Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne (real name John Michael Osbourne) was born on December 3, 1948 in Birmingham. His musical career began in the late 60s when he joined the band BlackSabbath, which became popular all over the world after the albums "Paranoid" and "MasterOfReality" were released. But in 1978, right after the release of the new album NeverSayDie, Ozzy leaves the band and seriously starts to advance in his solo career. The musician invites Randy Rhodes as a guitarist, Bob Daisley as a bassist and Lee Kerslake as a drummer, and creates his new band called BlizzardOfOzz. Later the bassist and drummer leave the band and Ozzie takes their place with Tommy Aldridge and Rudy Sarzo. When Ozzy left BlackSabbath, the public became harsh about all his antics. For example, in 1982, Ozzy bites the head off a bat right on stage during his performance, after which everyone started talking about his sadistic treatment of animals. In the same year the guitarist from BlizzardOfOzz dies in a terrible plane crash, and Brad Gillis takes his place.
The band's first albums were titled "Blizzard Of Ozz" and "Diary Of A Madman", which instantly went gold, especially the hit song "You Can't Kill Rock'n'Roll". Based on the materials of his previous band, in 1982 Ozzy released his first live album with a simple title "SpeakOfTheDevil". Soon after that Gillis and Sarzo leave the band. For a while Osborne wondered who to take to his band to replace such great members. In 1983, Bob Daisley returns to the band, and Ozzy chooses Jake Lee as the guitarist. In 1983, the next album "BarkAtTheMoon" is released, and in the same year Aldridge leaves the band, whose place is taken by the master of drumming - Carman Eppis. But this band didn't last long either: the drummer was replaced by Randy Castillo and the bassist by Phil Susan. After that, the famous guitarist and author of many compositions, Zak Wild, makes a significant contribution to the development of the band, helping to record and release the next album, "NoRestForTheWicked". Toward the end of the 1980s, Ozzy decided to tour America with his shows, but the musician was met with hostility in many states. Detractors believed that Ozzy came to influence the minds of the younger generation with his music and encourage them to commit suicide, but Osbourne was lucky enough to fend off all the censures against him. In March of 1989, the track "Close My Eyes" created together with Lita Ford becomes a hit for the first time and tops the American hit parades. In 1991 a new album, NoMoreTears, appears on the shelves. But Ozzy Osbourne's concerts are held without the former enthusiasm. In interviews the musician justifies such behavior by the fact that he is constantly attracted to his family, and he wants to spend more time with them. This is followed by a prolonged break. And in 1994, Ozzy goes back into show business, having recorded a solo album together with Steve Vai. And to sing vocals on the song "IronMan" by Therapy, he teams up with that band. This song is included in the compilation "BlackNavity", specially dedicated to the band BlackSabbath.
Besides his duet with Miss Piggy from The Muppet Show called "Born To Be Wild", Osborne takes very unusual partners for his various creative ventures.
For example, the famous Scottish comedian Billy Connolly and the famous English boxer Frank Bruno. The album "Ozzmosis", which appeared in 1995, becomes very popular. In almost a year, the album sells three million copies. In 1996, Ozzie founded his own OzzFest festival, which featured various bands in the metal genre, including Pantera and Marilyn Manson. A year later, the act became perhaps their most successful tour and in the fall of that year, the album "The Ozzman Cometh" was released in support of the development of the new festival. After that Black Sabbath reunited with the original line-up. And in 1998 the "new" band records the live album "Reunion". The following years Ozzy Osbourne occasionally played live, and in 2001 he recorded the album "Down To Earth". In 2002, MTV launched a new show called "The Osbournes", which depicts the everyday life of Ozzy and his family. The series quickly began to attract an audience of viewers. After the show, Osbourne's daughter Kelly successfully began her starring career as a rock singer. In the summer, the family learns of Sharon's terrible illness - she was diagnosed with cancer, because of this filming the series is discontinued for an indefinite period. Because of his wife's illness, the father of the family postpones the day of the next OzzFest. At the same time, the Epic label reissues some of Osbourne's old albums, including the first Blizzard Of Ozz disc.
On December 8, 2003, Ozzy Osbourne was rushed to the hospital after an all-terrain vehicle accident in which Ozzy was riding around his backyard. "The car" flipped over and Ozzy was trapped under the vehicle. As a result of the accident, the musician broke his collarbone, eight ribs and a cervical vertebra. A timely operation saved Ozzy's life. Osbourne was in danger of losing his arm because his broken collarbone had severed an artery supplying blood to his arm.
While Ozzy was in the hospital, one of his songs, "Changes," recorded with his daughter, became a number one hit in Britain. The song set a record for the longest time between the artist's first appearance on the UK charts (the Black Sabbath album "Paranoid", which reached number four on the national charts in 1970) and the moment when he finally reached the top spot - exactly 33 years passed.
After the accident there were rumors that Ozzy would no longer be able to perform on stage. But closer to 2004, the musician made a full recovery. And together with the reunited BlackSabbath band he took part in Ozzfest as a headliner. In the same year he announced that he wanted to write a musical for Broadway, the theme of which would be the life of Grigory Rasputin. In 2005, Ozzy made a box set, PrinceofDarkness, that fit on two discs. The first disc contains various b-sides and unique compositions, and the second one contains cover versions of the songs of such bands as TheBeatles, King Crimson and TheRollingStones. In the same year, 2005, Ozzy and Sharon created another equally interesting reality show called "Battle for Ozzfest".
In this show competitions were held between heavy bands, and the main prize for the winner was participation in Ozzfest and signing a contract with the label. At the festival in 2005, Ozzy announced to everyone that he would no longer take part in Ozzfest.
