Ozzy Osbourne’s “Prince of Darkness” dies at 76
The heavy metal icon and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame left his mark in a 60-year music career.
From the iconic “All Aboird!” to Black Sabbath’s heavy metal legacy, Ozzy Osbourne had one of the most famous voices in modern history.
The Grammy-winning Prince of Darkness and the legendary rocker passed away on July 22, a few weeks after reuniting with Black Sabbath for the final show in the UK. He was 76 years old.
Osborne was one of the most iconic figures in the rock, shaping the sounds and perceptions of heavy metals with his unique voice and shocking attitude. He is known for chasing rock Zenith in his reality television career, biting his head off the bat on stage and eating live dubs in meetings with record executives.
Fans also saw his well-documented journey overcome his addiction, and Osborne eventually achieved a drinking and released his penultimate album, “The Ordinary Man.” Osborne’s journey is a proper reminder: “Recovery is not linear or fast. It is a long-term process with set breaks along the way.”
“In society, we tend to want overnight transformation, but Osborne’s experience shows that sustainability, resilience and transparency can lead to long-term benefits,” added Sarkis.
After his first year of drinking, he was able to “start breathing again.”
Osborne began issues with alcoholism and drug addiction in the 1970s, and was kicked out of Black Sabbath in 1979, but after numerous attempts to rehabilitate and recover in 1984, he became serious about his drinking around 2014.
“I thought I would drink on the day I died,” Osborne said in a 2021 interview with Variety. His wife and longtime manager, The Talk, also joined him for a sit-in, Sharon Osbourne and his then-sedited son Jack.
“I’ve always been self-medical and I’ve never liked how I felt, so I’ve had great success in my life, but I’ve never felt great about myself,” he said in an interview.
“Most of the people I drank are dead, and those who don’t will still drink and die soon,” Osborne added. “That’s not a happy ending.”
Osborne’s son was also asked about his drinking. “The first year is the worst, isn’t it Jack? After the first year, it seems you can start breathing again,” Osborn told his son.
“We deserved to fire each other.”
Osborne was launched from Black Sabbath in 1979 after his bandmates, especially Tony Emi, found it difficult to work with him.
“Ozzy went to the club and wasn’t really home,” Iomi said in the book, “A louder than hell: a metal history of definitive oral history.” “It reached the stage where nothing happened to him. He was ridiculous to us.”
In 2002, Osborne opened at Rolling Stone about firing.
“We deserved to fire each other. No one was worse than anyone else. If the other were the Bible Puncher of the Church and I was their wife, I could have expected it.
“At the time we were very interested in cocaine. It turned you into a freak who wanted powder. Things got a gig so you could get a cola bump.
In his 2009 book, “I Am Ozzy,” he said he felt “betrayed” by the band members.
“We were four Brokes who grew up off a few streets. We were like brothers and family. “If you say you’re a stone, I’m throwing stones and I’m throwing stones, what about that?
“The Ordinary Man” was Osborne’s first album “recorded perfectly calmly.”
“Normal Man” was tapped on the dark side of addictive side in “It’s a Raid.” This is an anti-drug song featuring rapper Post Malone, who calls Osborne’s 1972 drug life moment Black Sabbath.
While recording near Bel Air, California, police flocked to the rental home of a band filled with cocaine and marijuana, thinking it was air conditioning.
In a 2020 interview with Apple Music, Osbourne said the album was his first project to complete SOBER.
“I thought it was medicine and alcohol that all worked,” he said. “But that’s not true. All I’ve been doing for years was self-medical because I didn’t like the way I felt. But this is the first album I co-written and recorded (expretive). The last album, I wrote it.”
Osborne said, “I really like to be calm right now, because at least I can remember what I did yesterday.”
Sarkis says that through being open about his recovery journey, he “helped others to agree to his addiction.”
Ultimately, Osborne had to commit to drinking on his own terms and timeline. Osborne’s story “shows the power to regain the right to choose how to get closer to drinking,” says Sarkis.
“When someone chooses to recover for themselves, it’s not up to us to tell them the ‘right’ way to do it,” explains Sarkis. “How someone approaches drinking is a very personal choice. Having a sense of ownership about the recovery process is a powerful incentive to promote success and reduce recurrence.”
Osborne dies at age 76 a few weeks after the last Black Sabbath Show
A family statement shared with USA Today said Osborne had died “surrounded by love” in Birmingham, England.
“It brings more sadness than mere words to be able to tell us that our beloved Ozzy has passed away this morning,” the statement read. “He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect the privacy of our family at this time.”
Osborne was diagnosed with a form of Parkinson’s disease in 2019 after suffering a bad fall in “screwing all the vertebrae” in his neck, leading to the cancellation of a tour in Europe. Osborne kept his struggle private, but he wanted to share it with his fans in the end.
He leaves his wife, Sharon Osborne, for over 40 years, and daughters Jessica, Amy and Kelly, and sons Elliot, Louis and Jack.
Less than two weeks after his death, a new memoir from Osbourne, called “Last Rites” was released (October 7th was released by Grand Central Publishing Group). The publisher describes it as “a shocking, fierce, hilarious, unprecedented story of Osborn’s descent into hell.”
In the book, Osborne said, “When tomorrow is over, I can’t complain. I was in the world. I saw a lot. I did good things…and I did bad things. But now I’m not ready to go anywhere.”
Contributions: Melissa Laggieri, Jim Sergent, Karly Prokul, Sarah M. Moniusko
This story has been updated because previous versions contained inaccuracies.
