Music - Albums - Videos

John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer-songwriter, whose career has now spanned four decades. Osbourne rose to prominence as lead vocalist of pioneering English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and eventually achieved a multi-platinum solo career which revolutionized the heavy metal genre.

As a result he is known as the "Godfather of Heavy Metal", and, because of some of his material, the "Prince of Darkness". In the early 2000s, his career as a celebrity hit a new zenith when he became a star in his own reality show, The Osbournes, alongside wife/manager Sharon and two of their three children, Kelly and Jack. In August 2008, Osbourne stated in USA Today that he intends to retire from his music career after two more albums.

Personal life
Osbourne has been married twice and is the father of seven children (five biological, and two adopted). He was first married to Thelma Riley (now a teacher in Leicestershire) and adopted her son Elliot Kingsley (1966); together they had Jessica Starshine Osbourne Hobbs (20 January 1972) and Louis John Osbourne (1975).

Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne
He later married Sharon Arden and had three children with her. They are Aimee Osbourne (2 September 1983), Kelly Osbourne (27 October 1984) and Jack Osbourne (8 November 1985). They also took in the family's friend Robert Marcato after his mother died, but never legally adopted him. Osbourne also has three grandchildren, Isabelle and Harry from his daughter Jessica and granddaughter Maia from son Louis. He wrote a song for his daughter, Aimee, which appeared as a b-side on the album Ozzmosis. He divides his time between Los Angeles and Buckinghamshire, England. It was reported in 1992 that Osbourne was a member of the Church of England and prayed before each show. Osbourne achieved greater celebrity status by the unlikely success of his own brand of reality television. The Osbournes, a series featuring the domestic life of Osbourne and his family (wife Sharon, children Jack and Kelly and special guest appearances from his son Louis, but not their eldest daughter Aimee, who declined to participate). The program became one of MTV's greatest hits. It premiered on 5 March 2002, and the final episode aired 21 March 2005. In 2002, Osbourne and wife Sharon were invited to the White House Correspondents' Association dinner by Fox News Channel correspondent Greta Van Susteren for that year's event. President Bush noted Osbourne's presence by joking: "The thing about Ozzy is, he's made a lot of big hit recordings 'Party with the Animals', 'Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath', 'Facing Hell', 'Black Skies' and 'Bloodbath in Paradise'. Ozzy, Mom loves your stuff." He has over 15 tattoos, the letters O-Z-Z-Y across the knuckles of his left hand was the first he had done as a teenager, by means of a sewing needle and pencil lead. Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne are one of the UK's richest couples, according to the Sunday Times Rich List. They ranked at number 458 in 2005, with an estimated £100 million earned from recording, touring and TV shows. They ranked above most British music stars, such as Rod Stewart, George Michael, Robbie Williams, the Rolling Stones' Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood, and Pink Floyd, Queen, and Dire Straits members. Osbourne experienced tremors for some years and linked them to his continuous drug abuse. In May 2005 he found out it was actually Parkin Syndrome, a genetic condition, the symptoms of which are very similar to Parkinson's disease. Osbourne will have to take daily medication for the rest of his life to combat the involuntary shudders associated with the condition. Osbourne has shown symptoms of a mild hearing loss, as evidenced in the television show, The Osbournes, as he often asks his family members to repeat what they say.

Black Sabbath
Despite only a modest investment from US record label Warner Bros. Records, Black Sabbath met with swift and enduring success. Built around Tony Iommi's guitar riffs, Geezer Butler's lyrics, and topped by Osbourne's eerie vocals, early records such as their eponymous debut album and Paranoid sold huge numbers, as well as getting airplay.

Drugs, alcohol, doves and bats
According to the press, Osbourne's antics progressively reached a more dangerous point during the 1980s; his alcoholism and drug abuse continued. He later underwent a number of treatments for alcoholism and drug abuse. After signing his first solo career record deal he came in to meet some of the people who worked at the record company. His plan was to release doves into the air to get people to notice him, but when no one noticed, he changed his plans. He grabbed a dove, bit its head off, then spat the head out. Then, with blood still dripping from his lips, a security guard came to remove him. Despite its controversy, this act has been parodied and alluded to several times throughout his career and is part of what made Ozzy Osbourne famous. He gained further notoriety on 20 January 1982, when he bit the head off a bat he thought was rubber while performing at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Des Moines, Iowa. Rolling Stone magazine in 2004 ranked this incident number two on its list of "Rock's Wildest Myths." While the Rolling Stone article stated the bat was alive, the person who threw it onto the stage said it was brought to the show dead. According to Osbourne himself in the booklet to the 2002 edition of Diary of a Madman, the bat was not only alive, but also managed to bite Osbourne, resulting in him having to take rabies shots. bDuring a tour stop in Texas in 1982, while wearing future wife Sharon's dress, Ozzy drunkenly urinated on a cenotaph erected in honor of those who died at the Alamo across the street from the actual building. A police officer arrested him, and Osbourne was subsequently banned from the city of San Antonio for a decade. Osbourne's alcohol problem also came to a very serious peak in 1989 after he became violently drunk and attempted to strangle his wife/manager Sharon. Osbourne later admitted that, at the height of his drug addiction, he shot his family's pets saying: "I was taking drugs so much I was a wreck. The final straw came when I shot all our cats. We had about 17, and I went crazy and shot them all. My wife found me under the piano in a white suit, a shotgun in one hand and a knife in the other."
Backing band
Current line up
* Zakk Wylde - guitar (1989-present)
* Rob "Blasko" Nicholson - bass (2003, 2006-present)
* Mike Bordin - drums (1997-present)
* Adam Wakeman - keyboards (2004-present)
Former band members
Guitarists
* Randy Rhoads (1979-1982)
* Bernie Tormé (1982)
* Brad Gillis (1982)
* Jake E. Lee (1982-1987)
* Steve Vai (1994-1995)
* Joe Holmes (1995-1998, 2000)
* Alex Skolnick (1995)
* Jerry Cantrell (2004-2005)
* Zakk Wylde (1987-1992, 1995, 1998, 2001-2004, 2006-2009)
Bassists
* Rudy Sarzo (1981-1982)
* Bob Daisley (1979-1981, 1983-1991)
* Phil Soussan (1986-1987)
* James LoMenzo (1994)
* Mike Inez (1989-1993)
* Geezer Butler (1988, 1995-1996)
* Robert Trujillo (1996-2003)
* Jason Newsted (2003)
* Chris Wyse (2003-2005)
Drummers
* Lee Kerslake (1979-1981)
* Tommy Aldridge (1981-1983)
* Carmine Appice (1983)
* Randy Castillo (1983-1993, 1995)
* Deen Castronovo (1993-1997)
Keyboardists
* Johnny Cook (1981)
* Don Airey (1980, 1983)
* Mike Moran (1985-1986)
* John Sinclair (1988-1991)
* Kevin Jones (1991-1992)
* Rick Wakeman (1995)
* Michael Railo (2001)