The heavy metal icon Ozzy Osbourne has died at 76, just weeks after he played in front of a sold-out farewell show in England.
“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,” his family said in a statement. “He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time.”
A cause of death for the Black Sabbath lead singer was not revealed. He had been suffering from Parkinson’s disease since 2019, which required numerous surgeries on his spine.
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Osbourne reunited with his original Black Sabbath bandmates for a show in his hometown of Birmingham, England, on July 5. It was the first time the whole group had played together on stage since 2005.
“I’ve been laid up for six years, and you’ve got no idea how I feel,” he told the crowd that night, according to The Guardian. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
Born as John Michael Osbourne on Dec. 3, 1948, he was first nicknamed “Ozzy” in primary school. He carried the moniker for the rest of his life, becoming one of heavy metal’s most prominent figures.
The rocker had a rough childhood. In addition to struggling with dyslexia, he once said he was sexually abused by bullies when he was 11 and attempted suicide as a teen. He dropped out of school at 15 and began working trade jobs.
Osbourne was a founding member of Black Sabbath in 1967. His band was harshly criticized for its dark themes that were often characterized as “satanic.” As the group’s frontman, he was quickly nicknamed the “Prince of Darkness.”
The performer became known for his controversial stunts on stage, like biting the head off of a bat during a January 1982 show and urinating on the Alamo the following month—a drunken stunt that led to him being barred from performing in San Antonio, Texas, for years. San Antonio councilman Van Henry Archer said in 2002 that, even two decades later, and after Osbourne donated $10,000 to the structure, he would have hanged Osbourne for the act if it were legally permitted.
Osbourne also admitted to accidentally drugging a vicar and to tragically massacring his 17 cats in a drug-fueled episode.
He also made a scene when he was the special guest at the 2002 White House Correspondents Dinner, where a clearly drunk Osbourne was shouted out by President George W. Bush, who muttered “this might have been a mistake” as the rocker stood and smiled while taking in the crowd’s applause for an extended period.
The band fired Osbourne in 1979 for alcohol and drug abuse. He later slammed his old bandmates as hypocrites for the move, alleging they were acting just as he was.
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel betrayed by what happened with Black Sabbath,” he wrote of the ordeal in his 2009 memoir, I Am Ozzy. “If you’re stoned, and I’m stoned, and you’re telling me that I’m fired because I’m stoned, how can that be? Because I’m slightly more stoned than you are?”
The musician carried on as a solo act, releasing 12 solo albums. He was inducted into the U.K. Music Hall of Fame in 2005 and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame the following year as a member of Black Sabbath.
The twice-married Osbourne leaves behind six children—three from his first marriage, with Thelma Riley, and three with Sharon Osbourne, to whom he remained married with until his death.
Osbourne married Sharon, 72, in 1982. The couple’s children—Aimee, 41, Kelly, 40, and Jack, 39—rose to fame themselves when they featured on a first-of-its-kind reality TV show, The Osbournes, that began airing in 2002 on MTV.
The show ran four seasons and was a hit, becoming MTV’s most-watched series at the time with an average of 5.3 million viewers per episode. It was a pioneer for the genre, which the Kardashian clan later replicated successfully.
