Clown Magazine

Ozzy Osbournethe 'God Father' and 'The Prince of Darkness' has passed away at the glorious age of 76-years old.

Even Ozzy Osbourne often said throughout his life that he was surprised he was still alive after leading a debauchery life involving the usual components of the Rock 'n' Heavy life of drugs and sex, not to mention the music.

Life started as he stated as grim as the smoke and rain of his Birmingham hometown, as he put it, further saying, “I was from a working class background, and we didn't have money to get ourselves out of this situation,” so this was the perfect setting for not only a group forming that sounded like depression, doom and an unhopeful existence but the lyrical content of saying-how-it-is which is what the first heavy metal group to capture this Black Sabbath!

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Black Sabbath formed in the late-1960s and by the start of 1970 they released their self-titled debut album and shortly afterwards the album and single of the same name Paranoid hit the music scene and the press often cited them as “horrible” or worst still “terrible” but it wasn't the press that Black Sabbath cared out it was the fans, and as time has gone on the fans have become diehard as heavy metal and all of its sub-genres you need to be dedicated to listen to some of it, because it is not pop and doesn't dress it up as anything as metal while showing horns.

The opening lines to Paranoid - “Finished with my woman cos' she couldn't help me with my mind,” has to be the best lyrics for breaking up, but shows the twist of looking at things like relationships and coming up with alternative viewpoints.

With this success early on with Black Sabbath came the financial reward of spending money on alcohol and drugs and though Ozzy often spoke of the management and record company ripping them off financially, if you spend money on as Ozzy says, “getting wasted” then those around you will take advantage of this and put some extra pennies into their coffers, rather than and rightly so, yours.

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What people have to understand that the artists and groups have to pay for literally everything from taxis, hotel rooms, flights, concerts, recording and manufacturing costs, and all of the promotion that goes into making the public aware of music releases through to concerts, and this can get very costly and the profit margin, what the artist or group gets dwindles, especially if you indulge in vices like drugs and women.

When Black Sabbath released their eighth-studio album Never Say Die! The group decided to sack Ozzy, which devastated him, and he spiralled into depression and the dreaded thought of having to return to Birmingham and working in a dead-end job for the rest of his life, and by this time Ozzy had three children to support with his first wife.

However, despite the gloom and doom Ozzy was offered a recording contract with Jet Records through Don Arden who was Black Sabbath's manager at the time.

Don Arden sent his daughter Sharon to Los Angeles where Ozzy was residing and to cater for his wimps and needs so that Ozzy would get back to recording and releasing music, at first Don thought Ozzy would at first return to Sabbath, but realising that wasn't going to materialise he looked at Ozzy as a solo artist.

Though Sabbath had been a successful group and the press and media had accepted that Sabbath wasn't going to fade as their diehard fans wanted more and were both buying and seeing them in concert, the individual members were not filthy rich or had enough money to quit.

Ozzy only had just under £100,000 to his name and decided to blow the lot on getting “wasted” before heading back to Birmingham to be a father and husband.

However, the managing contract with Don Arden and the chance to record and release music his first and only dream love job he wanted to do with Jet Records he had a much-cherished lifeline.

While in Los Angeles and Don Arden pulling the strings to get Ozzy in the studio and with Sharon making sure he is looked after she very wisely said to Ozzy, “If you clean your act up I'll make you a star in the United States and globally,” and this must have ignited something in Ozzy as he did just that and then his attention turned into having a romantic relationship with Sharon as he has often cited of his affection for her and of her looking after him.

They married in 1982 after Ozzy divorced his first wife Thelma Riley, and they continued their marriage despite the few upheavals of Ozzy falling off the wagon a few times and womanising including the four-year affair he had with his makeup artist; however, they had three children all born in Great Britain.

The first group Ozzy formed with the bass player Bob Paisley from Rainbow, and talented youthful guitarist Randy Rhoads from Quiet Riot, drummer Lee Kerslake from Uriah Heep and to complete the group keyboard player Don Airey also from Rainbow, which was supposed to be called Blizzard of Ozz a name that was given to Ozzy by his father, but in the end became the name of Ozzy's debut solo album, and the band members became contracted sessions musicians.

This lineup lasted a few years with them recording the Diary of a Madman, but by the time of recording the third album guitarist Randy Rhoads was killed when the tour bus driver hired a light aircraft and decided to do low buzz passes and the aircraft clipped the bus and crashed also killing Ozzy's makeup artist.

Ozzy was in the process of recording a live album of Black Sabbath's songs due to the contract with their publishers coming to an end and both Sabbath and Ozzy under Sharon's guidance decided to seize on the opportunity to record Sabbath's hits and capitalise.

With Ozzy also surviving while having a bath in the house which was destroyed by the aircraft hitting the house and demolishing it in flames, he was devastated by losing his talented protégé guitarist and friend Randy Rhoads threw the live album into doubt.

But the live show went ahead with Brad Gillis filling in on guitar and with Rudy Sarzo replacing Bob Paisley due to differences on being asked to record Black Sabbath's material, even though it was playing live on Speak of the Devil (US version), while the British version was Talk of the Devil, interestingly Tony Iommi's Sabbath released Live Evil, and each album was well received both in the States and in Britain.

Ozzy had multiple musicians playing on his albums and accompanying him on tour but the most notable are always the guitarists first featuring Jake E. Lee on Bark at the Moon and Ultimate Sin; the next guitar protégé to go under Ozzy's wing was Zakk Wylde and played on albums: No Rest for the Wicked, No More Tears, Ozzmosis, Down to Earth, Black Rain, and Ozzy's thirteenth and final album Patient 9.

Interestingly on Ozzy's ninth album Uncover he had former Alice in Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell, and on Scream Gus G. and on his next album Ordinary Man he has two heavy weights on guitar Slash and Rage Against the Machine - Tom Morello.

A stroke of luck or having a good ear to the ground Ozzy had the opportunity of having his own reality television programme, which was the first television programme of its time in the early-2000s.

Though The Osbornes lasted a few seasons until 2003, with several offshoots included his children Kelly and Jack's endeavours.

When YouTube launched, not only did re-runs of The Osbornes appear on the platform but it also gave more independence to Ozzy and his family to produce their own content and upload it to YouTube and other video platform providers.

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Doing these reality television shows made Ozzy Osbourne expand his audience and to a younger generation, which also helped his music.

Ozzy was quoted as saying he was more popular in the States than in his home country of England.

With his annual Ozzfest shows featuring the current heavy metal bands of the day further pushed his dominance within the American music scene.

Ozzy had a lifetime battle with alcohol, drugs, medication, mental and physical health challenges.

What didn't help him later was the motorbike accident at his Birmingham estate, which plagued his health with numerous operations on his neck and back, which left him in pain.

He was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, which in the end he couldn't walk unaided and was wheelchair bound while out and about.

The last concert he did was only two weeks before his passing, which featured the top artists and groups from the metal music scene, and his own solo work with his backing band and the headliner and rightly so his bandmates from Black Sabbath, hence the show being called Back to the Beginning.

Clearly Ozzy was excited and happy he got to play one last time and thanked the fans for his life in music.

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There will never be another Ozzy Osbourne and while he has physically left this life, he still lives on in the afterlife through his music and all the television shows and throughout the different platforms hosting his content on the Internet.

Ozzy Osbourne is survived by both of his wives, six children and ten grandchildren.

Farewell to The Prince of Darkness and the Godfather of Heavy Metal.