Ozzy Osbourne, the pioneering heavy metal singer and Black Sabbath frontman whose star turn on reality TV endeared him to a new generation of fans, has died, his family announced Tuesday. 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,” the family said in a statement signed by Osbourne’s wife Sharon, as well as his children Jack, Kelly, Aimee and Louis. “He was with his family and surrounded by love.”
They added, “We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time.”
News of Osbourne’s death comes 17 days after he performed his final show in Birmingham, England, alongside his former Black Sabbath bandmates at the Back to the Beginning benefit concert.
He had also recently announced a new memoir titled “Last Rites,” which was due out Oct. 7 via Grand Central Publishing.
Osbourne was previously diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2019 and said in an interview then with “Good Morning America” that it had been “terribly challenging.”
“It’s PRKN 2,” Sharon Osbourne said at the time. “There’s so many different types of Parkinson’s. It’s not a death sentence by any stretch of the imagination, but it does affect certain nerves in your body. And it’s — it’s like you have a good day, a good day, and then a really bad day.”
Ozzy Osbourne signs copies of his album “Patient Number 9” at Fingerprints Music on September 10, 2022 in Long Beach, California.
Scott Dudelson/Getty Images
In 1968, the Birmingham, U.K., native co-founded Black Sabbath with guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward. The band helped define the metal genre, thanks in large part to Osbourne’s otherworldly vocals on such classic tunes as “Iron Man,” “Paranoid” and “War Pigs.” Osbourne also gained notoriety for his often drug-and-alcohol-fueled exploits. His persona and antics earned him the nicknames the Prince of Darkness and the Metal Madman.
After a decade with the group, Osbourne was fired from Sabbath, purportedly over his substance abuse.
Black Sabbath: Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Bill Ward and Ozzy Osbourne
Chris Walter/WireImage/Getty Images
However, he soon launched a solo career that, with initial help from virtuoso guitarist Randy Rhoads, became more successful than Black Sabbath. Among Osbourne’s memorable tunes from the ’80s are “Crazy Train,” “Flying High Again,” “Shot in the Dark,” “Bark at the Moon” and “No More Tears.” In 1988, Osbourne scored a top-10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Close My Eyes Forever,” a duet with ex-Runaways guitarist Lita Ford.
Ozzy Osbourne live at the Moscow Music Peace Festival 1989 at Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, August, 13, 1989.
Koh Hasebe/shinko Music/Getty Images
Over the years, Osbourne occasionally reunited with Black Sabbath, while mainly focusing on his solo endeavors. In 1996, Osbourne’s wife and manager, Sharon, launched Ozzfest, an annual hard-rock festival and tour that Osbourne has regularly headlined either solo or with Sabbath.
In the early 2000s, the singer found a whole new audience when he starred alongside Sharon and two of their children — Jack and Kelly — in the hit MTV reality series “The Osbournes,” which ran from 2002 to 2005. He and his son Jack teamed up again for another reality show, “Ozzy & Jack’s World Detour,” which debuted in 2016.
Ozzy Osbourne, center, poses with his family, from left, daughter Aimee, wife Sharon, daughter Kelly, son Jack and his son Louis, after he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles on April 12, 2002.
Nick Ut/AP, FILE
In 2006, Osbourne was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Black Sabbath. The band — minus Ward — reunited to record a final studio album, “13,” which was released in 2013. The group launched a farewell tour called The End that ran from January 2016 to February 2017.
Osbourne then refocused on his solo career, and launched the No More Tours II outing, which he intended to be his final major trek. In early 2019, he battled an upper respiratory infection and pneumonia that forced him to postpone tour legs in the U.K. and Europe, and cancel dates in Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
In an exclusive interview with “Good Morning America,” the rocker said that around the time of his Parkinson’s disease diagnosis, he also had a bad fall that required surgery on his neck.
The fall eventually led to three spinal surgeries, none of which fully alleviated the injury, Osbourne said. He canceled his 2023 European tour and announced he was done touring for good due to his back problems.
This Nov. 24, 2019 file photo shows Ozzy Osbourne performing at the American Music Awards in Los Angeles.
Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, FILE
“My one and only purpose during this time has been to get back on stage,” he wrote on social media at the time. “My singing voice is fine. However, after three operations, stem cell treatments, endless physical therapy sessions, and most recently groundbreaking Cybernics (HAL) Treatment, my body is still physically weak.”
In 2022, Osbourne closed out the Commonwealth Games in his hometown of Birmingham that August alongside Iommi on guitar. The venue was just a five-minute drive from where Osbourne went to school, he told “GMA” in September 2022.
“If someone had said to me when I was 14 standing outside those school gates, ‘You’ll be closin’ the Commonwealth Games,’ it was just — my life’s been incredible. And that things have happened,” Osbourne said at the time.
At 74 years old, Osbourne won Grammy for best metal performance for the song “Degradation Rules” alongside Iommi on guitar. The song came from his 13th studio album, “Patient Number 9,” which also won a Grammy for best rock album and rose to No. 3 on the U.S. charts and No. 2 in the U.K. after its release in September 2022.
This June 11, 2018, file photo shows musician Ozzy Osbourne, left, and his wife Sharon Osbourne at the Metal Hammer Golden God awards in London.
Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP, FILE
Osbourne won five Grammy Awards as a solo artist, while Black Sabbath won two Grammy Awards and a lifetime achievement award in 2019.
Osbourne married his second wife, Sharon, in 1982 and had three children, Aimee, Kelly, and Jack. Though Aimee chose not to appear on “The Osbournes,” Sharon, Kelly and Jack Osbourne were featured throughout and paved the way for future family-centric reality shows like “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.”
The singer was previously married to Thelma Riley from 1971 to 1982. He had two children with his first wife, Jessica and Louis. He also adopted her son Elliot from a previous marriage.
