Can rock music connect and transcend generations? When it comes to Ozzy Osbourne, definitely. Because the charismatic singer has made the leap from the past to the present - and has been able to inspire new fans again and again in the more than 50 years of his career.
The story of the "Prince of Darkness", as he calls himself, begins in Birmingham, England. There he grew up as the fourth of six children in a working-class family. He left school at the age of 15 and struggled to make ends meet as a labourer.
The fact that Ozzy Osbourne has enriched the music world since the 1960s is a piece of pure luck - because the singer almost went off the rails. However, his dubious career as a thief and burglar ended with his imprisonment and six weeks in jail. While in prison he gave himself the "Ozzy" tattoo on his fingers, which became his trademark from then on.
Ozzy and Black Sabbath
Instead of continuing his criminal career, Ozzy Osbourne decided to enter the music business and founded the band Black Sabbath with three other musicians in 1968. The musicians, who are still considered the fathers of heavy metal, made a name for themselves with their hard guitar sound and dark lyrics. Osbourne himself takes the band's dark image to the extreme by shocking the audience on stage with stagings of occult rituals.
In the 1980s Ozzy Osbourne left Black Sabbath to start his solo career. Already a few years before, he is temporarily kicked out of the band because his alcohol and drug excesses have become too extreme even for the iron-hard metallers.
From the beginning, Ozzy Osbourne's shows are a successful blend of rock and performance that lives up to his second nickname "Mad Man". Nevertheless, he and Black Sabbath never really got away from each other. Several reunions bring the band and the singer together on stage again and again.
For the next few decades, Ozzy Osbourne's life oscillated between successful gigs, recordings, alcohol excesses and scandals. The Brit apparently has several lives, like a cat: he survives an accident on the tour bus as well as a crash with a quad bike that leaves him completely bedridden for several weeks.
Meet "The Osbournes"
Osbourne makes no secret of his private life - quite the contrary. In 2002, MTV airs the premiere episode of "The Osbournes", one of the world's first real-life soap operas. The everyday life of his family thus comes into the living rooms of the fans in a very close and blunt way.
Ozzy Osbourne has been married to his wife and manager Sharon since 1982 and they have three children together. Daughter Kelly is a singer, son Jack works as a talent scout and TV presenter and daughter Aimee is a model, actress and columnist. Osbourne has two other children from his first marriage, plus an adopted son.
Lovably loopy: Ozzy is unstoppable
Until 2017, Ozzy Osbourne toured both as a solo artist and together with Black Sabbath. After the band's final break-up, the still-active artist has been making a name for himself both musically and through TV appearances.
Even his Parkinson's disease, with which he goes public in 2020, fortunately does not take anything away from Ozzy Osbourne's activity so far. His twelfth studio album will be released in the same year, featuring stars like Sir Elton John and Slash (formerly of Guns'N'Roses). So nothing stands in the way of another Ozzy Osborne tour, because as he says in an interview, "I'm not done yet."
Ozzy Osbourne has not only proven to be a survivor in the fast-paced music business, but has become a cult figure for generations of fans with his often bizarre performances. Moments like his legendary duet with Miss Piggy in The Muppets Show are unforgettable - who else sings "Born To Be Wild" together with an anthropomorphic pig puppet? If you want to see one of the most wacky heavy metal icons live, you should get a ticket for Ozzy Osbourne's live show.
