Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath frontman and heavy metal pioneer, dies at 76
Weeks after his final performance, the godfather of metal passes away, leaving a legacy that changed rock music forever
By MARK KENNEDY
AP Entertainment Writer
Ozzy Osbourne, the gloomy, demon-invoking lead singer of the pioneering band Black Sabbath who became the throaty, growling voice – and drug-and-alcohol ravaged id – of heavy metal, died Tuesday, just weeks after his farewell show. He was 76.
“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. He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time,” a family statement said. In 2020, he revealed he had Parkinson’s disease after suffering a fall.
Either clad in black or bare-chested, the singer was often the target of parents’ groups for his imagery and once caused an uproar for biting the head off a bat. Later, he would reveal himself to be a doddering and sweet father on the reality TV show “The Osbournes.”
Black Sabbath’s 1969 self-titled debut LP has been likened to the Big Bang of heavy metal. It came during the height of the Vietnam War and crashed the hippie party, dripping menace and foreboding. The cover of the record was of a spooky figure against a stark landscape. The music was loud, dense and angry, and marked a shift in rock ’n’ roll.
The band’s second album, “Paranoid,” included such classic metal tunes as “War Pigs,” “Iron Man” and “Fairies Wear Boots.” The song “Paranoid” only reached No. 61 on the Billboard Hot 100 but became in many ways the band’s signature song. Both albums were voted among the top 10 greatest heavy metal albums of all time by readers of Rolling Stone magazine.
“Black Sabbath are the Beatles of heavy metal. Anybody who’s serious about metal will tell you it all comes down to Sabbath,” Dave Navarro of the band Jane’s Addiction wrote in a 2010 tribute in Rolling Stone. “There’s a direct line you can draw back from today’s metal, through Eighties bands like Iron Maiden, back to Sabbath.”
Sabbath fired Osbourne in 1979 for his legendary excesses, like showing up late for rehearsals and missing gigs. “We knew we didn’t really have a choice but to sack him because he was just so out of control. But we were all very down about the situation,” wrote bassist Terry “Geezer” Butler in his memoir, “Into the Void.”
Osbourne reemerged the next year as a solo artist with “Blizzard of Ozz” and the following year’s “Diary of a Madman,” both hard rock classics that went multi-platinum and spawned enduring favorites such as “Crazy Train,” “Goodbye to Romance,” “Flying High Again” and “You Can’t Kill Rock and Roll.” Osbourne was twice inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame – once with Sabbath in 2006 and again in 2024 as a solo artist.
The original Sabbath lineup reunited for the first time in 20 years in July 2025 in the U.K. for what Osborne said would be his final concert. “Let the madness begin!” he told 42,000 fans.
Metallica, Guns N Roses, Slayer, Tool, Pantera, Gojira, Alice in Chains, Lamb of God, Halestorm, Anthrax, Rival Sons and Mastodon did sets. Tom Morello, Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, Billy Corgan, Ronnie Wood, Travis Barker, Sammy Hagar, Andrew Watt, Yungblud, Korn’s Jonathan Davis, Nuno Bettencourt, Chad Smith and Vernon Reid made appearances. Actor Jason Momoa was the host for the festivities.
“Black Sabbath: we’d all be different people without them, that’s the truth,” said Pantera singer Phil Anselmo. “I know I wouldn’t be up here with a microphone in my hand without Black Sabbath.”
Osbourne embodied the excesses of metal. His outlandish exploits included relieving himself on the Alamo, snorting a line of ants off a sidewalk and, most memorably, biting the head off a live bat that a fan threw onstage during a 1981 concert. (He said he thought it was rubber.)
From July 6, 2025:
Ozzy Osbourne says farewell to live performance with a hometown show for 40,000 fans
LONDON (AP) — Hard-rock royalty and some 40,000 fans gathered for an ear-splitting tribute to Ozzy Osbourne at what the heavy metal icon says was his last-ever live performance.
The original lineup of Osbourne’s band Black Sabbath performed at Villa Park soccer stadium in their home city of Birmingham, central England, on Saturday.
The 76-year-old singer, who has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, sang from a black throne that rose up from under the stage.
“Let the madness begin!” he urged as he took the stage, and later paid tribute to fans.
“I don’t know what to say, man, I’ve been laid up for like six years. You have no idea how I feel — thank you from the bottom of my heart,” Osbourne said. “You’re all … special. Let’s go crazy, come on.”
Osbourne performed several songs solo before being joined onstage, for the first time in 20 years, by Black Sabbath bandmates Tony Iommi, Terence “Geezer” Butler and Bill Ward. The band ended a short set with “Paranoid,” one of its most famous songs.
It capped a day-long metal festival that included performances from the likes of Anthrax, Metallica and Guns N’Roses. Artists who sent plaudits and well-wishes included Jack Black, Dolly Parton and Elton John.
“You are one of the most remarkable singers of our time,” John said. “You are the king, you are the legend.”
Osbourne formed Black Sabbath in 1968 in Birmingham, a city then known for its heavy industry that became the crucible of the British metal scene. Black Sabbath’s devil imagery and thunderous sound made them one of the era’s most influential — and parent-scaring — metal acts. Both the band and Osbourne as a solo artist have been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Osbourne’s fame expanded into the mainstream in the early 2000s, when he joined his wife Sharon Osbourne, and two of their children in the MTV reality TV show “The Osbournes.”
He has struggled with health issues since 2003 following a near-fatal quad bike crash. He revealed his Parkinson’s diagnosis in 2020 and paused touring in 2023 after spinal surgery.
