(FILES) Ozzy Osbourne (L) and Geezer Butler (R) of Black Sabbath pose in the press room after winning Best Metal Performance for \u2018God is Dead?\u2019 during the 56th Grammy Awards at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, January 26, 2014. (Photo by Joe KLAMAR \/ AFP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nTributes poured in for the notorious figure nicknamed the \u201cPrince of Darkness\u201d, who once bit off the head of a bat while on stage.<\/p>\n
Music icon Elton John praised Osbourne as \u201ca huge trailblazer who secured his place in the pantheon of rock gods -\u2013 a true legend\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was also one of the funniest people I\u2019ve ever met. I will miss him dearly,\u201d John wrote on Instagram. Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood said he was \u201cvery sad\u201d to learn of Osbourne\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
Osbourne was instrumental in pioneering heavy metal \u2014 an offshoot of hard rock \u2014 as Black Sabbath enjoyed huge commercial success in the 1970s and 80s after forming in Birmingham in 1968.<\/p>\n(FILES) Kelly (L), Ozzy (C) and Sharon Osbourne arrive for the Recording Academy and Clive Davis pre-Grammy gala at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, California on January 25, 2020.\u00a0 (Photo by Mark RALSTON \/ AFP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nBlack Sabbath\u2019s eponymous 1970 debut album made the UK top 10 and paved the way for a string of hit records, including their most famous song \u201cParanoid\u201d.<\/p>\n
They went on to sell more than 75 million albums worldwide and were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. Osbourne was added for a second time last year as a solo artist.<\/p>\n
He gained huge notoriety along the way for his outlandish stunts, many of them fuelled by a hedonistic lifestyle involving the lavish use of drugs and alcohol.<\/p>\n
His live performances at the height of his hedonism have gone down in rock folklore, particularly a 1982 gig in Des Moines, Iowa, when he bit the head off a bat on stage.<\/p>\n(FILES) British Metal Artist Ozzy Osbourne (C) arrives at the 42nd Grammy Awards Ceremony with his family in Los Angeles, CA, on February 23, 2000. (Photo by LUCY NICHOLSON \/ AFP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nOsbourne said he thought a fan had thrown a fake rubber bat onstage, and it was not until he took a bite that he realised it was real.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can assure you the rabies shots I went through afterwards aren\u2019t fun,\u201d he told US TV host David Letterman in 1982.<\/p>\n
Osbourne is also rumoured to have snorted a line of ants up his nose and once urinated on a cenotaph commemorating war dead.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Rabies shots<\/h2>\n His public persona took a new turn with the reality television series \u201cThe Osbournes\u201d in the 2000s, which followed the ups and downs of his family life alongside wife Sharon, whom he married in 1982, and their three children.<\/p>\n
Born John Michael Osbourne on December 3, 1948 in Birmingham, he left school at 15 and did odd jobs including factory work before teaming up with school friend Geezer Butler in several bands before finding success with Black Sabbath.<\/p>\n
He paused touring in 2023 after extensive spinal surgery.<\/p>\n(FILES) Rod Stewart (L) Ozzy Osbourne (2nd L) sing with Cliff Richard (2nd R) and Paul McCartney (R) sing together during \u201cParty at the Palace\u201d in London on June 3, 2002.\u00a0 (Photo by Adrian DENNIS \/ AFP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nOsbourne suffered a fall at home in 2019, which aggravated injuries from a near-fatal quad bike crash in 2003.<\/p>\n
He released his 12th studio album, \u201cOrdinary Man\u201d, in 2020, followed by \u201cPatient Number 9\u201d in 2022, which went to number three and two in the UK charts, respectively.<\/p>\n
Osbourne brought the curtain down on a wild career on July 5, when Black Sabbath rattled through their most iconic songs in front of 40,000 adoring fans at Villa Park, home of Premier League football club Aston Villa.<\/p>\n
He was joined by original bandmates Butler, Tony Iommi, and Bill Ward for the concert, dubbed \u201cBack to the Beginning\u201d \u2014 their first gig together in 20 years.<\/p>\n
Osbourne \u2014 stylish to the very end \u2014 held court from a giant leather throne, topped with a bat.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the last song ever. Your support has enabled us to live an amazing lifestyle\u2026 Thank you from the bottom of our hearts,\u201d Osbourne told the crowd after finishing the set with \u201cParanoid\u201d.<\/p>\n
AFP<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nBlack Sabbath,Ozzy OsbourneSource<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Black Sabbath Frontman Ozzy Osbourne Dies At 76 \u00a0 Ozzy Osbourne, the legendary frontman of heavy metal group Black Sabbath, died on Tuesday at the age of 76, his family said, just weeks after he gave an epic farewell concert. The hell-raising singer, who was diagnosed with Parkinson\u2019s disease in 2019, passed away just over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":232937,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[883,884],"class_list":["post-232936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-black-sabbath","tag-ozzy-osbourne"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232936\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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