Ozzy Osbourne, Heavy Metal Forefather & Rock Icon, Dead At 76

Ozzy Osbourne, the crucifix-clad Black Sabbath singer who helped pioneer heavy metal over a career that spanned seven decades, died on Tuesday. 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,” his family confirmed in a statement. “He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time.”

Osbourne co-founded Black Sabbath in Birmingham, England in 1968 alongside Tony Iommi, Bill Ward, and Geezer Butler. Taking musical influences from the surrounding industrial factories and combining them with literary (often interpreted as occult) lyrics, they pioneered a new musical style that became known as heavy metal. Osbourne would take up the nickname “The Prince of Darkness,” developing a stage persona that fueled speculation of his demonic connections—resulting in shocking stunts like biting the head off a bat onstage in 1982.

As Black Sabbath took off in the early 1970s, so too did the band’s drug use—resulting in a steady decline both in the quality of the studio albums and Osbourne’s contributions as the decade wore on. This resulted in Ozzy’s dismissal from Black Sabbath following 1978’s Never Say Die!, after which he was replaced by Ronnie James Dio (and later a series of other less-successful ringers). Ozzy would ultimately reunite with Sabbath in 1997, sporadically rejoining his bandmates for the next two decades up until a final tour dubbed The End, which concluded in 2017.

Following his dismissal from Black Sabbath, Osbourne mounted a successful solo career, beginning with his 1980 solo debut Blizzard of Ozz featuring the radio staple “Crazy Train”. Osbourne would go on to release 13 total solo albums through 2022’s Patient Number 9, which won Best Rock Album at the 65th Grammy Awards (his fifth career win) and included contributions from Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Tony Iommi, Mike McCready (Pearl Jam), Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters), Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), and many more.

Ozzy would credit his wife and manager Sharon Osbourne for saving his life after his dismissal from Black Sabbath sent him into a downward spiral of drug and alcohol-fueled self-destruction. Ozzy and Sharon married in 1982 and she stood by his side through all of his public ups and downs, which became all the more public in 2002 with the premiere of The Osbournes. Airing for four seasons on MTV, the series was one of the first examples of reality television and, in its first season, was the most-viewed series on MTV up to that point.

In recent years, Ozzy suffered a series of health setbacks that kept him off the road. After several tour postponements in the late 2010s, Osbourne revealed in 2020 that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease—casting doubt on whether he would ever perform again. Even in the wake of his diagnosis, Ozzy told worried fans, “You know the time when I will retire? When I can hear them nail a lid on my box. And then I’ll f***ing do an encore. I’m the Prince of Darkness.”

Earlier this month, Ozzy got to say goodbye to his fans with Back To The Beginning. The concert on July 5th in Birmingham, England, was billed as Osbourne and Black Sabbath’s final show and featured an all-star supporting lineup of the generations of musicians that Ozzy inspired including Metallica, Slayer, Guns N’ Roses, Tool, Pantera, Alice in Chains, Mastodon, Anthrax, and many more. Seated from his throne, Osbourne looked out on the sold-out crowd of over 42,000 fans and got to say goodbye.

Black Sabbath — “War Pigs” — 7/5/25

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