onto concertgoers \u2013 along with repeated bouts of alcohol and substance abuse \u2013 Osbourne was respected by the rock establishment and reviled by the religious right, who believed him to be a devil-worshipper.\n <\/p>\n \n He had a second career in later life, playing himself in the popular reality TV show \u201cThe Osbournes,\u201d a fly-on-the-wall family formula later maximized by the Kardashians.\n <\/p>\n \n John \u201cOzzy\u201d Osbourne was born on December 3, 1948 in the central English city of Birmingham, the son of a toolmaker and a factory worker.\n <\/p>\n \n He left school at age 15 and after a series of jobs, including construction-site laborer and slaughterhouse worker, he tried burglary. That career ended badly, with a six-week prison sentence after his father refused to pay a fine, according to Osbourne\u2019s 2009 autobiography, \u201cI Am Ozzy.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Osbourne was musically inspired by The Beatles, crediting the Fab Four\u2019s 1963 smash \u201cShe Loves You\u201d for his becoming a musician.\n <\/p>\n \n In 1967, Butler, Black Sabbath\u2019s bassist and principal lyricist, formed a group \u2013 then called Rare Breed \u2013 and asked Osbourne to join, along with guitarist Iommi and drummer Ward.\n <\/p>\n \n After a couple of name changes, the band finally settled on Black Sabbath, because, as Butler told Rolling Stone magazine in 2016, \u201cif people paid money to feel scared at the movies, then the same must be true of concerts.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The band\u2019s self-titled first album was recorded in just two days in 1969, Rolling Stone reported.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cOnce we\u2019d finished, we spent a couple of hours double-tracking some of the guitar and vocals, and that was that. Done,\u201d Osbourne wrote in his autobiography. \u201cWe were in the pub in time for last orders. It can\u2019t have taken any longer than 12 hours in total. That\u2019s how albums should be made, in my opinion.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Black Sabbath\u2019s loud, gloomy music, the satanic aura conjured by the use of the tritone, the irregular interval in music associated with the Devil since the Middle Ages, was immediately popular.\n <\/p>\n \n The group\u2019s second album, \u201cParanoid,\u201d released in 1970, shot to number one in the UK album chart. Black Sabbath didn\u2019t repeat that feat again until the release of their album \u201c13\u201d in 2013.\n <\/p>\n \n Often referred to as the Godfather of Heavy Metal, Osbourne preferred his other \u201ctitle,\u201d The Prince of Darkness, which he used on his Twitter account.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI have never, ever, ever been able to attach myself to the word \u2018heavy metal\u2019 \u2013 it has no musical connotations,\u201d Osbourne told CNN in a 2013 interview<\/a>. \u201cIf it was heavy rock I could get that but the 70s was kind of like a bluesy thing, the 80s was kind of bubblegum-frosted hair, multi-colored clothes, and the 90s was kind of grungy.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Osbourne was fired from Black Sabbath in 1979, after the group had already made eight albums together, over his alcohol and drug use. He went on to have a successful solo career, releasing 11 more albums before getting back together with the group in 1997.\n <\/p>\n \n The bat-biting incident occurred at Osbourne\u2019s show at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Des Moines, Iowa on January 20, 1982 on his \u201cDiary of a Madman\u201d tour.\n <\/p>\n \n He later claimed he thought the bat was made of rubber.\n <\/p>\n \n It was a stunt that followed him. \u201cEvery time I do an interview they ask me \u2018What do bats taste like, Ozzy?\u2019 Like my mother-in-law\u2019s cooking,\u201d he told NBC\u2019s Today Show in 1987.\n <\/p>\n \n Osbourne\u2019s substance abuse \u2013 the reason for his divorce from his first wife, Thelma Mayfair \u2013 followed him.\n <\/p>\n \n Also problematic was his relationship with his father-in-law and former manager Don Arden, who had managed some of the biggest acts of the 1960s and 1970s, including Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard.\n <\/p>\n \n Osbourne had known Arden\u2019s daughter, Sharon, since she was a teenager.\n <\/p>\n \n They began a relationship in 1979, when she was 28, much to Arden\u2019s displeasure.\n <\/p>\n Ozzy Osbourne\u2019s life in pictures<\/p>\n \n When the two decided to marry in 1982, Arden gave Sharon her new husband\u2019s contract as a wedding present.\n <\/p>\n \n She returned the favor by taking her husband off her father\u2019s record label and signing with the much bigger US company, CBS.\n <\/p>\n \n Arden sued and eventually won a million-dollar settlement, according to his obituary in the Daily Telegraph<\/a>. Sharon \u2013 who went on to become Ozzy\u2019s manager \u2013 didn\u2019t talk to her father again for nearly 20 years.\n <\/p>\n \u2018Looking back, I should have died a thousand times\u2019<\/p>\n \n Osbourne, meanwhile, continued his rock n\u2019 roll lifestyle.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cLooking back, I should have died a thousand times but never did,\u201d he said in the 2011 documentary \u201cGod Bless Ozzy Osbourne.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cBy 12 o\u2019clock in the old days I\u2019d have powder up my nose, f*****g \u202fs**t in my veins, all kinds of stuff.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The drugs and alcohol contributed to volatility at home.\n <\/p>\n \n In an interview with CNN in 2011, Sharon Osbourne spoke<\/a> of her husband\u2019s violent outbursts. \u201cIt was damn pretty scary,\u201d she said. \u201cYou\u2019re in a house, no neighbors each side, the kids asleep, you know you\u2019re on your own, what the hell do you do?\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n But as dysfunctional families go, the Osbournes were very popular, and their reality television show, \u201cThe Osbournes,\u201d won a 2002 Primetime Emmy.\n <\/p>\n \n The show became a vehicle for his family members to build their individual popularity, with wife Sharon transitioning into a television media career primarily on chat shows, and daughter Kelly enjoying her own music career before also becoming a television personality.\n <\/p>\n \n Other accolades bestowed on Osbourne include multiple Grammys, including one in 1993 for his solo song \u201cI Don\u2019t Want To Change The World.\u201d He won two more Grammys as recently as 2023, when he took home gongs for best rock album and performance, and also garnered music\u2019s top honor several times as part of Black Sabbath.\n <\/p>\n \n In March 2006, Osbourne and the members of Black Sabbath were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.\n <\/p>\n \n Later on Tuesday, Butler posted a tribute to his late bandmate on Instagram<\/a>, writing, \u201cGoodbye dear friend- thanks for all those years- we had some great fun.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Referring to the area within Birmingham from which they hail, Butler added, \u201c4 kids from Aston- who\u2019d have thought, eh? So glad we got to do it one last time, back in Aston.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Iommi also posted about the \u201cheartbreaking news,\u201d writing on X<\/a> that he \u201ccan\u2019t really find the words, there won\u2019t ever be another like him. Geezer, Bill and myself have lost our brother.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n In early 2019, Osbourne had to cancel a string of concerts<\/a> following a bout of pneumonia and a severe fall at his Los Angeles home.\n <\/p>\n \n But his health issues didn\u2019t stop there. In the ensuing years, the rocker endured multiple surgeries \u2013 including one that he said went wrong and virtually left him \u201ccrippled.\u201d He revealed his Parkinson\u2019s disease diagnosis<\/a> in January 2020.\n <\/p>\n \n Nonetheless, Osbourne performed intermittently during that period, including at the closing ceremony<\/a> of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.\n <\/p>\n \n In a 2023 interview with Rolling Stone<\/a>, Osbourne said he would \u201cdie a happy man\u201d if he could perform one more show to express his gratitude<\/a> to his fans from the stage.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIf I can\u2019t continue doing shows on a regular basis, I just want to be well enough to do one show where I can say, \u2018Hi guys, thanks so much for my life.\u2019 That\u2019s what I\u2019m working towards, and if I drop down dead at the end of it, I\u2019ll die a happy man,\u201d he said at the time.\n <\/p>\n![\"Ozzy](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/gettyimages-84844076.jpg\")
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