The Life Of Ozzy Osbourne

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Jessika Warner

English 12

Ozzy Osbourne

Do you know anyone who would bite off the head to a live bat in front of hundreds of people? Ozzy osbourne sure would and has done that. Ozzy osbourne got his first shot to fame when he became the lead singer for Black Sabbath. But things weren’t always good for Ozzy he had a troubled past and was known for being trouble. Ozzy has had a lot of fame to his name some bad and some good. For the good he was in Black Sabbath and his own solo career, and for the bad he was heavily into drugs and alcohol and dealt with some learning disorders.

Ozzy was born on December 3, 1948 as John Michael Osbourne in Birmingham England. His father was Jack who worked shifts as a toolmaker at GEC. His mother Lillian worked for the car components firm. John was the fourth of six children. His brothers were Paul and Tony and his sisters were Jean, Iris, and Gillian. The family lived in a small 2-bedroom home at 14 Lodge Road in Aston. He has had the nickname "Ozzy" since primary school. Ozzy was born into a working class family and struggled to stay out of his sister’s way in the small house. As a teenager ozzy gave himself his first tattoo with a sewing needle and ink on his hand saying O-Z-Z-Y. Ozzy left school at the age of fifteen and started working as a construction labor. But that wasn’t his only job he also worked as a plumber trainee, apprentice toolmaker, car factory horn-tuner, slaughter house worker, and even tried to pursue a career in burglary. He spent six weeks in Winson Green Prison when he was unable to pay a fine after being found guilty of robbing a clothes shop. Ozzy grew up dealing with learning disabilities. It was very hard for ozzy to learn in school and stay focused, so he dropped out.

Ozzy got his first shot to fame when he became the lead singer in the band named Black Sabbath. The names of the band members that made up black Sabbath were, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward, Dave Walker, Ronnie Dio, Geoff Nicholls, Vinny Appice, Ian Gillan, Bev Bevan, David Donato, Eric Singer, Dave Spitz, Glenn Hughes, Ray Gillen, Bob Daisley, Tony Martin, Terry Chimes, Jo Burt, Cozy Powell, Neil Murray, Bobby Rondinelli, Mike Bordin, Tommy Clufetos. Not all of these band mates were in at once but they are who made up the band over the years of its fame. Ozzy was able to do vocals, harmonica, synthesizer, and keyboards. In 1972 Ozzy married his first wife Thelma, and children Louis and Jessica were soon born. Osbourne's drug and alcohol abuse, made frequent absences while touring with Black Sabbath. The drugs and alcohol took their toll on his family life, with his children later realizing the fact that he was not a good father. He admitted that he could not even remember when Louis and Jessica were born. In 1978, Osbourne left the band for three months to pursue interest in a solo project he called Blizzard of Ozz. At the request of the other members, Osbourne rejoined Sabbath. The band spent five months at Sounds Interchange Studios in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, writing and recording what would become Never Say Die! "It took quite a long time," (Iommi said.) "We were getting really drugged out, doing a lot of dope. We'd go down to the sessions, and have to pack up because we were too stoned, we'd have to stop. Nobody could get anything right, we were all over the place, everybody's playing a different thing. We'd go back and sleep it off, and try again the next day. Unfortunately, Ozzy and the rest of the band became seriously dependent on alcohol and cocaine, and gained a reputation for trashing cars and hotel rooms (biographychannel). Black Sabbaths most popular song was paranoid and iron man. If the drugs or alcohol abuse never occurred the band would have been able to produce more hit songs on time.

After ozzy left black Sabbath to go on his own solo career he met Sharon Arden who became his music manager. Ozzy married Sharon and had three kids with her, Kelly, Jack, and Aimee. (biography). Sharon and ozzy weren’t always a happy couple, ozzy tried to kill Sharon by choking her. But Sharon managed to press the panic button in their home and the police shortly arrived but ozzy had fled the scene. Sharon dropped the charges after her husband went into rehab to drop the drugs and alcohol.(metalunderground). After cleaning up his act a little bit ozzy produced his hit album call "the blizzard of ozz". Ozzy was notorious for allegally biting the head off of a live bat on stage during one of his shows. He also bit the head off of a dove during a business meeting. (biography). 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. Ozzy always had a problem with drinking and was arrested for public intoxication, during his intoxication he urinated on the Alamo and was banned from the city of san Antonio for a decade. Ozzy had a breakthrough and made his biggest financial success in the 1990’s called Ozzfest! Ozzfest was first held in phoenix Arizona and is still held today as one of the biggest concerts. One of ozzys songs was accused of encouraging suicide with his song called "suicide solution". Ozzy has long said that "Suicide Solution", a song about the dangers of alcoholism, was written as a tribute to former AC/DC vocalist Bon Scott who had died an alcohol-related death in 1980. The fan's parents alleged that Ozzy was responsible and sued him. The suit was cleared completely. (indb). Throughout his career, Christian groups have accused Osbourne of being a negative influence on teenagers, claiming that rock music has been used to glorify Satanism.

Ozzy is still in news today whether its good or bad he always has to be noticed. On December eighth, 2003 ozzy was in a atv accident in Buckinghamshire England on his estate property. Ozzy was rushed to the hospital with a broken collar bone, eight broken ribs, and his vertebra in his neck was broke. Surgeons were also trying to stop some bleeding into his lungs, according to the statement. The injuries were not considered to be life-threatening, his publicist added. (biography). In the 2000’s osbournes family was put onto tv with their hit mtv show "The Osbournes". The show was a big hit and let people into their very different life. Not everything that was showed on the show was good and even one of ozzys kids Aimee refused to be shown on it when she was at the age of sixteen. The show took a more serious turn in the summer of 2002 when wife, Sharon, was diagnosed with colon cancer. The show lasted until 2005. Sadly ozzy had claimed to be stoned the entire filming of his reality show. Despite his popularity as a reality television personality, Osbourne will also been remembered for his contributions to the world of music. He reunited with Black Sabbath in 2005 for a tour, and these legendary heavy metal heroes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the following year. (biography). Many reporters have reported that ozzy is a member of the Church of England and prays before every show. So just because someone looks like a Satanist does not mean they do not pray. Ozzy did something that no one would ever think was possible and wrote his own autobiography and his tell all story called "I am Ozzy". Ozzy’s son Jack produced a documentary about ozzys life called "God Bless Ozzy Osbourne" in april 2011. In 2005 ozzy was diagnosed with parkin syndrome and mild hearing loss, ozzy also had tremors from continuous drug abuse. Ozzy spent 40 years ruining his life with the use of substance abuse. If it wasn’t for Sharon ozzy probably would have overdosed on drugs but Sharon did all she could do to save him and keep him alive. Ozzy has put Sharon through unbelievable things but she always stood by his side and tried to help him. Ozzy has even worn sharons clothes because she hid his so he wouldn’t go out in public extremely intoxicated. But that didn’t stop him he just wore her clothes out in public which is when he urinated on the Alamo and was arrested. Some good did come out of all his rock and roll years. Ozzy was awarded many awards such as, UK Music Hall of Fame, US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a star on broad street in Birmingham England, and was the first inductee of the Birmingham walk of stars. Also ozzy was awarded the grammy for the song "I Don’t Want To Change The World". He also received the award in England for the Godlike Genius award. 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. Ozzy has a bad past but he is no longer doing drugs and his past has made some great rock and roll songs of all times.