Ozzy Osbourne

Trivia

• Ozzy has long said that "Suicide Solution", a song about the dangers of alcoholism, was written as a tribute to former AC/DC vocalist Ronald Belford Scott (Bon Scott) who had died an alcohol-related death in 1980. However in 2002, the writer of "Suicide Solution (Ozzy's former bassist and main lyricist, Bob Daisley), revealed that the song actually alluded to Ozzy himself.
• His song "Suicide Solution" created controversy when a fan committed suicide. The fan's parents alleged that Ozzy was responsible and sued him. The suit was cleared completely.
• Every single one of his solo albums (of original material) has gone multi-platinum.
• Formed a band called Law after leaving Black Sabbath in 1979. They played 2 gigs before he changed their name to the Blizzard of Oz.
• Claims he sleeps with a bayonet under his bed.
• With wife Sharon Osbourne, he announced that the family had agreed to a deal with MTV, worth a reported $20 million, to do two more seasons of "The Osbournes" (2002), the highest rated show in the history of the channel.
• The Osbournes meet with US President George W. Bush while attending the annual Correspondents' Association dinner.
• The cover of his 1988 album "No Rest for the Wicked" created controversy; it seemingly depicts himself seated and young children gathered around a Satanic shrine.
• Arrested in September 1989 after attempting to strangle wife Sharon Osbourne while drunk. He awoke in jail the next day not knowing why he was there. He and Sharon reconciled in October 1990 after Ozzy endured extensive drug rehabilitation.
• The cover of his 1982 live album "Speak of the Devil" was partially censored in some stores. The cover depicted a fanged Ozzy with blood (actually raspberry jelly) oozing from his mouth. The stores put a sticker over his mouth to obscure the "blood". Once Ozzy discovered this, he demanded that the sticker be removed or he would have his record company pull the album from those stores. Not wanting to lose the album sales of an Ozzy Osbourne recording, the stores adhered to Ozzy's wishes.

Quotes

• "I suppose Americans get a kick out of watching a crazy Brit family like us make complete fools of ourselves every week."
• "I kept hearing that metal is dead and Ozzy's dead and people that like Ozzy are dead. I have never had an empty seat. I've always sold out, so who's saying it's all over?"
• "I got rabies shots for biting the head off a bat but that's OK - the bat had to get Ozzy shots."
• "I can honestly say, all the bad things that ever happened to me were directly, directly attributed to drugs and alcohol."
• "One night in Hamburg, I painted my face purple, and didn't realise it was indelible. So I had to walk around Hamburg for the next three days with a purple head!"
• "One day, my son and I were arguing and he said: "Do you mind if people laugh with you, or at you?" And I said I didn't give a shit, so long as they were laughing. But really, I was thinking, I wouldn't like to know for a fact that they're laughing at me."
• "The bat thought I was giving him the kiss of life!"
• "I have a genuine love affair with my audience. When I'm on stage they're not privileged to see me. It's a privilege for me to see them."
• "Viagra's a great sleeping drug. I take Viagra, and Sharon goes right to sleep."
• "Of all the things I've lost I miss my mind the most."

Biography

Ozzy Osbourne

Last Updated: Saturday, August 22, 2009

Born in Birmingham England, after leaving school and having many odd jobs he ended up in a band with Geezer Butler. This group then split leading Ozzy and Geezer to join Tony Iommi and Bill Ward in a new band that went under several names (including Earth) that ended up being called Black Sabbath after a song of the same name that appeared on their first album (released 1969/70).

He recorded several more albums with Sabbath despite the decline of his relationship with Tony Iommi, which after several break ups led to him leaving/being fired from the band in 1979. After a short time he launched a solo career with a line up behind him that varied immensely from album to album and tour to tour. During the 80's he was treated several times for alcoholism and was sued twice for the suicides of some of his young fans (cleared completely). Following his No More Tears album he declared he would tour for the last time.

In 1991, on his last date he reformed briefly on stage with Black Sabbath for three songs. However a much talked about reformation tour fell through and Ozzy seemed to go into retirement, his bassist (Mike Inez) joined Alice in Chains and the guitarist (Zakk Wylde) formed his own band, Pride and Glory.

Now however he is recording a new album and has said he intends to tour again. The album should be out in the summer of 1995 and the tour should be shortly after. Geezer Butler has now quit Sabbath (again) and rejoined Ozzy (he played bass for him on tour during the mid to late 80's) and should play on the new album.