Ozzy Osbourne Ozzy Osbourne is one of the greatest musicians of the day. He follows none of the traditional rules or standards, and shows no remorse in doing unheard of, almost unspeakable acts. His lyrics and his sound on his albums are unique, unparalleled and untouched by any other artist. At the old, by rock star definition, age of 53 he is still managing to produce hits that make it to the charts and sell millions of copies.
Ozzy Osbourne was born in 1948 under then name of John Michael Osbourne in Aston, Birmingham. He lived with his 2 brothers and 3 sisters near poverty, they slept 6 to a bed, each only had one set of clothes, and no running water. At the age of 13, in the ninth grade, Ozzy, as he had begun calling himself dropped out of school and joined a local gang, due to constant ridiculing and torture by the local school bullies and teachers.
English: Ozzy Osbourne at the Fargodome on October...
Ozzy Osbourne
Black Sabbath in Australia, 1973 (L-R: Tony Iommi,...In 1964 he joins his first band, the black panthers, and then goes through many others throughout the years. In 1968 his successful music career gets its start with the formation of Black Sabbath.
In 1968, the band forms under the name earth, later they change their name to Black Sabbath, after one of the members favorite horror movies. Black Sabbath plays and releases groundbreaking music for the era, this is the late 60's early 70's flower power movement, however they play heavy, dark, almost evil tunes like "Nativity in Black"ÃÂ and "War Pigs"ÃÂ. In 1979 the band releases their eight and final album and disbands, due to financial problems from bad contracts, after an amazingly successful musical career. Ozzy is not slowed down however and releases "Bark at the Moon"ÃÂ which sells over 3 million copies, thus starting his solo career. His career has been going strong ever since, with an occasional lull every once in a while, however he is amazingly still going strong, and has just recently released a new album "Down to Earth"ÃÂ, which is as successful and popular as his other works.
The "Ozzman"ÃÂ is almost constantly surrounded by controversy. In one instance of such, at a record signing contract, for the label CBS, there were two doves released in the room, Ozzy, on his own admittance, being drunk, grabs one of the birds, places its head in his mouth, and proceeds to bite its head off. Another controversy surrounding him is his song "Suicide Solution"ÃÂ, in which he wrote after Bon Scott, of AC/DC, passed out drunk in his car and died. Ozzy wrote this song to show that alcohol is a slow means of suicide and is unhealthy, meaning "solution"ÃÂ as a mixture; however it was immediately taken as "solution"ÃÂ to mean an answer. This was made even worse when a young man sat in his room with this very song playing in his earphones and committed suicide, starting a string of three lawsuits, all of which were found in Ozzy's favor. Yet another one of his songs is surrounded by more controversy, his "Bark at the Moon"ÃÂ, on New Year's Eve 1983, a young man went out and stabbed someone, saying whenever he heard the song he felt weird inside.
The style of this man is amazing, it is completely unique, like no other, and he is not afraid to say or do anything. After time, trials, tribulations, and controversy he is still releasing hit records and doing amazing life shows. Not many other artists can make it through the test of time, and still come out standing strong, tall and proud, but time and time again Ozzy dazzles his fans and shows that he is good at what he does and refuses to stop. He truly is, arguably, one of the greatest musicians of the time, breaking all barriers, and showing no respect for any rules, and using techniques all his own.
Resource Page http://www.cdnow.com, search for Ozzy Osbourne, click on Ozzy Osbourne, then under "who and what"ÃÂ click "biography"ÃÂ.
VH1's "Behind the Music: Ozzy Osbourne"ÃÂ, date is not currently known and cannot be found.
Guitar World Magazine (Aug. 1988)
Black Sabbath on stage at Schleyerhalle in Stuttga...
English: Ozzy Osbourne, Prince of Darkness, at the...