Date of birth (location)
3 December 1948
Birmingham, England, UK



Birth name
John Michael Osbourne
Nickname
The Great Ozz
The Wizard of Ozz
The Madman
The Godfather of Heavy Metal
The Prince of Darkness
The Blizzard of oz
Height
5' 10" (1.78 m)
Mini biography

Born in Birmingham England, after leaving school and having many odd jobs he ended up in a band with Geezer Butler. This group then split leading Ozzy and Geezer to join Tony Iommi and Bill Ward in a new band that went under several names (including Earth) that ended up being called Black Sabbath after a song of the same name that appeared on their first album (released 1969/70). He recorded several more albums with Sabbath despite the decline of his relationship with Tony Iommi, which after several break ups led to him leaving/being fired from the band in 1979. After a short time he launched a solo career with a line up behind him that varied immensely from album to album and tour to tour. During the 80's he was treated several times for alcoholism and was sued twice for the suicides of some of his young fans (cleared completely). Following his No More Tears album he declared he would tour for the last time. In 1991, on his last date he reformed briefly on stage with Black Sabbath for three songs. However a much talked about reformation tour fell through and Ozzy seemed to go into retirement, his bassist (Mike Inez) joined Alice in Chains and the guitarist (Zakk Wylde) formed his own band, Pride and Glory. Now however he is recording a new album and has said he intends to tour again. The album should be out in the summer of 1995 and the tour should be shortly after. Geezer Butler has now quit Sabbath (again) and rejoined Ozzy (he played bass for him on tour during the mid to late 80's) and should play on the new album.
IMDb mini-biography by
Mark Oliver
Spouse
Sharon Osbourne (4 July 1982 - present) 3 children
Thelma Mayfair (1971 - 1981) (divorced) 2 children
Trade mark

Curses like a sailor

Occult themes, and visions of Hell and despair in his songs.
Trivia

Wife Sharon Osbourne is the daughter of his original manager, Don Arden. Arden dropped Osbourne, Sharon took over as his manager, and later married him.

Ozzy has long said that "Suicide Solution", a song about the dangers of alcoholism, was written as a tribute to former AC/DC vocalist Ronald Belford Scott (Bon Scott) who had died an alcohol-related death in 1980. However in 2002, the writer of "Suicide Solution (Ozzy's former bassist and main lyricist, Bob Daisley), revealed that the song actually alluded to Ozzy himself.

His song "Suicide Solution" created controversy when a fan committed suicide. The fan's parents alleged that Ozzy was responsible and sued him. The suit was cleared completely.

Every single one of his solo albums (of original material) has gone multi-platinum.

Was born the 4th of 6 children to Jack and Lillian Osbourne. His brothers are Paul and Tony, and his sisters are Jean, Iris, and Gillian. His father died in 1977.

Daughter Aimee Osbourne opted out of appearing in the MTV reality show 'The Osbournes', but his and Sharon's two other children, Kelly and Jack, agreed to take part.

Had two children from his first marriage (to Thelma Mayfair): Jessica Osbourne (born 1972) and Louis Osbourne (born 1975). He also adopted his first wife's son, Elliot Kingsley (born 1966), from a previous marriage. His children with second wife Sharon Osbourne are Aimee Osbourne (born 9-2-83), Kelly Osbourne (born 10-27-84), and Jack Osbourne (born 11-8-85).

Formed a band called Law after leaving Black Sabbath in 1979. They played 2 gigs before he changed their name to the Blizzard of Oz.

Claims he sleeps with a bayonet under his bed.

With wife Sharon Osbourne, he announced that the family had agreed to a deal with MTV, worth a reported $20 million, to do two more seasons of "The Osbournes" (2002), the highest rated show in the history of the channel. [May 2002]

The Osbournes meet with US President George W. Bush while attending the annual Correspondents' Association dinner. [May 4, 2002]

The cover of his 1988 album "No Rest for the Wicked" created controversy; it seemingly depicts himself seated and young children gathered around a Satanic shrine.

Arrested in September 1989 after attempting to strangle wife Sharon Osbourne while drunk. He awoke in jail the next day not knowing why he was there. He and Sharon reconciled in October 1990 after Ozzy endured extensive drug rehabilitation.

The cover of his 1982 live album "Speak of the Devil" was partially censored in some stores. The cover depicted a fanged Ozzy with blood (actually raspberry jelly) oozing from his mouth. The stores put a sticker over his mouth to obscure the "blood". Once Ozzy discovered this, he demanded that the sticker be removed or he would have his record company pull the album from those stores. Not wanting to lose the album sales of an Ozzy Osbourne recording, the stores adhered to Ozzy's wishes.

Honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame [April 12th, 2002]

Some of his many tattoos include the letters O-Z-Z-Y across his left knuckles, happy faces on both knees, "THANKS" on his right palm, a red hooded ghoul on his left chest, and a blue dragon on his right chest. The first two were self-made during a brief time in jail in the late 1960s.

Father of Kelly Osbourne, Jack Osbourne, and Aimee Osbourne by current wife Sharon Osbourne; and of Jessica Osbourne and Louis Osbourne by first wife Thelma Reilly.

Black Sabbath's name came from a 1963 film (Tre volti della paura, I (1963)) starring Boris Karloff. Sabbath's early songs reflected the same types of themes that were the centerpiece of those movies. Ozzy later named one of his solo albums "Diary of a Madman", the title (Diary of a Madman (1963)) of a 1963 Vincent Price horror film.

Was one of the first "shock rockers."

Throws a bucket of water on the audience at his concerts.

Resides in Buckinghamshire, England and Los Angeles, California, USA.

On December 8th, 2003 he was seriously injured while riding his ATV quad bike on the grounds of his Buckinghamshire estate in England. The accident occurred while he was taking a day off from his hectic promotional schedule surrounding the UK release of "Changes" - a duet with his daughter Kelly. He broke his collarbone, six ribs and a vertebra in his neck. The injuries were not considered to be life-threatening, though he has undergone some surgery.

His remake with daughter Kelly Osbourne of the Black Sabbath song "Changes" went straight to #1 in the UK when it was released a week after his quad-bike accident.

Reunited with Black Sabbath in 1985 for the Live Aid (1985) (TV) festival, and again in November of 1992 for the last night of Ozzy's so-called "final" tour. After the success of this show, the idea of a new Black Sabbath record and full tour was proposed, and the contracts were written up. However, Ozzy decided at the last minute not to sign them. It wasn't until December of 1997 that all four original members reunited again, to perform and record what would become the live album "Reunion".

Before the success of "The Osbournes" (2002), he was known by most people as "the singer who bites heads off bats". This rumor traces back to one isolated incident. On January 20, 1982, at a concert in Des Moines, a bat wound up on stage, which had either been stuck in the rafters or thrown up there by a crazed fan. Osbourne bit it for a goof, thinking it was a rubber toy. He had to take a week of rabies shots. Despite a $25,000 donation later that year to the SPCA, the bat story grew to be an urban legend of its own, to the point where even numerous unrelated heavy metal bands were commonly accused of ritualistically killing live animals on stage.

Is a fan of football club Aston Villa

Son-in-law of Don Arden.

Was the victim of a burglary at his Buckinghamshire (UK) home in November 2004. Almost £2 million worth of jewellery was stolen.

Discovered only after he grew up that he is dyslexic, after being told for years that the reason he had trouble reading in school was because he was "dumb".

His favorite band is The Beatles, who inspired him to become a musician when Beatlemania spread worldwide.

When he started out in music, the demand for rock singers in his hometown of Birmingham was so strong that anyone with their own microphone and PA amplifier could get a paying gig. Osbourne's father paid for the equipment, to spare him having to work a menial job after his failures in school.

Former neighbour of Pat Boone. Boone's cover of "Crazy Train" was used as the theme for "The Osbournes".

Black Sabbath was voted the 85th Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Artists of all time by Rolling Stone.

Diagnosed with Parkinson's Syndrome and will have to take daily medication for the rest of his life to combat the involuntary shudders associated with the condition. [May 2005]

He had a vasectomy in 1986.

His dad's death in 1977 lead to several hospitalizations due to his depression

Was present for the births of children Jessica Osbourne, Aimee Osbourne and Kelly Osbourne, but not those of Louis Osbourne and Jack Osbourne.

Grandfather of Isabelle, whose mother is Ozzy's daughter Jessica Osbourne.

Salary
"The Osbournes" (2002) $200,000 (first season - entire family)

Where are they now

(2002) Starring in the MTV reality show "The Osbournes" along with his wife and two kids.

(June 2004) Touring the U.S. with Black Sabbath for the annual summer concert series, "Ozzfest".

Tony Iommi

Frank Anthony "Tony" Iommi (born February 19, 1948) is a guitarist from Birmingham, England, who is best known as a member of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath. Though Ozzy Osbourne may have been the most visible member of Black Sabbath, it was Iommi who wrote nearly all the band's music and led the band in terms of musical direction. In a Spring, 1986 interview with British heavy metal magazine Kerrang! he said, "in the early days I did make all the decisions...but we split the songwriting credits four ways...this is my band...every band needs to have someone in control to direct, cajole and, if necessary, admonish."

Early years

Iommi picked up the guitar as a teenager, after being inspired by the likes of Hank Marvin and The Shadows. In an industrial accident in his youth on his last day of work in a factory, he lost the tips of the middle and ring fingers of his right hand - which, being left-handed, he uses to fret the strings of a guitar. At first he thought his days of playing guitar were over. However, his boss, who knew of his "night job" as a pub band guitar player, paid him a visit during his recovery. During the visit, his boss encouraged him to reconsider. He played a Django Reinhardt record which inspired Tony to pick up the guitar again (Reinhardt lost mobility in the third and fourth fingers of his fretting hand in a fire). After trying to learn to play right-handed, he instead strung his guitars with extra-light strings (which he created himself by intertwining banjo strings) and wore plastic covers that were made from bottle caps over those two fingers (which he covered with leather, so he could grip the strings properly). His accident also had an impact on the Black Sabbath sound: after some time Tony detuned his guitar from E to C# (1 and 1/2 steps down) in order to ease the tension on his fingers, making Sabbath one of the first bands to detune. This idea is now a mainstay of heavy metal music. Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler also tuned his instrument down to match Iommi's.

Pre-Black Sabbath

Iommi has played in several blues/rock bands, the earliest of which being The Rockin' Chevrolets between 1964 and 1965. The band had regular bookings and when they were offered work in Germany, Iommi decided to leave his factory job to take up the opportunity. It was during his last shift in the sheet metal factory that Iommi lost the tips of his middle and ring fingers in the aforementioned incident.

Between 1966 and 1967 Iommi played in a band named The Rest. This was the first time Iommi played with old school friend and future Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward.

From January of 1968 till July 1968, Iommi was guitarist in Mythology with Ward joining a month later in February. In May 1968, police raided the group's practice flat and found cannabis resin which resulted in a £15 fine and a two-year conditional discharge for Iommi, Ward and the other band members - Smith and Marshall. With no money and low morale, Mythology split up after a gig in Siloth on 13th July, 1968.

In August 1968, at the same time as the break up of Mythology, a band called Rare Breed also broke up. Rare Breed vocalist John "Ozzy" Osbourne and rhythm guitarist Terry "Geezer" Butler joined with Iommi and Ward from Mythology and also slide guitarist Jimmy Phillips and saxophonist Alan "Aker" Clarke. The six-piece band, now with Butler as bassist, were named the Polka Tulk Blues Band. After just two gigs - the last of which being at the Banklands Youth Club in Workington - Phillips and Clarke were dismissed from the band, whose name was shortened to simply Polka Tulk after this.

Iommi, Butler, Ward and Osbourne renamed their band in September 1968 to Earth. They carried on under this moniker until August 1969. Iommi briefly left in this period to play in Jethro Tull. However after only one performance (an appearance on "The Rolling Stones' Rock'n'Roll Circus" in which the band mimed to "A Song For Jeffrey", whilst Ian Anderson sang live), Iommi was back with Earth once more.
[edit]

Black Sabbath

In August 1969 - after confusion with another group named Earth that had some minor success in England - the group renamed themselves to Black Sabbath.

Tony Iommi says about his working-relation with Jethro Tull vocalist Ian Anderson, which may have contributed to the success of Black Sabbath:

I learned quite a lot from him, I must say. I learned that you have got to work at it. You have to rehearse. When I came back and I got the band (Black Sabbath) back together, I made sure that everybody was up early in the morning and rehearsing. I used to go and pick them up. I was the only one at the time that could drive. I used to have to drive the bloody van and get them up at quarter of nine every morning; which was, believe me, early for us then. I said to them, "This is how we have got to do it because this is how Jethro Tull did it." They had a schedule and they knew that they were going to work from this time till that time. I tried that with our band and we got into doing it. It worked. Instead of just strolling in at any hour, it made it more like we were saying, "Let’s do it!"
Iommi (more recent photo) seen with one of his signature Gibson SGs.
Enlarge
Iommi (more recent photo) seen with one of his signature Gibson SGs.

It may be argued that Tony Iommi was a pioneer of heavy metal riffing due to his guitar playing on now famous tracks such as "Paranoid", "War Pigs", "Iron Man", and "Into The Void". He combined blues-like guitar solos and dark, minor-key riffing with a revolutionary high-gain, heavily distorted tone with his use of a treble-boosting effect-pedal and a Gibson SG. The innovative detuning of his guitar to C#, an idea first employed on 1971's Master Of Reality album, also helped to characterise his distinctive sound.

By the mid 1970s, incessant drug usage, managerial problems and constant touring had taken its toll on the band, and Ozzy Osbourne was eventually fired in 1979. Osbourne was replaced with Ronnie James Dio, the vocalist for Rainbow, a band formed by former Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. With Dio, Black Sabbath produced Heaven and Hell before drummer Bill Ward was replaced by Vinny Appice. With this lineup they produced The Mob Rules, leaving Iommi and Geezer Butler the only original members.

During the 80s and 90s, Iommi rebuilt the band with many lineup changes, including vocalists Ronnie James Dio, Ian Gillan (formerly of Deep Purple), Glenn Hughes and Tony Martin, as well as Ray Gillen and Rob Halford - Judas Priest singer - as guest vocalist for just two gigs after Ronnie James Dio refused to perform at Ozzy's 'farewell' at Costa Mesa in 1992. Halford also sang at one of the dates on the 2004 Ozzfest tour, when Ozzy couldn´t perform due to bronchitis.
In 1992, Iommi appeared at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, playing four songs with the remaining members of Queen and other guest artists.

The original Black Sabbath reunited as a touring band in 1997 (although Bill Ward was not present for the first two reunion tours, the second being due to a heart attack. Ward was replaced by Vinny Appice on this tour).

After Ian Gillan left in 1984, Iommi recorded his first solo album, entitled Seventh Star. The album featured Glenn Hughes (formerly of Deep Purple) on vocals, but due to label pressures, it was billed as a release by "Black Sabbath featuring Tony Iommi". In 2000, he finally released his first proper solo album, titled simply Iommi. Iommi featured several guest vocalists, including Henry Rollins, Serj Tankian, Dave Grohl, Billy Corgan, Phil Anselmo, and Ozzy Osbourne. In late 2004, Tony's second solo album was released, entitled The 1996 DEP Sessions. This album was originally recorded in 1996, but was never officially released. However, a copy with a drum track by Dave Holland (many fans agree that it was right to remove Holland from the album because of his current personal stature and also because the drum track he recorded was considered inferior) was available as a bootleg called Eighth star. The vocalist on this album was again Glenn Hughes. After he released The 1996 DEP Sessions, Tony later released his third solo album, Fused on July 12, 2005, also with Glenn Hughes on vocals, bass and Kenny Aronoff on drums.

Terence Michael Joseph "Geezer" Butler (born 17 July 1949 in Aston, Birmingham, England) is the founding bassist for heavy metal legends Black Sabbath. His nickname supposedly arises from his habit as a teenager of referring to everyone as "Geezer".

Geezer formed his first band, Rare Breed, with schoolmate John "Ozzy" Osbourne in the autumn of 1967. Separated for a time, Ozzy and Geezer reunited in the blues foursome, Polka Tulk, along with Guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward. They renamed their band Earth, but after finding a band in the small-time English circuit with the same name, soon adopted Black Sabbath in early 1969.

Butler played rhythm guitar in his pre-Sabbath days, including with Rare Breed, but when Sabbath was formed, Iommi made it clear that he wouldn't want to play with another guitarist, so Geezer moved to bass.

Geezer is noted as being one of the first bassists to use a Wah-wah pedal on his bass, as showcased at the beginning of N.I.B. which inspired many later bassists, such as Cliff Burton who cited him as an influence. He was also one of the first bassists to de-tune, the reason being so he could play Iommi's riffs with more ease after he had de-tuned down to C# (one and a half tones down) himself. De-tuning was soon adopted as a standard in most heavy metal bands to follow.

The name "Black Sabbath" was borrowed from a song written by Butler, who got the name from the Boris Karloff film of the same name, at the time he was an avid follower of occultic novelist Dennis Wheatley. Although Ozzy was the focal point of the band, Butler wrote most of the band's lyrics, drawing heavily upon his fascination with the black arts to explore recurring themes of death and destruction.

During the latter half of the 1970s, Black Sabbath's popularity dwindled, although the group continued on in the early 1980s with ex-Rainbow frontman Ronnie James Dio and then with ex-Deep Purple frontman Ian Gillan. Butler quit the band in the middle of 1984, forming the Geezer Butler Band. In 1988 he joined Ozzy Osbourne to take part in the No Rest For The Wicked World Tour. Butler re-joined Black Sabbath in 1991 for the reunion of the "Mob Rules" lineup, but again quit the group after the Cross Purposes tour of 1994.

By 1995, Geezer was back together with Osbourne, to play on the Ozzmosis album. After recording Ozzmosis, he formed G/Z/R, issuing "Plastic Planet" in 1995. His next solo album, "Black Science" followed in 1997. Geezer returned to Sabbath one more time for the 1997 edition of Ozzfest, and has remained with the band since. In 2005, he released Ohmwork, his third solo album.

Bill Ward (born William Ward, May 5, 1948, Birmingham, England), is the drummer for the British heavy metal band Black Sabbath.



Prior to the formation of Black Sabbath, Bill Ward and guitarist Tony Iommi played in a band called "Mythology", and joined vocalist Ozzy Osbourne and bassist Geezer Butler, who had played in a band together called "Rare Breed". Between 1970 and 1980, Ward played drums on every Sabbath album. He left the band for personal reasons in August 1980 during a tour for the album Heaven and Hell. He sat out one album (1981's Mob Rules) before returning for 1983's Born Again. He once again left the band following the recording of that album, due to ill-health. He was officially back in the band again in the summer of 1984, but the band did not record or tour then. Before the full-blown reunion, Bill Ward and the original Sabbath had re-united twice for short sets, firstly for Live Aid in 1985 and then at a Costa Mesa, CA Ozzy Osbourne show on November 15th, 1992. Sabbath, with ex-Judas Priest singer Rob Halford replacing the recently-departed Ronnie James Dio, opened the show for Ozzy in honor of it being his last show ever. Then the Ozzy Osbourne band (Ozzy, Zakk Wylde, Mike Inez, Randy Castillo and John Sinclair) did a full set before Ozzy was reunited with Tony, Geezer and Bill for four numbers. Ward made a brief return to the band for a South American tour in 1994, before finally rejoining the band for the two shows at the Birmingham NEC, England on December 4th and 5th 1997, which made up the 'Reunion' album. (When what was billed as the original line-up reunited for the Ozzfest tour in 1997 Mike Bordin played drums.) Ward then had to skip all but the last two band appearances in 1998 whilst he recovered from a heart-attack suffered during the tour rehearsals that May. As was the case in 1980, he was again replaced at short-notice by Vinny Appice, although this time it was always intended to be a temporary absence for Ward, health allowing. Thankfully he was well enough to return for good in 1999 and has remained with Sabbath ever since.



Ward has dealt with alcoholism and drug abuse during his career, as well as severe depression. After leaving the band, Ward made three suicide attempts.



In addition to playing drums, Ward sang lead vocals for two Black Sabbath songs; "It's Alright" (from Technical Ecstasy), and "Swinging The Chain" (from Never Say Die!).



Ward's distinctive drumming often closely doubles the rhythms of the bass and guitar riffs, producing a powerful combined effect. An example of this is the song "Iron Man" off the Paranoid album. He is also characterized by playing quick drum rolls in between riffs and his powerful groove. ("Symptom of the Universe" is a good example of his unique style.)