Ozzy Osbourne

Ozzy Osbourne (born John Michael Osbourne, December 3, 1948 in Aston, Birmingham, England) was the lead singer of the pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath, popular solo artist, and reality television star. more...

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Osbourne has been married twice and is the father of five children: from first wife Thelma Riley:

adopted his first wife's son, Elliot Kingsley (1966),; Jessica Starshine Osbourne Hobbs (20 Jan 1972); Louis John Osbourne (1975).;

from current wife Sharon Osbourne:

Aimee Osbourne (2 September 1983); Kelly Osbourne (27 October 1984); Jack Osbourne (8 November 1985).;

He has two grandchildren, Isabelle and Harry from his daughter Jessica.

History

Osbourne lived in Birmingham, England for most of his early life. Born on November 8, 1948 and into extreme poverty to a family with six children, he also had learning disabilities (reportedly dyslexia), for which he was bullied considerably in school. To lift himself out of clinical depression, he took refuge in music early on, eventually becoming the singer of a local band, Rare Breed. One of his former bullies, Tony Iommi, reluctantly invited him to jam with his budding group, the Polka Tulk Blues Band (later renamed Earth), and was favorably impressed by his voice. At a time when psychedelic rock was the norm, Iommi and his partners decided to play heavy blues and sing about the bleak quality of life surrounding them. Because the name Earth had already been used elsewhere, they opted to rename the group Black Sabbath.

Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath met with swift and enduring success. Built around Tony Iommi's guitar riffs, Geezer Butler's lyrics and topped by Osbourne's eerie, loud vocals, early records such as their self-titled debut, Paranoid and Master of Reality in particular are considered definitive of heavy metal. This was despite rather modest investment from their US record label Warner Bros.

Several of their early singles, especially "War Pigs", "Paranoid" and "Iron Man", continue to draw significant radio airplay to this day. Osbourne himself continues to play these hits when performing as a solo artist.

In 1979, Osbourne was fired from Black Sabbath. Though many believe this was directly due to drug use, Ozzy himself claims that he was purposefully fired on the advice of his attorney. He was replaced by former Rainbow singer Ronnie James Dio.

Solo Success

Depression now fueled Osbourne's drug and alcohol problems, and his divorce from his first wife Thelma and a diagnosis of bipolar disorder piled even more stress onto the singer. Ozzy even spent months locked up in a hotel room doing nothing but drinking and doing cocaine. One day, an unexpected knock at his door changed his life. Black Sabbath manager Don Arden's daughter, Sharon Arden, convinced him to pick himself up and restart his life. Managed by Sharon, Osbourne was able to gain a recording deal with Jet Records, then a subsidiary of CBS. However, Sharon herself recounts that the band was lucky to be able to record and tour under the modest financial deal received from Jet.

Read more at Wikipedia.org