LONDON: Ozzy Osbourne, frontman of 1970s heavy metal band Black Sabbath, earned his infamy biting the head off a bat on stage and pursuing a drug-fuelled lifestyle before reinventing himself as a loveable if often foul-mouthed reality TV star.
Known to fans as "The Prince of Darkness" and the "Godfather of Heavy Metal," Osbourne has died at the age of 76, his family said in a statement on Tuesday.
"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. He was with his family and surrounded by love," they said.
window.googletag = window.googletag || {cmd: []};googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.defineSlot('/22826383987/dailyexpress_inline', [1, 1], 'gpt-passback').addService(googletag.pubads());googletag.enableServices();googletag.display('gpt-passback');});Osbourne kicked off his career in the early 1970s as singer on Black Sabbath's hits, from "Paranoid" to "War Pigs" to "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath".
Those plus a string of solo releases saw him sell more than 100 million records worldwide.
The hard riffs and dark subject matter – from depression to war to apocalypse – combined with an instinct for Halloween theatrics.
As a performer, Osbourne sprinkled audiences with raw meat and, in 1982, had his encounter with a bat thrown on stage by a fan.
He always insisted he thought it was a toy until he bit into it, realised his mistake and rushed to hospital for a rabies shot. He later sold branded bat soft toys with a removable head.
Osbourne was a regular target for conservative and religious groups concerned about the negative impact of rock music on young people.
He acknowledged the excesses of his lifestyle and lyrics – but poured scorn on the wilder reports that he was an actual devil-worshipper.
"I've done some bad things in my time. But I ain't the devil. I'm just John Osbourne: a working-class kid from Aston who quit his job in the factory and went looking for a good time," he said in a 2010 biography.
REALITY SHOW STAR
John Michael Osbourne was the fourth of six children.
Growing up in Aston, Birmingham, in central England, he struggled with dyslexia, left school at age 15, did a series of menial jobs, and at one point served a brief prison sentence for burglary. Then came Black Sabbath.
"When I was growing up, if you'd have put me up against a wall with the other kids from my street and asked me which one of us was gonna make it to the age of 60, with five kids and four grandkids and houses in Buckinghamshire and California, I wouldn't have put money on me, no f**king way," he once said.
