I, a humble musician and singer from Cardinal Newman, ought not to introduce myself, as I am utterly irrelevant to this story, which revolves around one man: John Michael Osbourne. I have one thing in common with this man: people sometimes call me Ozzy (a mispronunciation of my last name, Azzi). Other than that, I share little with him, but I consider it an honor to have lived and loved metal in the lifetime of Ozzy Osbourne.
The life of the Prince of Darkness started in the rather dark city of Birmingham, where he was born on 3 December 1948. Despite being dyslexic, he was a theatre kid in school, successfully warding off years of suicidal thoughts before he heard The Beatles for the first time at age 14. In a later documentary, he credited this as the moment he knew he “was going to be a rock star. ”
Being in Birmingham, he had to face the reality of the city’s opportunities. Like his parents, he went into industrial labour after he left secondary school, including working at a slaughterhouse. But five years after his life-changing experience with rock-n-roll, he was recruited by Geezer Butler to join his first band, Rare Breed. Although they only lasted two shows, Rare Breed caught the attention of drummer Bill Ward and guitarist Tony Iommi, whose previous band had just broken up. The four came together with two other friends to create “Polka Tulk Blues”, then “Earth”, before finally trimming down back to four and settling on naming their band after a film: Black Sabbath. The band, debut album, and song were so named because Ozzy said it was “strange that people spend so much money to see scary movies”. As with most of Black Sabbath’s songs, Ozzy wrote the lyrics with the bassist, Geezer Butler. Due to limited studio time afforded for their first record, they recorded live, with Ozzy and Bill Ward set up in different booths, and mixed the second day. The five originals and two covers released on Friday, 13 February 1970 as Black Sabbath shook the world, hitting and holding no. 8 on the general charts in the UK and no. 23 in the US. Just seven months later, the iconic Paranoid album was released, yielding some of Sabbath’s biggest hits and good radio airplay for the band. Master of Reality was their next work, with Ozzy’s eerie vocals and Iommi’s “bigger, heavier sound” laying the foundations for the future subgenres of doom and sludge metal. In three albums and 18 months, the band had invented two of the most lasting genres of rock and roll: heavy metal and doom metal. And the four made eight studio albums together, every one of which were certified Gold in the US by 1997.
After his time with Black Sabbath came to an end, Ozzy looked to form a new band in 1979. Meeting Randy Rhoads at an audition, he was smitten by the icon’s playing and hired him on the spot. Although they were only able to record two albums together before the guitarist sacrificed his life saving Ozzy’s, he will be remembered along with Osbourne in the heavy metal pantheon forever. On the topic of that story, Rhoads went up in a light propeller plane with the tour bus driver, a pilot, to take pictures. When the pilot (who was later found to have had drugs in his system) made an impulsive move to fly into the bus, the guitarist seized control and was able to avoid killing his bandmates. Tragically, the plane’s wing still clipped the top of the bus and sent it spinning, killing Rhoads. Ironically, the guitarist’s last conversation with Ozzy before departing on the flight was an admonition to stop drinking.
Shaken, Osbourne began his fight to overcome substance dependency. He finally completed rehab in 1989, and although he had a few relapses over the ensuing decades, he was able to stay clean and focus on his health after 2013. To make matters worse, he had been battling Parkinson’s disease for decades. Despite all this, the Prince of Darkness was able to return for a live performance on 5 July 2025 at Villa Park to say farewell to generations of fans. Sadly, only seventeen days later, the man who had been a hero for so many passed away. Memorials and parades were held, and perhaps the attention brought yet another generation in to experience the greatness of this artist. So, with that said, I think you should join them. Before you forget, listen to “Bark at the Moon”. That laugh is the laugh we will remember Ozzy by forever.
