Ozzy Osbourne

Ozzy Osbourne

Ozzy Osbourne is an English singer, songwriter and media personality from Aston, Birmingham. Born John Michael Osbourne in 1948, he grows up in the Aston area, leaves school at 15 and works in manual jobs before entering music. He also experiences dyslexia and has a criminal conviction for burglary as a teenager.

Black Sabbath

Osbourne co-founds Black Sabbath in 1968 with Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi and Bill Ward, after earlier joining Butler in Rare Breed and then Earth. The group is renamed Black Sabbath in 1969 and becomes associated with a darker, heavy, blues-influenced rock sound. Osbourne is the band’s lead vocalist on its first eight studio albums, including Black Sabbath, Paranoid and Master of Reality. He leaves in 1979 after conflicts linked to alcohol and drug use, then later returns for several reunions, including work on 13 and the farewell period that ends in 2017.

Solo career

After leaving Black Sabbath, Osbourne builds a solo career that begins with Blizzard of Ozz in 1980 and continues with Diary of a Madman in 1981. These records feature Randy Rhoads and Bob Daisley, with Rhoads becoming one of his key collaborators until his death in 1982. Osbourne continues to release albums through the 1980s and 1990s, including Bark at the Moon, The Ultimate Sin, No Rest for the Wicked, No More Tears and Ozzmosis, then Down to Earth, Black Rain, Scream, Ordinary Man and Patient Number 9. His first seven solo studio albums achieve multi-platinum status in the United States.

Style, collaborations and later work

Osbourne is widely regarded as a pioneer of heavy metal and is associated with heavy metal, hard rock, metal, glam metal, pop rock and symphonic rock. He works with several musicians over his career, including Zakk Wylde as a long-term guitarist. He also collaborates with Post Malone on “Take What You Want”, which becomes a major commercial success. His solo releases are issued through labels including Monowise Ltd. and Blizzard Music Ltd.

Television, festivals and honours

In the early 2000s, Osbourne becomes a reality television personality through The Osbournes, which features his family, followed by Ozzy & Jack’s World Detour and The Osbournes Want to Believe. His wife and manager Sharon Osbourne founds Ozzfest in 1996, and the touring festival runs annually until 2010. Osbourne is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Black Sabbath in 2006 and as a solo artist in 2024. He is also inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame both with Black Sabbath and as a solo performer in 2005, receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2002 and the Birmingham Walk of Stars in 2007, and is given the MTV Europe Music Awards Global Icon Award in 2014 and the Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2015.