Ozzy Osbourne in Concert
Ozzy Osbourne is one of the most well-known figures in the history of metal, but The Prince of Darkness did plenty more than bite the heads off of doves and bats and sing for Black Sabbath. Born in Birmingham, England, into a working-class family in 1948, Osbourne became interested in musical theater at an early age, performing in numerous school productions. Entranced by The Beatles, Osbourne decided he would go into music after finishing school, but was sidetracked by a series of odd jobs — construction labor, plumbing, and working as a car factory horn-tuner — as well as a brief stint in prison for burglarizing a clothing store. Eventually a free man, he was asked to join Rare Breed, a band started by bassist Geezer Butler. The band changed their name shortly after. Its new name was Black Sabbath.
Obsessed with the occult, Butler and Osbourne, alongside guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward, took rock music on a violent left turn, infusing it with doomy riffs, macabre lyrics, and wild freak-outs. Their 1970 self-titled debut — famously hated by ‘Rolling Stone' critic Lester Bangs — shook pop music with a force that still cannot truly be measured; follow-up ‘Paranoid,' with masterful metal tracks "War Pigs," "Iron Man," and of course, "Paranoid," cemented them as the most important metal band in the world. After releasing an incredible run of albums throughout the ‘70s with Sabbath, though, Osbourne left briefly to work on a solo project that would eventually become ‘Blizzard of Ozz'; when trying to rejoin Sabbath a few months later, Osbourne was met with waves of derision and violence from the other band members. Osbourne was asked to leave, and he immediately released ‘Blizzard of Ozz' to massive acclaim: Monumental single "Crazy Train" charted at No. 9 on the U.S. Mainstream Rock list, and the album went 4x Platinum. He continued the streak with a number of lauded solo albums through the ‘80s.
In the ‘90s, Ozzy would create Ozzfest, one of the decade's most vital metal festivals. Eventually he did rejoin Black Sabbath (in 2011), working on new album ‘13,' released in 2013. It slayed the charts, including the U.S. Billboard 200. The band played their final shows in 2016. Catch Ozzy's second farewell tour, No More Tours 2, which runs until mid-October in the U.S. before heading to Europe.
