John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne, the legendary vocalist of the famous British heavy metal band Black Sabbath, has died at the age of 76, Sky News reports, citing a statement from his family.
"It is with sadness that words cannot describe that we inform you that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne passed away this morning. He was surrounded by family and love. We ask that everyone respect our privacy at this difficult time," the Osbourne family said in a statement.
The cause of death was not given, although Osborne had had multiple health problems in recent years, according to the Guardian.
Osbourne was one of the most infamous figures in the world of rock: an innovator whose eerie vocals helped shape heavy metal.
Ozzy Osbourne, whose career and image as the "Prince of Darkness" made him one of the most recognizable frontmen in rock history, has died less than three weeks after his farewell concert.
On July 5, Osbourne reunited with the original members of Black Sabbath for the last time, for the first time since 2005, at the farewell concert Back to the Beginning, which featured performances by some of the biggest stars of the metal scene.
"I've been bedridden for six years, and you have no idea how I feel. Thank you from the bottom of my heart," he told the crowd at the time, alluding to serious health problems, including a form of Parkinson's disease and multiple spinal surgeries.
Born John Michael Osborne in 1948 in Aston, Birmingham, he was the son of factory workers and grew up in difficult circumstances.
This industrial, working-class environment profoundly influenced the sound of Black Sabbath, whose heavy, dark tone revolutionized British rock.
The band, named after the Boris Karloff horror film, was formed by Ozzy, guitarist Tony Iommi, and drummer Bill Ward.
The debut album, of the same name, was released in 1970, and the same year "Paranoid" followed with anthems such as "Iron Man" and "War Pigs", which reached number one in the British charts.
The 1971 album Master of Reality had a psychedelic, distorted sound that deeply influenced later doom metal.
Osbourne had four children – two with his first wife Thelma (Jessica and Louise) and two with Sharon (Jack, 33, and Amy, 35).
In 1982, he married Sharon, who became his manager and with whose help his solo career exploded.
After years of sobriety, in 2013 he admitted that he had relapsed into alcohol and drugs for a year and a half, but that he had dedicated himself to recovery: "I was in a very dark place and I was behaving terribly towards the people I love most – my family."
In 2019, he held a farewell world tour, "No More Tours 2", a follow-up to the first one from 1992. However, illness forced him to postpone the European leg of the tour.
"Since October, everything I touch turns to shit," he said at the time.
In 2020, he announced that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's, and in 2022, he underwent spinal surgery due to a 2019 fall that aggravated previous injuries. In 2023, he canceled a UK and European tour due to physical weakness, stating that he had undergone three surgeries, stem cell treatment, endless physiotherapy, and the latest Cybernics (HAL) therapy.
Ozzy recorded five more albums with Black Sabbath, but was fired in 1979 due to addiction and replaced by Ronnie Dio. He returned to the band in 2013 for the album 13, which topped the world charts.
His solo career began with the album "Blizzard of Ozz". He has released a total of 11 solo albums, the latest, "Ordinary Man", in 2020.
The most infamous incident of his career occurred in 1982, when he bit off the head of a dead bat at a concert in Iowa, thinking it was a prop.
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