Legendary singer Ozzy Osbourne is celebrating his birthday today, so here are some crazy facts about the "Prince of Darkness"?
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1. He was born John Michael Osbourne in Birmingham, England, on December 3, 1948, the fourth child of a poor Christian-Catholic family with six children.
2. The nickname Ozzy was given to him at school and he has since adopted it as his name.
3. He decided to pursue music when he was only 14, after hearing "the Beatles" song "She Loves You".
4. At the age of 15, he dropped out of school and began working in a variety of casual jobs, including a job at a slaughterhouse.
5. He was a "little criminal" in his childhood years. He broke into stores and houses until he was caught stealing and convicted.
6. Due to his age he was only fined, but his father who wanted to teach him a lesson did not pay the fine which led to Ozzy spending 6 weeks in jail.
7. He used his time in prison to get himself tattoos. The most famous and first he had, was the inscription O-Z-Z-Y on the fingers of his left hand. He did this with a needle.
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8. He did not know how to play any musical instrument, but his father bought him an amplifier with which Ozzy tried to fulfill his dream.
9. He put an ad in a record store in Birmingham that read: "Ozzy Zig Needs Gig — has own PA". This ad caught the attention of Tony Iommi and Bill Ward whose band "Mythology" had just disbanded. Ozzy brought his friend from "Rare Breed" - bassist Geezer Butler and so "Black Sabbath" was actually formed.
10. At the end of 1969 he released together with "Black Sabbath" their debut album "Black Sabbath".
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11. In 1978 during Black Sabbath's tour with "Van Halen" Ozzy disappeared for more than 24 hours, after a night of revelry with David Lee Roth. The band members and the police thought someone had kidnapped him, but he just collapsed in a room at a hotel other than the one where the band was staying.
12. Ozzy was fired from "Black Sabbath" in 1979 after finishing the tour of the album "Never Say Die!", due to drug and alcohol problems.
13. He was really hurt from being fired and spent three months in a hotel during which he did nothing but consume drugs and alcohol.
14. Amazingly, it was Sharon Osborne who recommended Ronnie James Dio as a replacement for Ozzy in "Black Sabbath". But do not worry she was not Ozzy's wife then.
15. In 1981 he came to a meeting with CBS executives to sign a recording contract. He brought several white pigeons hidden in his pockets to release them after signing the contract. Ozzy was so "high" that he forgot the original plan and bit one of the pigeon's heads in front of CBS executives who of course withdrew from the contract right after.
16. After all, Ozzy releases his first solo album - "Blizzard Of Ozz" about a year after Ozzy was fired from "Black Sabbath".
17. The first song Ozzy wrote for the album was "Goodbye to Romance", this was his way of saying goodbye to his mother's band.
18. In 1986, Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake sued Ozzy for non-payment of royalties, for their part in writing the songs on Ozzy's first albums. In response, Ozzy re-recorded the bass and drum roles on these albums, along with drummer Mike Bordin of "Faith No More" and bassist Robert Trujillo.
19. The mesmerizing opening of the song "Mr. Crowley" and excerpts from the song "Revelation (Mother Earth)" from Ozzy's first album, were written by keyboardist Don Airey who also did not get credit for his writing.
20. He loves the album "Diary of a Madman", his second album released in 1982, more than any of his solo albums.
21. During the tour designed to promote the album he used to throw pieces of raw meat at the audience.
22. On January 20, 1982, Ozzy bites a living bat during one of his performances. He was forced to receive a series of shots against rabies.
23. A month later, on February 19, he was arrested for urinating at the Alamo Memorial in Texas. He left the hotel where he was staying with his wife Sharon's dress, after the latter had hidden his clothes to prevent him from leaving the room. As a result, he was banned from entering San Antonio for 10 years.
24. In 2001, two artists — Ruben Ortiz-Torres and Jim Mendiola — commemorated the event with a statue of Osbourne that casts its water whenever a sensor detects someone passing by.
25. He married Sharon Arden (Osbourne) on July 4, 1982, the American Independence Day.
26. The reason he chose this date was so that he would not forget his wedding day.
27. On March 19, 1982, the talented guitarist Randy Rhoads, who was also Ozzy's co-writer on his first two albums, died in a plane crash.
28. Two weeks later Ozzy already hires the services of guitarist Bernie Tormé, who previously played with Ian Gillan, and completes the tour to promote the album "Diary of a Madman".
29. Most of the material for the album "Bark At The Moon" was written by bassist Bob Daisley and guitarist Jake E. Lee. The two will also write most of the material for the album "The Ultimate Sin".
30. Rumor has it that Daisley even received between £ 50,000 and £ 60,000 from Sharon Osborne, just to write the material for the album.
31. Despite this, the two did not receive credit for their writings. Only Ozzy got the writing credit in the album liner notes.
32. According to the two, they were even forced to sign a contract at the end of the recordings, in which they waive their writing credit.
33. In 1983 a 20-year-old Canadian man claimed that the song "Bark At The Moon" made him murder a woman and her two children.
34. A year later, the parents of a 19-year-old boy in the US sued Ozzy over the fact that the song "Suicide Solution", from his first album, caused their son to commit suicide.
35. On August 7, 1987, the aforementioned well-publicized lawsuit was dismissed.
36. The song "Suicide Solution" was written by Ozzy and Bob Daisley after the death of Ozzy's friend Bon Scott, singer of the band "AC/DC", who died following excessive drinking of alcohol in February 1980.
37. In 1984 when Ozzy was on a joint tour with "Mötley Crüe", during which he sniffed a long line of working ants.
38. In 1989 he tried to strangle his wife, Sharon Osborne, after a night of heavy drinking, he was completely unaware of his actions.
39. Despite this Sharon remained by his side and helped him get rid of drugs and alcohol.
40. In 1991, Osborne decided to retire from performing. He release a farewell album called "No More Tears" and called the accompanied tour "No More Tours".
41. The songs on the album "No More Tears" was written by Ozzy with guitarist Zakk Wylde who co-wrote all the songs.
42. The person who wrote the lyrics to 4 of the album's songs was none other than Lemmy Kilmister from "Motörhead".
43. He returned to music as early as 1995 through his album "Ozzmosis", but even then he did not release an album until 2001 when he released the excellent "Down to Earth".
44. In 1996 he founded the heavy rock festival "Ozzfest".
45. Ozzy only got his driver's license at age 60. He said he had tried several times since the 1970s, but he was never “clean” enough to pass the test.
46. In 1998, the original lineup of "Black Sabbath" reunited with Ozzy and released the live album "Reunion" containing two new songs.
47. Ozzy has a habit of pouring water on himself and on the fans during his performances.
48. In the years 2005-2002, Ozzy starred in the reality show "The Osbournes" on MTV.
49. The show followed Ozzy Osbourne and his family as they were filmed for 24 hours a day. This show became the most successful in the channel's history.
50. Ozzy almost lost his life in a motorcycle accident. Following the accident, he stopped breathing and was revived only thanks to his bodyguard.
51. At the end of 2011 Ozzy and "Black Sabbath" announced another reunion tour and an album produced by Rick Robin.
52. The album called “13” and released in 2013 and stunned the metal community.
53. In January 2016 Ozzy and "Black Sabbath" went on the band's last tour which is simply called "The End". His last performance with the band was in February 2017.
54. On February 6, 2018, Ozzy also announced the last tour of his solo career called "No More Tours II".
55. This tour was stopped after Ozzy was injured and an infection in his hand forced him to be hospitalized.
56. On February 21, 2020, after 10 years without a solo album, Ozzy released “Ordinary Man” - his 12th solo album.
57. Two of Ozzy's famous nicknames are: "Godfather of Heavy Metal" and "The Prince Of Darkness".
58. Ozzy has released to date 10 studio albums along with "Black Sabbath" including masterful albums like: "Paranoid", "Vol. 4", "Master Of Reality", "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath", "Sabotage" and more. In addition, he has released 13 more studio albums as part of his solo career.
59. Ozzy has sold more than 100 million albums along with "Sabbath" and in his solo career.
60. In 2006 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the band.
This time too we prepared a playlist from Ozzy's repertoire: Click Here.