Ozzy Osbourne has died. “It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning,” the Osbourne family shared in a statement. “He was with his family and surrounded by love.” The heavy metal icon and founding member of Black Sabbath was 76 years old.
While a formal cause of death has not been announced, Osbourne dealt with numerous health issues in the final years of his life. The musician played his final concert earlier this month, a star-studded event in Birmingham, England, that featured the original Black Sabbath lineup, Metallica, Slayer, and others. The concert will be adapted into a film called Back to the Beginning: Ozzy’s Final Bow. It is due out next year.
Ozzy Osbourne was born John Michael Osbourne, in Birmingham, England, in 1948. Osbourne’s obsession with music began when he heard the Beatles’ song “She Loves You” as a teenager. He formed Black Sabbath with Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, and Bill Ward in the late 1960s. Osbourne helped revolutionize rock music during his tenure with the band, releasing albums like Paranoid and Master of Reality that would define hard rock and heavy metal in the decades to come.
Along with their heavy sound, Black Sabbath were known for their dark and ominous imagery. Their debut album, 1970’s Black Sabbath, opened with an eponymous song that Osbourne later called “the scariest song ever written.” The occult reputation also contributed to the singer’s iconic nickname, the Prince of Darkness.
Osbourne served as the lead vocalist for Black Sabbath until his dismissal from the band in 1979, when he was replaced by Ronnie James Dio. While Osbourne’s bandmates contended that their reasons for firing him were unreliability and his excessive substance abuse problems, Osbourne claimed that his use of drugs and alcohol was on par with the rest of the band at the time.
After Black Sabbath, Osbourne launched a hugely successful solo career, with his first seven solo albums going on to earn multi-platinum certifications in the United States. Osbourne recorded the first two LPs with guitarist Randy Rhoads, co-writing the iconic single “Crazy Train” with him. Rhoads died in an airplane accident in 1982 while touring the second album. Osbourne would go on to release a live album in his honor titled Tribute in 1987.
Osbourne returned to Black Sabbath in 1997, and, the following year, he and his bandmates shared the live album Reunion. Later, in 2006, the band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. A true reunion studio album, 13, followed in 2013. It proved to be the final release from the band.
