(NEXSTAR) — Rock legend Ozzy Osbourne has died. He was 76 years old.
“It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning,” his family said in a statement posted to social media and shared with various outlets.
“He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time,” the statement continued. Osbourne’s wife of more than 40 years, Sharon, signed the statement, as did his children, Aimee, Kelly, Jack, and Louis.
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No cause of death was provided, and no additional information was released.
Osbourne announced in 2020 that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. A year prior, he canceled tour dates due to health problems, including a “bad fall” in which he said he injured vertebrae in his neck. Then, in 2023, Osbourne said his touring days had “ended” due to spine damage he had suffered during an accident in 2019.
Sharon Osbourne confirmed in 2022 that her husband had undergone a “major operation.” While she didn’t divulge details at the time, Ozzy had earlier told Classic Rock magazine that he was “waiting on some more surgery on my neck.”
Ozzy Osbourne performs at half time during a Los Angeles Rams, Buffalo Bills game during an NFL football game Thursday, Sept. 8, 2021, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/John McCoy)
Singer Ozzy Osbourne performs during halftime of an NFL football game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Buffalo Bills Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
From let, Ozzy Osbourne and Sharon Osbourne attend ASCAP Presents The 2014 Grammy Nominee Brunch, at the SLS Hotel at Beverly Hills on Saturday, January 25, 2014 in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Frank Micelotta/Invision for ASCAP/AP)
FILE – This Jan. 13, 2009 file photo shows the Osbournes, from left, Ozzy Osbourne, Kelly Osbourne, Jack Osbourne and Sharon Osbourne arriving at the FOX Winter All-Star Party in Los Angeles. Jack Osbourne is facing a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. The former reality star and son of Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne revealed his health crisis in an interview with People released Sunday, June 17, 2012. He told the magazine he was angry and frustrated when he found out, and he’s concerned about his family. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, file)
FILE – Ozzy Osbourne arrives at the 62nd annual Grammy Awards at the Staples Center on Jan. 26, 2020, in Los Angeles. Osbourne announced the cancellation of his 2023 tour dates in the UK and continental Europe, in a statement issued on early Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
Earlier this month, however, Osbourne joined the original members of the Black Sabbath — Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward — for one final show in Birmingham, England.
“It’s my time to go Back to the Beginning….time for me to give back to the place where I was born,” Osbourne said in a social media post in February. “How blessed am I to do it with the help of people whom I love. Birmingham is the true home of metal. Birmingham Forever.”
That same night, Osbourne’s daughter, Kelly, was proposed to by her DJ boyfriend, Sid Wilson.
In a post to social media last week, Osbourne announced the theatrical release of “Back To The Beginning: Ozzy’s Final Bow” had been set for early 2026. The concert film is set to be “a big-screen celebration of Ozzy Osbourne and the legacy of Black Sabbath, capturing the raw power and emotional weight of Ozzy’s final bow in his hometown of Birmingham.”
In a simple post Tuesday, the band’s official X account shared a photo of Ozzy with the caption, “Ozzy Forever!”
Ozzy Osbourne’s time with Black Sabbath
Osbourne formed Black Sabbath in 1968 in his hometown of Birmingham (it’s there that kids in school nicknamed him Ozz), a city then known for its heavy industry that became the crucible of the British metal scene. Black Sabbath’s devil imagery and thunderous sound made them one of the era’s most influential — and parent-scaring — metal acts.
In the late 1960s, Osbourne had teamed up with Butler, guitarist Iommi and drummer Ward as the Polka Tulk Blues Band. They decided to rename the band Earth, but found to their dismay there was another band with that name. So they changed the name to the American title of the classic Italian horror movie “I Tre Volti Della Paura,” starring Boris Karloff: Black Sabbath.
Both the band and Osbourne as a solo artist have been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
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Osbourne embodied the excesses of metal. His outlandish exploits included relieving himself on the Alamo, snorting a line of ants off a sidewalk and, most memorably, biting the head off a live bat that a fan threw onstage during a 1981 concert. (He said he thought it was rubber.)
Osbourne was sued in 1987 by parents of a 19-year-old teen who died by suicide while listening to his song “Suicide Solution.” The lawsuit was dismissed. Osbourne said the song was really about the dangers of alcohol, which caused the death of his friend Bon Scott, lead singer of AC/DC.
Audiences at Osbourne shows could be mooned or spit on by the singer. They would often be hectored to scream along with the song, but the Satan-invoking Osbourne would usually send the crowds home with their ears ringing and a hearty “God bless!”
Osbourne after his band days
Osbourne’s fame expanded into the mainstream in the early 2000s, when he joined his wife Sharon Osbourne, and two of their children in the MTV reality TV show “The Osbournes.”
He started an annual tour — Ozzfest — in 1996 after he was rejected from the lineup of what was then the top touring music festival, Lollapalooza.
Osbourne’s look changed little over his life. He wore his long hair flat, heavy black eye makeup and round glasses, often wearing a cross around his neck. In 2013, he reunited with Black Sabbath for the dour, raw “13,” which reached No. 1 on the U.K. Albums Chart and peaked at No. 86 on the U.S. Billboard 200. In 2019, he had a Top 10 hit when featured on Post Malone’s “Take What You Want,” Osbourne’s first song in the Top 10 since 1989.
In 2020, he released the album “Ordinary Man,” which had as its title song a duet with Elton John. “I’ve been a bad guy, been higher than the blue sky/And the truth is I don’t wanna die an ordinary man,” he sang. In 2022, he landed his first career back-to-back No. 1 rock radio singles from his album “Patient Number 9,” which featured collaborations with Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Mike McCready, Chad Smith, Robert Trujillo and Duff McKagan. It earned four Grammy nominations.
He is survived by Sharon, and their three children — Kelly, Aimee and Jack — as well as his eldest son, Louis, from a previous marriage.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
