Ozzy Osbourne has passed away, and his family said he was surrounded by their love when it happened.
The Osbournes shared, “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.” Nobody has said exactly what caused his death, but it’s known that he’d been dealing with a lot of health problems lately. Just earlier this month, Ozzy played his last show in Birmingham, joined by the original Black Sabbath members, Metallica, Slayer, and a bunch of other famous musicians. There’s even going to be a movie about it called Back to the Beginning: Ozzy’s Final Bow, which is coming out next year.
Born in 1948 in Birmingham and named John Michael Osbourne, Ozzy’s love for music started when he first listened to “She Loves You” by the Beatles as a teenager. Later, he got together with Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, and Bill Ward, and that’s how Black Sabbath started in the late ’60s. Their albums like Paranoid and Master of Reality changed rock forever, making heavy metal what it is today, with their sound and dark style.
People sometimes say the first Black Sabbath album was spooky, and Ozzy once called their song “Black Sabbath” the “scariest song ever written.” That creepy, mysterious vibe is also why everyone started calling him the Prince of Darkness.
Fans always thought Ozzy was a legend, and it feels weird to think about the world without him.
Ozzy sang for Black Sabbath until 1979, when he was kicked out and Ronnie James Dio took his place. The band said it was because Ozzy was unreliable and had problems with drugs and alcohol, but Ozzy always argued he wasn’t any worse than the rest of them.
After leaving Black Sabbath, he didn’t stop—he went solo and became even more famous. His first seven solo albums all went multi-platinum in America, and he worked with Randy Rhoads, making hits like “Crazy Train.” Sadly, Rhoads died in a plane crash in 1982, but Ozzy honored him with the live album Tribute in 1987.
Years later, Ozzy rejoined Black Sabbath in 1997, and the next year, they released a live album called Reunion. Then, in 2006, they got into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2013, they put out 13, which ended up being their last album together.
