Biography
 |
Black Sabbath met with swift and enduring success.
Built around Tony Iommi's driving guitar riffs and
Ozzy's eerie vocals, their early records such as their
self-titled debut, Paranoid and Master of Reality in
particular are considered definitive of heavy
metal.[citation needed] This was despite rather modest
investment from their US record label Warner Bros. A
particularly clear example of Warner Bros. lax
commitment to the band can be seen in the album Paranoid
which was initially named War Pigs after the first
track. The cover art featured a man with a pig snout
brandishing a sword. The album was renamed because War
Pigs is an anti-war song. However the cover art was
never changed.[citation needed]
Several of their early singles, especially "Paranoid"
and "Iron
Man", continue to draw significant radio airplay to
this day. Osbourne himself continues to play these hits
when performing as a solo artist.
In 1979 Ozzy Osbourne was fired from Black Sabbath.
Though many believe it is due to drug use, it was in
fact due to his failure to show up for gigs often. He
was replaced by Ronnie James Dio. Depression fueled his
drug and alcohol problems. He divorced his first wife
Thelma, and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Despite
these difficulties Osbourne attempted to launch a solo
career, managed by Sharon Arden, who was Black Sabbath
manager Don Arden's daughter. Ozzy met with considerable
success on his first solo effort. With Sharon Arden's
help, Ozzy Osbourne was able to gain a recording deal
with Jet Records, then a subset of CBS. However even
though Don Arden was Sharon's father, she herself
recounts that the band and her as manager, were lucky to
be able to record and tour under the tough deal they
received from Jet.
The Ozzy Osbourne Band actually started out as The
Blizzard of Ozz. When the first album, which was
supposed to be a self-titled album, was to be released
it was agreed to name it Blizzard of Ozz featuring Ozzy
Osbourne, but the record company featured Ozzy Osbourne
with the album simply annotated Blizzard of Ozz. After
this, things were simplified to The Ozzy Osbourne Band.
Drummer Lee Kerslake (of Uriah Heep) and
bassist/lyricist Bob Daisley (of Rainbow) however still
refer to that era as the "Blizzard of Ozz". The
collection immediately sold well with heavy rock fans
who were impressed with the well crafted lyrics written
by Bob Daisley and, more importantly, the impressive
technical ability of guitarist Randy Rhoads.
To keep Ozzy Osbourne from delving into his addictions
following the momentum of the first album and tour,
Sharon decided to try to keep the band working. During
this time period Ozzy's second album, Diary of a Madman,
took shape,. Like the first album, Diary of a Madman was
hailed as an instant classic and featured more of Bob
Daisley's gifted songwriting and more incredible guitar
work by Randy Rhoads.[citation needed] The album release
did not go without controversy. Even though the songs
were written and performed by the same four band members
that created the Blizzard of Ozz album, the internal
album art and credits were seemingly given to Ozzy's new
touring band consisting of Ozzy, and Randy along with
bassist Rudy Sarzo (Quiet Riot) and drummer Tommy
Aldridge, formerly of Black Oak Arkansas. Also not shown
was keyboardist, Don Airey, who played on the first
three Ozzy Osbourne albums but was never credited until
the fourth album, Bark at the Moon.
In 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, a light aircraft
carrying guitarist Randy Rhoads crashed while performing
low passes over the band's tour bus. The pilot (also the
tour bus driver) who was aparently trying to scare his
ex-wife[citation needed] (who was also part of the
Osbourne entourage) clipped the parked tour bus and
crashed into a nearby house, killing himself, Rhoads,
and the band's hairdresser. Osbourne awoke from the tour
bus and managed to save the life of the man living in
the house, but those on the plane died on impact.
Osbourne subsequently fell into a deep depression
following the death of his close friend and bandmate.
The record company gave Osbourne a break from performing
to mourn for his late band member[citation needed], but
Ozzy stopped work for only one week.
Bernie Torme was the first guitarist hired to replace
Randy once the tour resumed. However, Torme could not
handle the pressure of playing the guitar parts in front
of thousands of fans still mourning the loss of Randy
Rhoads. There are very few photos of Bernie Torme
playing with Ozzy, as his tenure with the band lasted
less than one month.
In a rare interview later in Guitar Player magazine,
Brad Gillis discussed how he came to play for Ozzy
following Bernie Torme, and a few tidbits about the
recording of the infamous 1983 Ozzy live album, "Speak
of the Devil" performed in New York City. During an
audition for guitarists in a hotel room, Ozzy discovered
then Night Ranger guitarist, Brad Gillis. Ozzy sat on
the edge of a bed and sang "Flying High Again," while
Brad played the song and solo with his electric guitar
unplugged. He played it so well that Ozzy, crying a
little, hugged him and asked him to help out in the
tour. The tour continued and culminated in the 1983
release of a live album, "Speak of the Devil", recorded
at the Ritz in New York City over two days. A live
tribute album was later released in which Osbourne talks
about his relationship with Rhoads. This album included
a studio song by Randy, taken from studio outtakes,
called "Dee". This was a record for his mother.
Ozzy Osbourne rejoined the original line-up of Black Sabbath
in 1997 for a reunion tour and has sporadically
performed live with the band, parallel to his ongoing
solo career.
According to the press, Osbourne's antics progressively
worsened during the 1980s; his alcoholism and drug abuse
continued. (He later underwent a number of treatments
for alcoholism and drug abuse.)
Ozzy Osbourne is infamous for biting off the head of a live dove
during a meeting with his newly signed record company.
He was banned from CBS' buildings but he still retained
his contract with CBS; though it has been speculated
that this was a calculated stunt meant to intimidate the
label executives into giving Osbourne more favorable
contractual terms. Osbourne was also hospitalized for
rabies after biting the head off of a stunned bat thrown
on stage by a fan in Des Moines, Iowa. He later claimed
to have thought the bat was a rubber toy. He was
arrested after urinating near the base of the Cenotaph,
a monument located in front of The Alamo, while wearing
one of his wife's dresses, for which he was banned from
San Antonio, Texas for ten years.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Osbourne's career was an effort
on two fronts: continuing to make music without Rhoads,
and becoming sober. Rhoads' first replacement was Bernie
Torme (who reportedly could not cope with the pressures
of learning the set list at short notice, and who never
recorded with Osbourne), followed by Brad Gillis of
Night Ranger, who filled in for the rest of the tour and
associated live album Speak of the Devil. This live
title, 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 pre-empted 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.
The music media hype and reporting that followed
probably helped album sales for both bands. In the same
Guitar Player interview where Brad Gillis discussed how
he came to play for Ozzy, he discussed the live album,
and admitted everyone in the band wanted to rework some
parts, but were not given the opportunity. "Speak of the
Devil" was musically left alone.
In 1982, Ozzy Osbourne was the guest vocalist on the Was (Not
Was) pop dance track "Shake Your Head (Let's Go to Bed)"
with Madonna performing backing vocals (a little known
fact). 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, recording 1983's Bark at
the Moon (with Daisley, Aldridge, and former Rainbow
keyboard player Don Airey) and 1986's The Ultimate Sin
(with bassist Phil Soussan and drummer Randy Castillo)
and touring behind both albums.
Meanwhile, Osbourne was involved in a legal battle of
his own. In late 1986, he 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
teenagers to commit suicide because of its "subliminal
lyrics". The cases were decided in Osbourne's favor,
essentially on the premise that Osbourne cannot be held
accountable for a listener's actions. Soon after,
Osbourne publicly acknowledged he wrote "Suicide
Solution" about his friend, AC/DC lead singer Bon Scott,
who died from alcohol abuse, and that alcohol as a
solution of one's problems is not the answer (hence the
song's title). However, Bob Daisley asserts he wrote
this song about his concerns over Osbourne's 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's death
with Tribute, the live recordings from 1981 that had
gone unreleased for years. Excellently recorded, the
album cemented Rhoads's legendary status as an
imaginative and talented musician. In 1988, Ozzy
appeared in The Decline of Western Civilization II: The
Metal Years and told the director, Penelope Spheeris,
that "sobriety f---ing sucks." Meanwhile, Osbourne found
his most enduring replacement for Rhoads to date, a
guitarist named Zakk Wylde, plucked from a New Jersey
bar. Wylde joined Osbourne for his 1988 effort, No Rest
for the Wicked, in which Castillo remained on drums and
Daisley once more returned to co-writing/bass duties.
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
Ozzy for the subsequent 4 tours, and was a major stage
presence throughout, playing as strongly as anyone since
Rudy Sarzo.
While very successful as a heavy metal act through the
1980s, Osbourne also enjoyed some 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 the recording ensemble to write and arrange
the music. The platinmum selling, top-10 No More Tears
album was mixed by veteran rock producer Michael
Wagener, who also mixed the Live and Loud album which
followed in 1993. At this point Osbourne expressed his
fatigue with the process of touring, and proclaimed his
"retirement", which was to be short-lived. Osbourne's
entire CD catalog 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". 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 by his wife/manager
Sharon and managed 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 even had the pleasure to share the bill with a
reformed, yet much older Black Sabbath. Osbourne
reunited with the original members of Sabbath in 1997
and has performed periodically with the band ever since.
Since 1997 there have been rumours of a new Black
Sabbath album, though Ozzy has denied any further studio
plans as Black Sabbath.
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 the wake of a lawsuit by former band members Daisley
and Kerslake, reportedly for unpaid royalties,
Osbourne's catalogue was "remastered" again in 2002.
This time, the original bass guitar and drum tracks from
Osbourne's first two albums were controversially removed
and re-recorded entirely. Two of the commercially less
successful titles, Speak of the Devil and The Ultimate
Sin, were permitted to go out of print entirely.
Ozzy Osbourne garnered still greater celebrity status by
the unlikely success of his own brand of reality
television. The Osbournes, a program featuring the
domestic life of Osbourne and his family (wife Sharon,
children Jack and Kelly, but not elder daughter Aimee,
who declined to participate), has turned into one of
MTV's greatest hits. It premiered on March 5, 2002, and
the final episode aired March 21, 2005.
In 2002, Ozzy Osbourne and wife Sharon were invited to
the White House by president George W. Bush for a
ceremonial dinner. Bush praised Osbourne for his work on
The Osbournes.
During 2003, a member of Birmingham City Council
campaigned for him to be given Freedom of the City.
On December 8, 2003, Osbourne was rushed into emergency
surgery when he was involved in an accident involving
the use of his all-terrain vehicle on his estate in
Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire, UK. 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 the hospital, Ozzy 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. He has also turned his hand to writing a
Broadway musical. The reputed topic is that of the
Russian monk Grigory Rasputin, who held sway with
Russia's last royal Romanov family. In 2005, he released
a box set called Prince of Darkness. It contains four
long-awaited discs, 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 Ozzy covers his favorite songs by his
biggest influences and favorite bands, including The
Beatles, John Lennon, David Bowie and others.
Ozzy Osbourne 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".
In May 2005, the tremors he experienced and always
linked to his continuous drug abuse were diagnosed as
Parkinson's disease. He will have to take medication for
the rest of his life.
Shortly after Ozzfest 2005, Ozzy Osbourne announced that he
will no longer headline Ozzfest.
In 2005 he was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame
along with Black Sabbath where he decided to moon the
crowd because of their poor reception while they were
playing. This led to a standing ovation.
In March, 2006, Ozzy Osbourne said that he hopes to release a new
studio album soon with long time on-off guitarist, Zakk
Wylde of Black Label Society.
Trivia
- Osbourne has shown symptoms of a mild hearing loss, as evidenced in the tv show, The Osbournes, as he often asks his family members to repeat what they say. This is possibly as a result of being exposed to dangerous noise levels at music venues.
- Osbourne is a supporter of Aston Villa FC.
- In 1982 during the "Diary" tour where Ozzy bit into a bat onstage, he contracted rabies and was required to get multiple rabies shots to cure him. The treatments caused some temporary hair loss, and as a result Ozzy shaved his head. At one point there were a large number of photos taken by the media where Ozzy is bald and posing wearing military fatigues and holding various weapons. At another point he admitted to wearing a blonde wig, colored "hooker blonde", and stated he would begin a show with it on, then pull it off at another point in the concert, to the complete surprise of fans. Such photos were used in music magazines at the time, but are now rarely seen.
- The main chords and melody of the song "Diary of a Madman" were created while Randy Rhoads was teaching a student classical guitar. Randy would hold guitar lessons while the band was touring around the United States. Ozzy was asleep and was awakened by the ongoing guitar lesson. He ran into the room, happily yelling at Randy something like; "What is that? What is that you're playing?!" Its brilliant, I'm taking it!" Randy tried to explain it was already a written classical part but Ozzy would have none of it.
- Ozzy made more than a few well known rock bands famous by touring with them as opening acts, and supporting their musical styles and success. In 1984 the opening band for the "Bark at the Moon" tour was Motley Crue, touring their second album, "Shout at the Devil". During "The Ultimate Sin" tour, Ozzy toured with Metallica, supporting their latest effort "Master of Puppets". Others include Soundgarden during their "Badmotorfinger" tour, and Korn, during their "ADIDAS" tour.
- Ozzy Osbourne's alcohol abuse and misadventures resulting from his alcoholism came to a very serious peak in 1988 after an assault on his wife/manager Sharon Osbourne. Ozzy made one final determined effort to finally rid himself of his distructive lifestyle. He successfully beat his addictions and has been sober since 1991.
Facts
- Ozzy Osbourne's attitude was always the focus of
attention. It gave him nicknames such as "the
madman" (in the 1980s, thanks to the commercial
success of Diary of a Madman), "the Godfather of
heavy metal" (in the 90s, due to his long lasting
contribution to rock music) and "Prince of Darkness"
(in the 2000s, as he started calling himself).
- Despite media criticism, Osbourne's on-stage
charisma managed to turn Black Sabbath in a major
act, hitting #1 in UK with the landmark album
Paranoid and selling 8 million copies during the
70s. The four Black Sabbath founders are widely
considered the creators of heavy metal style. Since
1969, the band sold over 70 million copies
worldwide, and over 25 million in the US alone;
their biggest album, Paranoid, is quadruple platinum
in US since 1995.
- During his solo career, Osbourne's only #1
single hit was a re-recording of Black Sabbath's
1972 classic "Changes", performed in a duet with his
daughter Kelly in 2003. However, he managed to hit
#4 in US with his last two studio albums.
- Ozzy Osbourne sold over 27 million albums in the
US, by far his biggest market, and over 50 million
worldwide, more than any other hard rock/heavy metal
solo act.[citation needed] Two albums, Blizzard of
Ozz (1981) and No More Tears (1991) are certified
quadruple platinum, for sales of over 4 million
copies in US.
- 5 million people have attended Ozzfest and it
grossed over US$100 million. It helped promote many
new hard rock/heavy metal acts of late 1990s and
early 2000s, including System of a Down, Limp Bizkit,
Korn, Linkin Park, Papa Roach, Velvet Revolver,
Godsmack and Slipknot in spite of always having
Osbourne (either solo or with Black Sabbath) as the
headliner, it also featured other famous artists
such as Pantera, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and
Megadeth. Ozzfest also helped Osbourne to become the
first hard rock star to hit US$ 50 million in
merchandise sales.
- Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne are one of UK's richest couples, according to The Sunday Times Rich List. They rank #485 in the 2005 list, with an estimated £100 million earned from recording, touring and TV shows. They rank above most music stars, such as Rod Stewart, George Michael, Robbie Williams, the Rolling Stones' Charlie Watts and Ron Wood, and Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Queen, and Dire Straits members.