Ozzy Osbourne, the brooding, bat-biting frontman of Black Sabbath whose raspy howl and dark persona defined heavy metal’s wildest edge, died Tuesday at 76 – just weeks after his farewell performance.
“It is with more sadness than words can convey that we have to report our beloved Ozzy Osbourne passed away this morning,” his family said in a statement. “He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our privacy at this time.” Osbourne revealed in 2020 that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease after a fall.
Dressed in black or bare-chested, Osbourne became a lightning rod for controversy – from satanic imagery to famously biting the head off a bat on stage – yet later won hearts as a bumbling, endearing father on the hit reality show The Osbournes.
Black Sabbath’s 1969 self-titled debut, often called the Big Bang of heavy metal, shattered the peace-and-love era with its ominous tones, eerie cover art and bone-rattling riffs – cementing Osbourne as the genre’s godfather of gloom.
The band’s second album, Paranoid, included such classic metal tunes as “War Pigs,” “Iron Man” and “Fairies Wear Boots.” The song “Paranoid” only reached No. 61 on the Billboard Hot 100 but became, in many ways, the band’s signature song. Both albums were voted among the top 10 greatest heavy metal albums of all time by Rolling Stone magazine readers.
“Black Sabbath are the Beatles of heavy metal. Anybody who’s serious about metal will tell you it all comes down to Sabbath,” Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction wrote in a 2010 tribute in Rolling Stone. “There’s a direct line you can draw back from today’s metal, through ‘80s bands like Iron Maiden, back to Sabbath.”
Sabbath fired Osbourne in 1979 for his legendary excesses, including showing up late to rehearsals and missing gigs. “We knew we didn’t really have a choice but to sack him because he was just so out of control. But we were all very down about the situation,” wrote bassist Terry “Geezer” Butler in his memoir, Into the Void.
Osbourne reemerged the next year as a solo artist with Blizzard of Ozz and the following year’s Diary of a Madman, both hard rock classics that went multiplatinum and spawned enduring favorites such as “Crazy Train,” “Goodbye to Romance,” “Flying High Again” and “You Can’t Kill Rock and Roll.” Osbourne was inducted twice into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame – once with Sabbath in 2006 and again in 2024 as a solo artist.
The original Sabbath lineup reunited for the first time in 20 years in July 2025 in the United Kingdom for what Osbourne said would be his final concert. “Let the madness begin!” he told 42,000 fans.
Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Slayer, Tool, Pantera, Gojira, Alice in Chains, Lamb of God, Halestorm, Anthrax, Rival Sons and Mastodon performed. Tom Morello, Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, Billy Corgan, Ronnie Wood, Travis Barker, Sammy Hagar, Andrew Watt, Yungblud, Korn’s Jonathan Davis, Nuno Bettencourt, Chad Smith and Vernon Reid made appearances. Actor Jason Momoa hosted the festivities.
“Black Sabbath: we’d all be different people without them, that’s the truth,” said Pantera singer Phil Anselmo. “I know I wouldn’t be up here with a microphone in my hand without Black Sabbath.”
Osbourne embodied the excesses of metal. His outlandish exploits included urinating 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 the parents of a 19-year-old 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.
Then-Cardinal John J. O’Connor of New York claimed in 1990 that Osbourne’s songs led to demonic possession and suicide. “You are ignorant about the true meaning of my songs,” the singer wrote in reply. “You have also insulted the intelligence of rock fans all over the world.”
Audiences at Osbourne shows could be mooned or spit on by the singer. They would often be hectored to scream along with the songs, but the Satan-invoking Osbourne usually sent crowds home with their ears ringing and a hearty “God bless!”
He launched the annual Ozzfest tour in 1996 after being rejected from the lineup of what was then the top touring music festival, Lollapalooza. Ozzfest went on to host bands such as Slipknot, Tool, Megadeth, Rob Zombie, System of a Down, Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park.
Osbourne’s look changed little over the decades. He wore his long hair flat, black eyeliner and round glasses, often with 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 top 10 song since 1989.
In 2020, he released the album Ordinary Man, whose title track was 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 earned his first back-to-back No. 1 rock radio singles from Patient Number 9, which featured collaborations with Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Mike McCready, Chad Smith, Robert Trujillo and Duff McKagan. The album earned four Grammy nominations.
At the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2024, Jack Black called Osbourne “the greatest frontman in the history of rock and roll” and “the Jack Nicholson of rock.” Osbourne thanked his fans, guitarist Randy Rhoads and his longtime wife, Sharon.
John Michael Osbourne was raised in the industrial city of Birmingham, England. Classmates nicknamed him Ozzy. As a boy, he loved the Four Seasons, Chuck Berry and Little Richard. The Beatles made a huge impression.
“They came from Liverpool, which was approximately 60 miles north of where I come from,” he told Billboard. “So all of a sudden it was in my grasp, but I never thought it would be as successful as it became.”
