Osbourne, Ozzy

OZZY OSBOURNE

Born: John Michael Osbourne; Birmingham, England, 3 December 1948

Genre: Heavy Metal, Rock

Best-selling album since 1990: Live & Loud (1993)

Hit songs since 1990: "Mama, I'm Coming Home"

Renowned as one of the most outrageous performers in rock music, vocalist Ozzy Osbourne's marathon with substance abuse never kept him from finding fresh methods to market his career. He emerged as a rock star in the 1970s as a member of Black Sabbath, translated that success into a solo career, and parlayed it all into a blockbuster reality television show. In equal turns fascinating and revolting, Osbourne has spun all publicity into good publicity. Many credit him with being the founder of heavy metal rock.

A Musical Escape

Osbourne's thirst for attention took shape while growing up in a family of six children in the coarseness of industrial Birmingham, England. His parents were laborers in the manufacturing trades and their family lineage was rife with alcoholism and mental illness. Osbourne's youth was spent in habitual trouble and he was once arrested for burglary, landing briefly in Birmingham's Winson Prison. At fourteen, he joined a local band called the Black Panthers, and sang with several other club bands before meeting up with school chum, guitarist Tony Iommi. They formed Black Sabbath, the name of a Boris Karloff movie. Their intent was to follow the blues/rock path of Led Zeppelin and other English bands on the rise. However, a record company imposed Satanist symbols on their first album cover, branding them as disciples of the occult. This association with devil worship still clings to Osbourne and, despite his occasional claims to the contrary, is an image that he recurrently fosters.

Black Sabbath was hugely successful, launching the singer as one of the world's most famous rock stars. Eventually Osbourne's drug and alcohol abuse made him unmanageable even by Black Sabbath's standards and they fired him in 1978. Expected by many to drift into obscurity, a savvy business manager, Sharon Arden, whom he would marry in 1982, convinced Osbourne to embark on a solo career. His first album, Blizzard of Oz (1981), went platinum. His subsequent albums also sold well and Osbourne was once again on top of the rock and roll heap. Nevertheless, life was far from trouble-free. Osbourne simultaneously caught flak and drew fans for his macabre stage shows and much publicized social behavior. He hired a dwarf to toss around on stage, hurled raw meat at his audience, killed a litter of cats, defecated in an elevator, urinated on the Alamo, and bit the head off a live dove in a record company executive's office. Animal activists, concerned parents, and religious factions, outraged over what they perceived as devil worship, badgered his tours. Adoring fans would lob dead animals at him—frogs, snakes, cats, dogs—midconcert, predicating one of the most infamous incidents in rock history. During a concert in Des Moines, Iowa, a fan tossed a live bat on stage. Certain that it was rubber, Osbourne bit the bat's head off. Osbourne's ensuing rabies treatment delayed the tour. Later, Osbourne fought lawsuits over his culpability in teenage suicides regarding his song "Suicide Solution." The song is about the dangers of drinking alcohol but is often interpreted as advocating suicide. Osbourne was exonerated.

In 1991, after multiple rehab stays, Osbourne took sobriety seriously. His album No More Tears (1991) features a softer sound than previous work. It contains a pretty ballad, "Mama, I'm Coming Home," which recognizes his desire to return to his wife after time on the road. During the tour that followed No More Tears, Osbourne decided to retire and spend more time with his family, which included two daughters and a son from his marriage to Sharon, and three children from an earlier marriage who lived elsewhere. He punctuated his retirement with a live album, Live & Loud (1993), that contains music from the highly publicized No More Tears tour. It was promoted as the last chance for Osbourne's legions of fans to see him perform and was a major financial success. Months later, Osbourne, restless from life at home, broke his retirement, and went into the studio to begin preproduction for Ozzmosis (1995).

Settling Down (Sort Of)

Along the way, Osbourne received his first Grammy Award in 1993 for Best Metal Rock Vocal Performance with the funky, hard-driving, "I Don't Want to Change the World," off Live & Loud. Critics often overlook the fact that Osbourne is an engaging rock singer. However, some are quick to recognize that his voice is high and true, carrying a musical whine that mixes an agreeable measure of wit with his intense, edgy style. In a genre of music where vocals often take a backseat to the distorted sound, Osbourne's voice always sits up front.

With retirement a distant memory, Sharon, credited as the driving force behind her husband's career, created Ozzfest in 1996. This assembly of various heavy metal groups with Osbourne as headliner gambled that there was still interest in heavy metal rock. Osbourne spiced up Ozzfest by offering a consumer-friendly package replete with tattoo parlors, body piercing, dominatrixes, psychic readings, and opportunities for fans to meet the bands. It was phenomenally successful and continued to be produced year after year.

In 2001 Osbourne released Down to Earth, his first new album in six years. It received glowing reviews. A ballad off the album, "Dreamer," performed in the vein of John Lennon's "Imagine," presents the paradox of Osbourne advocating peace and harmony throughout the world. Other songs on the album characteristically flirt with spooky afterlife themes. That autumn he promoted the album with a tour originally titled "Black Xmas." The name was changed to "Merry Mayhem" in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks. To honor a solo career that has produced the sale of over 70 million albums, Osbourne received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Spot Light: MTV's The Osbournes

The Osbournes distinguishes itself from a throng of other reality television programs because the family is so famous and outrageous. It offers an inside look at the personal lives of Ozzy Osbourne, his wife Sharon, and two of their children, a daughter, Kelly, and a son, Jack. An adopted son, Robert, also appears, but their oldest daughter, Aimee, has refused to take part. The Osbournes displays an abnormal family dealing with normal family issues. They demonstrate few behavior boundaries and manage their lives with the help of personal assistants, trainers, and other handlers. Yet, similar to many households, a hierarchy survives. Sharon rules the roost, albeit with biting wit and sarcasm. Osbourne dodders around with a "deer-in-the-headlights" expression, trying to reign in his hyperactive teenagers. As a burned-out rocker whose past is littered with debauchery of every nature, he gets little reverence for his disciplinary efforts. The kids are caught up in the malaise of adolescent fantasy. Viewers watch the Osbournes argue, swear, laugh, scream, cry, eat, and sleep as they go about their lives. The Osbournes took a turn for the serious but was not deterred when Sharon developed colon cancer and Osbourne battled alcoholism.

In another odd twist, Sharon secured a deal with the MTV network to film the Osbourne family in their daily routines. Ridiculed from the onset and marked for failure, the weekly-aired show, titled The Osbournes, won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality Programming in 2002. The family signed a $20 million deal for the 2003 season. A plethora of profitable merchandising materials from the show has resulted, such as books, and the release of a collection of favorite household songs called The Osbourne Family Album. Osbourne and Sharon renewed wedding vows on New Year's Eve 2002, celebrating twenty years of marriage.

Osbourne is a true survivor in a musical battlefield frequently recognized for short-lived success, shattered lives, and death. Labeled rock's Prince of Darkness, Osbourne and his wife's knack to successfully promote themselves has shed a bright light on financial balance sheets.

SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY:

The Blizzard of Oz (CBS, 1980); Diary of a Madman (CBS, 1981); Speak of the Devil (CBS, 1982); Talk of the Devil (CBS, 1982); Bark at the Moon (CBS, 1983); The Ultimate Sin (CBS, 1986); Tribute (CBS, 1987); No Rest for the Wicked (CBS, 1988); Just Say Ozzy (CBS, 1990); No More Tears (Sony, 1991); Live & Loud (Sony, 1993); Ozzmosis (Sony, 1995); The Ozzman Cometh (Sony, 1997); Down to Earth (Epic, 2001); Live at Budokan (Epic, 2002).

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

G. Johnson, Ozzy Osbourne (New York, 1985); C. Clerk, Ozzy Osbourne: Diary of a Madman (New York, 1990); H. Shaw, Ozzy Talking: Ozzy Osbourne in His Own Words (New York, 2002).

donald lowe