Ozzy Osbourne, who rose to monumental fame as a key figure in two genres as controversial as they were popular — heavy metal music and reality television — died on Tuesday at the age of 76.
His family confirmed the news in a statement, without specifying the place or exact cause of death. In recent years, Osbourne had been treated for a rare genetic disorder known as parkinsonism, whose symptoms resemble Parkinson’s disease and were worsened by decades of drug abuse.
Despite announcing his retirement multiple times — in 1992 he named a tour “No More Tours” and repeated the gesture in 2018 with “No More Tours II” — he gave his final concert this month at a festival in his hometown, Birmingham, England. Seated on a black throne and visibly moved by the audience’s ovation, he ended his career by reuniting the original lineup of Black Sabbath, the band with which he helped invent heavy metal.
As Black Sabbath’s frontman, Osbourne was one of the figures who defined the genre. As a solo artist, he became a surprisingly enduring star, with 13 platinum albums and the nickname “Prince of Darkness.” His legend grew even larger thanks to his excesses — among them, the infamous moment when he bit the head off a bat onstage.
His most unexpected side emerged through television. MTV’s hit reality show The Osbournes revealed the domestic flipside of his dark image: a bewildered father surrounded by chaos, humor, and a family that adored him.
“All that stuff onstage, the craziness… it’s just a role, my work,” Osbourne told The New York Times in 1992. “I am not the Antichrist. I am a family man.”
Born John Michael Osbourne on December 3, 1948, in Birmingham, he was the fourth of six children of John Thomas Osbourne, a night-shift power plant worker, and Lillian Osbourne, who worked at an auto parts factory. He grew up in a working-class home so small it didn’t have indoor plumbing.
With undiagnosed dyslexia and attention deficit disorder, Ozzy dropped out of school at 15 and bounced between short-lived jobs, including a stint at a slaughterhouse. After being fired for fighting and spending three months in jail for theft, he decided to leave crime behind when his father bought him a PA system so he could pursue his dream of becoming a singer.
That’s how it all started. A flyer reading “Ozzy Zig Needs Gig” landed him an audition with three local musicians: Geezer Butler, Bill Ward, and Tony Iommi. After a few false starts as a blues band called Earth, they took the name Black Sabbath, inspired by a Boris Karloff movie.
Their first album, Black Sabbath (1970), and its songs — thunderous and ominous, like Paranoid, Iron Man and War Pigs — became anthems for generations of disaffected youth, even as critics dismissed them. Decades later, Osbourne was inducted twice into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: in 2006 with Black Sabbath and in 2024 as a solo artist.
Osbourne never hid his excesses: “Over the past 40 years I’ve been loaded on booze, coke, acid, quaaludes, glue, cough syrup, heroin, Rohypnol, Klonopin, Vicodin and too many other heavy-duty substances to list,” he wrote in his autobiography I Am Ozzy (2009).
He was fired from Black Sabbath in 1979 after missing a concert because he fell asleep in the wrong hotel room. Lost in Los Angeles, he got back on his feet thanks to Sharon Arden, daughter of his then-manager, who went from scolding him for stealing an envelope of cash to becoming his manager — and later, his wife. They married on July 4, 1982 — “so I wouldn’t forget the date,” he joked.
His solo career took off with Blizzard of Ozz (1980) and Crazy Train. He sold over 55 million albums worldwide while amassing scandals: he bit the head off a dove, urinated on the Alamo, snorted ants, and threw raw meat at fans.
At home, however, he was a homebody. The Osbournes (2002–2005) showed the “Prince of Darkness” battling remote controls and house cats. It became MTV’s most-watched show ever and opened the door to celebrity family reality TV.
His health worsened after a serious ATV accident in 2003. Still, he never stopped reinventing himself: he led tours, shows, Ozzfest — his own festival — and even wrote an advice column.
He is survived by his wife Sharon; their children Jack, Kelly and Aimee (who stayed away from cameras); and three children from his first marriage — Jessica, Louis and Elliot — as well as several grandchildren.
Ozzy Osbourne often said he knew exactly how his epitaph would read:
“Ozzy Osbourne, born 1948. Died, whenever. He bit the head off a bat.”
