Ozzy Osbourne dies at 76, weeks after final concert

Rock and Roll legend Ozzy Osbourne has died at the age of 76.

His family released a statement which read, “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," Sky News reported.

Osbourne held his final performance in front of 40,000 in his hometown of Birmingham, England, on July 5. He had said it would be his last live performance, The Associated Press reported.

The Black Sabbath frontman announced in 2020 that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, which made him stop touring in 2023.

He performed at the concert from a throne that came from under the stage as he said, “Let the madness begin!”

“I don’t know what to say, man, I’ve been laid up for like six years. You have no idea how I feel — thank you from the bottom of my heart,” Osbourne said, according to the AP. “You’re all … special. Let’s go crazy, come on.”

He did several songs solo; he was joined by his Black Sabbath bandmates for the first time in two decades.

The concert will be released on the big screen in 2026, according to a post on his official X account. The post promised before his death that “the film promises a deeply personal and electrifying farewell from the godfather of heavy metal. ”

In addition to “The Godfather of Heavy Metal,” he was also known as “The Prince of Darkness,” the moniker he is said to prefer, according to CNN.

Osbourne was born John Michael Osbourne on Dec. 3, 1948, in Aston, Birmingham, the BBC reported. He left school at the age of 15, doing odd jobs before starting several bands with schoolmate, and future Black Sabbath bassist and lyricist, Geezer Butler.

He also served six weeks in prison for burglary after his father refused to pay a fine, Osbourne wrote in his autobiography “I Am Ozzy,” CNN reported.

Osbourne started Black Sabbath in 1968 in Birmingham and became one of the most influential heavy metal bands, the AP reported.

The AP called the band’s self-titled 1969 debut “the Big Bang of heavy metal” at a time when hippie music was prevalent during the Vietnam War. Sabbath’s sound was “dripping menace and foreboding” with music that was “loud, dense and angry.”

It was created in only two days, CNN and Rolling Stone reported.

“Once we’d finished, we spent a couple of hours double-tracking some of the guitar and vocals, and that was that. Done,” Osbourne said. “We were in the pub in time for last orders. It can’t have taken any longer than 12 hours in total. That’s how albums should be made, in my opinion.”

Butler once said of Black Sabbath, “if people paid money to feel scared at the movies, then the same must be true of concerts,” CNN reported.

He became a legend but was, according to the AP, “often the target of parents’ groups for his imagery and once caused an uproar for biting the head off a bat.”

Osbourne claimed he thought it was rubber, CNN reported.

He became mainstream along with his family thanks to the MTV reality show “The Osbournes.” The AP said that the show allowed Osbourne to “reveal himself to be a doddering and sweet father.”

But he wasn’t always that way.

Osbourne was well known for his addiction to drugs and alcohol.

“Looking back, I should have died a thousand times but never did,” he said in the documentary “God Bless Ozzy Osbourne,” CNN reported.

He also committed domestic violence and abuse, according to the report.

His wife, Sharon, said of her husband’s violent streaks, “It was damn pretty scary,” she said. “You’re in a house, no neighbors each side, the kids asleep, you know you’re on your own, what the hell do you do?”

Despite all of that, Osbourne was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as both a solo artist and as a member of Black Sabbath.

In a tribute in Rolling Stone in 2010, Jane’s Addiction’s Dave Navarro wrote, “Black Sabbath are the Beatles of heavy metal. Anybody who’s serious about metal will tell you it all comes down to Sabbath,” adding, “There’s a direct line you can draw back from today’s metal, through Eighties bands like Iron Maiden, back to Sabbath.”

Osbourne said that he was inspired by The Beatles and that “She Loves You” was the reason he became a musician, CNN reported.

Osbourne leaves behind his wife and six children -- three children from his first marriage and three with Sharon, CNN reported.

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