Ozzy Osbourne

Ozzy Osbourne

John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is a British singer-songwriter, whose career has spanned four decades.

He rose to prominence as lead vocalist of pioneering British heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and eventually achieved a multi-platinum solo career between the early 1980s and mid 1990s 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 expanded to a new medium 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. Osbourne is ranked 8th on Hit Parader's list of the 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Vocalists of all time.

Early life

Osbourne was born in Aston, Birmingham, England, on 3 December 1948. To support their six children, his father Jack worked shifts as a toolmaker at GEC while his mother Lillian worked for the car components firm Lucas. Osbourne reportedly suffered from learning difficulties (claiming to be dyslexic) making life at Prince Albert Road Junior School and Birchfield Road Secondary Modern School in Perry Barr difficult for him. The nickname "Ozzy" began when he was still in primary school, Osbourne has since not recognized himself by the name "John". However, he enjoyed music and took part in school plays. Starting at age 14 he became a great fan of The Beatles upon hearing their first hit single. He left school at 15 and was then employed as a construction site labourer, trainee plumber, apprentice toolmaker, car factory worker and slaughterhouse worker. He also spent a few weeks in Winson Green Prison, when he was unable to pay a fine after being found guilty of burglary of a clothes shop.

Osbourne would later form a band with former Birchfield Road School classmate Tony Iommi, after he auditioned for lead singer. During this time, psychedelic rock was enormously popular. To distinguish themselves from the norm, Iommi and his partners decided to play a heavy blues-inspired style of music laced with gloomy lyrics. Early names for the band included Polka Tulk and Earth. They later learned of another travelling band of the same name. One day during rehearsals, the band noticed people queueing up outside a cinema where a horror film was being shown, and bassist Geezer Butler observed how much many people enjoy being frightened. The film these fellows were waiting to see was the Mario Bava-directed Black Sabbath. After reading an occult book he borrowed from Osbourne, Butler had a dream of a dark figure at the end of his bed. Afterwards, Butler told Osbourne about the dream and Osbourne wrote the lyrics to "Black Sabbath", one of their first songs in a darker vein. It was the prototype of the songs that became their main style later in their career.

Black Sabbath

Main article: Black Sabbath

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Black Sabbath: Osbourne (right) with Tony Iommi in 1973

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. However, Osbourne's opinion of the band is that it "wasn't very popular," and although the band was making a lot of money, Osbourne had numerous troubles with criminal managers and the band never had much money for itself while Osbourne was a part of it. Osbourne did not notice or think about this too much because he was almost always heavily under the influence of drugs.

Early solo career

In 1979, Osbourne was fired from Black Sabbath largely for unreliability due to substance abuse that the band felt was excessive compared to their own drug and alcohol consumption. He was replaced by former Rainbow singer Ronnie James Dio.

In the late 1970s, the band Necromandus rehearsed with Ozzy Osbourne and briefly became the first incarnation of his Blizzard of Ozz solo project. The Ozzy Osbourne Band began as The Blizzard of Ozz, formed by Osbourne's new manager and future wife, Sharon Arden. The first line-up of the band featured drummer Lee Kerslake (of Uriah Heep), bassist/lyricist Bob Daisley (of Rainbow and later Uriah Heep), keyboardist Don Airey and guitarist Randy Rhoads (of Quiet Riot). The record company would eventually title the record Blizzard of Ozz credited simply under Osbourne's name. Largely written by Daisley and Rhoads, Osbourne met with considerable success on his first solo effort, the debut collection selling well with heavy metal fans. A second album, Diary of a Madman featured more of Bob Daisley's song writing and guitar work by Randy Rhoads, who was ranked the 85th greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone magazine in 2003.

On 19 March 1982 while in Florida for the follow-up album Diary of a Madman tour, and a week away from playing Madison Square Garden in New York City, a light aircraft piloted by Andrew Aycock (the band's tour bus driver) carrying guitarist Randy Rhoads crashed while performing low passes over the band's tour bus. In a prank turned deadly, the right wing of the aircraft clipped the bus, grazed a tree, and crashed into the attached garage of a nearby mansion bursting into flames, killing Rhoads, Aycock, and the band's hairdresser, Rachel Youngblood. On autopsy, cocaine was found to be present in Aycock's urine. Learning of the death of his close friend and band mate, Osbourne once again fell into depression. The record company gave Osbourne a break from performing to mourn for his late band member, but Osbourne stopped work for only one week.

Ex-Gillan guitarist Bernie Torme was the first guitarist to replace Randy once the tour resumed. Torme however, departed the band to focus on his solo career. His tenure with the band would last less than one month.

During an audition for guitarists in a hotel room, Osbourne selected Brad Gillis, (who went on to be one of two guitarists in Night Ranger) to finish the tour. The tour continued, culminating in the release of the 1982 live album, Speak of the Devil recorded at the Ritz in New York City. A live tribute album for Rhoads was later released. This album would also feature a studio song by Randy, taken from studio outtakes, called "Dee" in honour of his mother.

Also, in an August 2008 interview with Total Guitar Magazine, Osbourne was asked if he wanted to say something about Randy Rhoads, the rock star said: "I have no regrets except I wasn't able to keep Randy from getting onto that plane."

Further solo career

Osbourne performing in Cardiff, 1981 Photo: Andrew King

In the 1980s and 1990s, Osbourne's career was an effort on two fronts: continuing to make music without Rhoads, and becoming sober. The 1981 concerts were recorded with a live album in mind. Entitled Speak of the Devil, known in the United Kingdom as Talk of the Devil, was originally planned to consist of live recordings from 1981, primarily from Osbourne's solo work. With news of Black Sabbath also about to release a live album titled "Live Evil" however, Osbourne and Sharon decided to pre-empt his former band's efforts, and the album ended up consisting entirely of Black Sabbath cover material, recorded with Gillis, bassist Rudy Sarzo, and drummer Tommy Aldridge. In the same Guitar Player interview where Brad Gillis discussed the live album, how he came to play for Osbourne, and admitted that everyone in the band wanted to rework some parts, but were not given the opportunity. Speak of the Devil was musically left alone. Osbourne later commented (inside the cover of "Tribute") "I don't give a fuck about that album. It was just a bunch of bullshit Sabbath covers." He also stated that it was the recording company that wanted a new album, and that he was unwilling to release the tapes of performances live with Rhoads, believing this would dishonour his memory.

In 1982, Osbourne guested as lead vocalist on the Was (Not Was) pop dance track "Shake Your Head (Let's Go to Bed)" with Madonna performing backing vocals. Osbourne's cut was remixed and re-released in the early 1990s for a Was (Not Was) greatest hits album in Europe, and it cracked the UK pop chart. Madonna asked that her vocal not be restored for the hits package, so new vocals by Kim Basinger were added to complement Osbourne's lead.

Jake E. Lee, formerly of Ratt and Rough Cutt, was a more successful recruit than Torme or Gillis, recording 1983's Bark at the Moon (co-writing the album with Bob Daisley, and also featuring Tommy Aldridge, and former Rainbow keyboard player Don Airey). 1986's The Ultimate Sin followed (with bassist Phil Soussan and drummer Randy Castillo), and touring behind both albums with ex-Uriah Heep keyboardist John Sinclair joining prior to the Ultimate Sin tour.

In late 1986, Osbourne was the target in the first of a series of US lawsuits brought against him, alleging that one of his songs, "Suicide Solution", drove two more American teenagers to commit suicide because of its "subliminal lyrics". The cases were decided in Osbourne's favour, essentially on the premise that Osbourne cannot be held accountable for a listener's actions. It also helped that the song was clearly about alcohol abuse and "suicide solution" was a play on words. Soon after, Osbourne publicly acknowledged that he wrote the song about his friend, AC/DC lead singer Bon Scott, who died from alcohol abuse, and that solution referred to both alcohol as a solution to problems and as a chemical solution. Bob Daisley, however, asserts that he wrote this song and that it was about his concerns over Osbourne's own ongoing battle with substance abuse.

Lee and Osbourne parted ways in 1987, however, reportedly due to musical differences. Osbourne continued to struggle with his chemical dependencies, and commemorated the fifth anniversary of Rhoads' death with Tribute, the live recordings from 1981 that had gone unreleased for years. In 1988, Osbourne appeared in The Decline of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years and told the director, Penelope Spheeris, that "sobriety fucking sucks." Meanwhile, Osbourne found his most enduring replacement for Rhoads to date — a guitarist named Zakk Wylde. Wylde joined Osbourne for his 1988 effort, No Rest for the Wicked, in which Castillo remained on drums, Sinclair on keyboards and Daisley once more returned to co-writing/bass duties fresh from a stint in Black Sabbath the previous year. The subsequent tour saw Osbourne reunited with erstwhile Black Sabbath bandmate Geezer Butler on bass, and a live EP (entitled Just Say Ozzy) featuring this lineup was released two years later. Geezer continued to tour with Osbourne for the subsequent four tours, and was a major stage presence throughout. In 1989, Ozzy Osbourne performed as part of the Moscow Music Peace Festival.

Nineties solo career

While very successful as a heavy metal act through the 1980s, Osbourne sustained commercial success into the 1990s, starting with 1991's No More Tears, which enjoyed much radio and MTV exposure. It also initiated a practice of bringing in outside composers to help pen Osbourne's solo material, instead of relying solely upon his recording ensemble to write and arrange the music. The album was mixed by veteran rock producer Michael Wagener, who also mixed the Live and Loud album which followed in 1993. It went platinum four times over, and ranked at number 10 on that year's Billboard rock charts. Osbourne was awarded his only Grammy for the track "I Don't Want to Change the World" from No More Tears for Best Metal Performance of 1994.

At this point Osbourne expressed his fatigue with the process of touring, and proclaimed his "retirement tour" (which was to be short-lived). It was comically called "No More Tours", a pun on his No More Tears album. Prior to the tour Mike Inez took over on bass and Kevin Jones on keyboards as Sinclair was touring with The Cult. Osbourne's entire CD catalogue was remastered and reissued in 1995. Also that year, he released Ozzmosis and went on stage again dubbing his concert performances "The Retirement Sucks Tour". The lineup on "Ozzmosis" was Wylde, Butler (who had just quit Black Sabbath again) and ex-Bad English, Steve Vai and Hardline drummer Deen Castronovo, now in Journey. Keyboards were played by Yes's Rick Wakeman and producer Michael Beinhorn. The tour maintained Butler and Castronovo and saw Sinclair return, but a major change was new guitarist ex-David Lee Roth man Joe Holmes. Wylde was debating on an offer to join Guns N' Roses and Osbourne couldn't wait any longer and replaced him. In early 1996, Butler and Castronovo left and Inez (by now in Alice In Chains since 1993)and Castillo filled in. Ultimately, Faith No More's Mike Bordin and ex-Suicidal Tendencies bassist Robert Trujillo joined on drums and bass respectively. A greatest hits package, The Ozzman Cometh was issued in 1997.

Osbourne's biggest financial success of the 1990s was a venture named Ozzfest, created and managed by his wife/manager Sharon and assisted loosely by his son Jack. Ozzfest was a quick hit with metal fans, spurring up-and-coming groups like Incubus and Slipknot to broad exposure and commercial success. Some acts shared the bill with a reformed Black Sabbath during the 1997 Ozzfest tour, beginning in West Palm Beach, Florida. Osbourne reunited with the original members of Sabbath in 1997 and has performed periodically with them ever since.

Since its start, five million people have attended Ozzfest, which has grossed over US$100 million. The festival also helped promote many new hard rock and heavy metal acts of the late 1990s and early 2000s, including Korn, System of a Down, Drowning Pool, Limp Bizkit, Disturbed, HIM, Linkin Park, Atreyu, Papa Roach, Static X, P.O.D., Velvet Revolver, Godsmack, Seether, Avenged Sevenfold, Otep, and Slipknot. Up until the 2006 tour, Osbourne was always the headlining artist (either solo or with Black Sabbath), and it has featured other artists such as Metallica, Danzig, Sepultura, Marilyn Manson, Pantera, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Slayer, and Megadeth. Ozzfest helped Osbourne to become the first hard rock and heavy metal star to hit $50 million in merchandise sales.

Down To Earth

Osbourne's first album of new studio material in seven years, 2001's Down to Earth, met with only moderate success, as did its live follow up, Live at Budokan.

In 2003, Osbourne recruited former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted after he left the band in 2000. Both Newsted and Osbourne were enthusiastic about recording an album together.

On 8 December 2003, Osbourne was rushed into emergency surgery at Wexham Park Hospital in Slough, England when he had an accident with his all-terrain vehicle on his estate in Chalfont St Peter in Buckinghamshire. Osbourne broke his collar bone, eight ribs, and a neck vertebra. An operation was performed to lift the collarbone, which was believed to be resting on a major artery and interrupting blood flow to the arm. Sharon later revealed that Osbourne had stopped breathing following the crash and was resuscitated by Osbourne's then personal bodyguard, Sam Ruston.

While in hospital, Osbourne achieved his first ever UK number one single, a duet of the Black Sabbath ballad, "Changes" with daughter Kelly. In doing so, he broke the record of the longest period between an artist's first UK chart appearance (with Black Sabbath's "Paranoid", number four in August 1970) and their first number one hit: a gap of 33 years.

Since the accident, he has fully recovered and headlined the 2004 Ozzfest, where he again reunited with Black Sabbath. In 2005, he released a box set called Prince of Darkness. The first and second discs are collections of live performances, B-sides, demos and singles. The third disc contained duets and other odd tracks with other artists, including "Born to Be Wild" with Miss Piggy. The fourth disc is entirely new material where Osbourne covers his favourite songs by his biggest influences and favourite bands, including The Beatles, John Lennon, David Bowie and others.

He and wife Sharon starred in yet another MTV show, this time a competition reality show entitled "Battle for Ozzfest". A number of yet unsigned bands send one member to compete in a challenge to win a spot on the 2005 Ozzfest and a possible recording contract.

In 2004, Osbourne received an NME award for "godlike genius".

Shortly after Ozzfest 2005, Osbourne announced that he will no longer headline Ozzfest. Although he announced his retirement from Ozzfest, Osbourne came back for one more year, 2006, albeit only closing for just over half the concerts, leaving the others to be closed by System of a Down. He also played the closing act for the second stage at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, CA on 1 July as well as Randall's Island, NY on 29 July. After the concert in Bristow, Virginia, Osbourne announced he would return for another year of Ozzfest in 2007. Tickets for the 2007 tour were offered to fans free of charge, which led to some controversy. In 2008, Ozzfest was reduced to a one-day event in Dallas, Texas, where Osbourne played, along with Metallica and King Diamond.

In 2005, he was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame along with Black Sabbath where he mooned the crowd because of their poor reception while they were playing.

Black Rain

In March 2006, he said that he hopes to release a new studio album soon with long time on-off guitarist, Zakk Wylde of Black Label Society. In October 2006, it was announced that Tony Iommi, Ronnie James Dio, Vinny Appice, and Geezer Butler would be touring together again, though not as Black Sabbath, but under the moniker Heaven and Hell (the title of Dio's first Black Sabbath album). The response to the news on Osbourne's website was that Osbourne wished Tony and Ronnie well and that there is only one Sabbath.

Osbourne's album, titled Black Rain, was released on 22 May 2007. Osbourne's first new studio album in almost six years, it featured a more serious tone than previous albums. "I thought I'd never write again without any stimulation...But you know what? Instead of picking up the bottle I just got honest and said, 'I don't want life to go (to pieces)'", Osbourne stated in a Billboard interview.

Osbourne on tour in Japan

Birmingham Walk of Stars.

On 24 May 2007, Osbourne was honoured at the second annual VH1 Rock Honors, along with Genesis, Heart, and ZZ Top. It was announced on 18 May 2007 that Osbourne would be the first inductee into The Birmingham Walk of Stars. In a ceremony conducted on 6 July 2007, a bronze star honouring Osbourne was placed on Broad Street in Birmingham, England, in his presence. Ozzy Osbourne is the first artist to be honoured on Birmingham's Hollywood-style Walk of Fame. He was presented with the honour by the Lord Mayor of Birmingham. "I am really honoured," he said, "All my family is here and I thank everyone for this reception - I'm absolutely knocked out".

Osbourne was also a judge for the 6th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.

In July 2008, it was announced that Ozzy Osbourne would be the recipient of the prestigious 'Living Legend' award in the Classic Rock Roll of Honour this year. Osbourne follows the likes of Jimmy Page and Alice Cooper.

On 20 August 2008, Affliction Clothing announced that Osbourne would be the musical guest at their 11 October Affliction: Day of Reckoning mixed martial arts event to be held at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas.

Scream

In 2009 it was announced that there would not be an Ozzfest 2009, but that Ozzfest would return in 2010.

Osbourne revealed in July 2009 that he was currently seeking a new guitar player. While he states that he has not fallen out with Zakk Wylde, he said he felt his songs were beginning to sound like Black Label Society and fancied a change.

Osbourne performed at the gaming festival, BlizzCon 2009.

Osbourne provides his voice and likeness to the 2009 video game, Brütal Legend, where he stars as The Guardian of Metal.

Slash's song "Crucify The Dead" features Osbourne on vocals.

On 2 November 2009, Osbourne and his wife Sharon were the guest hosts of WWE Monday Night Raw. The Osbournes were also a nominee for "Raw Guest Host of the Year" at the 2009 Slammy Awards, but lost to Bob Barker.

In December 2009 Osbourne announced a new album, titled Soul Sucka for release in June 2010 and that Ozzfest 2010 will return in July. However, after negative reception regarding the title, he decided to change it. On March 29th, Ozzy announced that the album has been renamed Scream, and that a song from the album, Let Me Hear You Scream, will debut on the April 14th episode of CSI: New York. On April 13th, 2010, Ozzy announced the release date for Scream, June 15th, 2010.

Personal life

Osbourne has been married twice and is the father of six children (five biological, and one 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 family friend Robert Marcato after his mother died, but never legally adopted him. Osbourne also has four grandchildren, Isabelle and Harry from his daughter Jessica and granddaughter Mia and grandson Elijah 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 by the New York Times 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 tattoo he gave himself, 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 also shown symptoms of mild hearing loss, as depicted in the television show, The Osbournes, where he often asks his family to repeat what they say.

Ozzy Osbourne is known to be a fan of the online game World of Warcraft, appearing in one of its commercials.

Osbourne is a supporter of English association football club Aston Villa, as he grew up in the Aston area close to Villa Park.

Ozzy published an autobiography in October 2009, titled I Am Ozzy.

Career troubles

Ozzy Osbourne found himself under fire in his controversial concert and stage acts that some parent-teacher associations, media content watchdog activist groups, including many Christian groups accused Osbourne of being a negative influence for teenagers. They claimed messages on his songs, actions (the infamous "horned hand") and stage decorations are portrayals of devil worship and glorified Satanism, but Osbourne denies these accusations and he claims it was done in good fun, symbolizing teenage rebellion and done for shock value. In actuality, Osbourne flashed a peace sign with each hand, while his Sabbath replacement, Ronnie James Dio, was better known for flashing the "horns". At least one scholar has compared the controversy surrounding Osbourne and accusations of Satanism to those leveled against the renowned occultist, Aleister Crowley, and how both were demonized by the media and the Christian Right for their antics. Osbourne tempts the comparison with his song "Mr. Crowley". Both Osbourne and Crowley enjoyed the infamy of being labeled Satanists, though Osbourne firmly denies the charge. Their antics have landed them such nicknames as The Prince of Darkness (Osbourne) and The Great Beast (Crowley), terms cited by critics to condemn both men as anti-Christian.

Osbourne was since thought to have performed a song that promoted suicide. In 1985, California teenager John McCollum committed suicide while listening to Ozzy Osbourne's "Suicide Solution," a song about the dangers of alcohol abuse. Although McCollum suffered clinical depression, his parents sued Ozzy Osbourne (McCollum v. CBS) for their son's death, claiming the lyrics in the song, "Where to hide, suicide is the only way out. Don't you know what it's really about?" convinced McCollum to commit suicide. The family's lawyer suggested that Osbourne should be criminally charged for encouraging a young person to commit suicide, but the courts ruled in Osbourne's favor saying there was no connection between the song and McCollum's suicide. Osbourne was sued yet again for the same reason in 1991 (Waller v. Osbourne), by the parents of Michael Waller, for $9 million, but the courts ruled in Osbourne's favor in that case as well.

He has also come under fire from former musicians such as Bob Daisley, Lee Kerslake, and Phil Soussan for not paying them royalties and giving them credit on the albums they played on. Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake sued the Osbournes in 1986 for outstanding royalties from songs written for the Blizzard of Ozz releases, and for reinstatement of performance credits. Litigation continued in 2002 when Daisley and Kerslake (and bassist Phil Soussan) once again sued for unpaid royalties. The Osbournes responded by erasing their contributions on the original masters and re-issuing new versions with the bass and drum tracks re-recorded by Robert Trujillo and Mike Bordin. Phil Soussan also brought a lawsuit against Osbourne and even got into a physical confrontation with Sharon at Randy Castillo's funeral.

Incidents involving animals

In 1981, after signing his first solo career record deal, Osbourne bit the head off a dove during a meeting with some record-company executives in Los Angeles. Apparently he had planned to release doves into the air as a sign of peace, but due to being intoxicated at the time, he instead grabbed a dove and bit its head off. He then spat the head out, with blood still dripping from his lips. 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 woman 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.

Alcohol abuse

During a tour stop in Texas in 1982, while wearing future wife Sharon's dress, Osbourne 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 and manager Sharon.

Print status of solo releases

In the wake of a lawsuit by former band members Daisley and Kerslake over unpaid royalties for songwriting credit, Osbourne's catalogue was remastered and reissued again in spring 2001. This time, the original bass guitar and drum tracks on Osbourne's Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman were removed and re-recorded entirely by bassist Robert Trujillo (Suicidal Tendencies, Infectious Grooves, Black Label Society, currently of Metallica) and drummer Mike Bordin (Faith No More). The pair also played on Osbourne's studio album, Down to Earth from 2001. Other releases, such as Speak of the Devil, The Ultimate Sin, Just Say Ozzy and Live and Loud were deleted from Osbourne's catalogue entirely, though they are still on iTunes.

Band members

Main article: List of Ozzy Osbourne band members

Current members

• Mike Bordin – drums (since 1997)
• Rob "Blasko" Nicholson – bass (since 2003)
• Adam Wakeman – keyboard (since 2004)
• Gus G. – guitar (since 2009)

Recording timeline

Role	Album
	Blizzard of Ozz (1980)	Diary of a Madman (1981)	Bark at the Moon (1983)	The Ultimate Sin (1986)	No Rest for the Wicked (1988)	No More Tears (1991)	Ozzmosis (1995)	Down to Earth (2001)	Black Rain (2007)	Scream (2010)
Guitars	Randy Rhoads		Jake E. Lee		Zakk Wylde					Gus G.
Bass	Bob Daisley			Phil Soussan	Bob Daisley		Geezer Butler	Robert Trujillo	Rob Nicholson
Drums	Lee Kerslake		Tommy Aldridge	Randy Castillo			Deen Castronovo	Mike Bordin
Keyboards	Don Airey	Johnny Cook	Don Airey	Mike Moran	John Sinclair		Rick Wakeman	Tim Palmer/Michael Railo	Zakk Wylde	Adam Wakeman

Discography

Main article: Ozzy Osbourne discography

• Blizzard of Ozz (1980)
• Diary of a Madman (1981)
• Bark at the Moon (1983)
• The Ultimate Sin (1986)
• No Rest for the Wicked (1988)
• No More Tears (1991)
• Ozzmosis (1995)
• Down to Earth (2001)
• Under Cover (2005)
• Black Rain (2007)
• Scream (2010)

External links

• The Official Ozzy Osbourne Website
• Ozzy Osbourne on Twitter
• Ozzfest Information