Ozzy Osbourne

Ozzy Osbourne

Born December 3, 1948 in Birmingham, England, the one-time lead singer for Black Sabbath has influenced virtually every heavy metal screamer in rock ’n’ roll. Trading his former band’s legacy of hard, loud rock and occult mysticism for his own outrageous leanings towards grossness, Ozzy has earned four platinum-plus albums in the relatively brief time he’s been a solo artist. Continually evoking the fear and concern of parents the world over, Ozzy has been called the inciter of riots and provoker of suicides. Accused of being everything from the leader of satanic activities to the inventor of drugs, the self-proclaimed madman has been known to get attention by biting the head off of a live dove. Successful as this attention-getting device proved to be, Ozzy had to call a moratorium on such “taste”less activities when he was hospitalized for rabies after chomping off the head of a bat tossed onstage to him by a fan at a Des Moines concert.

While Ozzy’s acts of lunacy have been well documented over the years (taking a dump in someone’s purse; pissing on Adolf Hitler’s grave; the usual chandelier mishaps in hotel rooms, etc.) Ozzy has made some definite movements toward self-preservation recently. Spending time at the Betty Ford Clinic, he has curbed his alcoholism and re-devoted himself to manager/wife Sharon and their children. Part of the sobering up began in 1982 when his tour plane hit a house and killed guitarist extraordinaire Randy Rhoads. Says the man who made Blizzard of Oz, Diary of a Madman and The Ultimate Sin: “Today watching my children grow is the most amazing thing in my life. Sometimes I wonder: ‘What am I leaving them in this world?’ I ve become concerned about my part in this legacy. I guess the real miracle was meeting Sharon, my wife. I never thought love like that really existed. She manages me, works with me. I love the ground she walks on. I was an animal. If I hadn’t gotten into rock ’n’ roll, I would have been a prisoner in a jail. It’s true. I even served time for assaulting a police officer during a burglary. Thank God for rock ’n’ roll!”