Ozzy Osbourne ‘Prince of Darkness’ dies at 76
The heavy metal icon and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer left his mark with a music career that spanned six decades.
Ozzy Osbourne may have been a fierce rock ‘n’ roller, but he was far from invincible.
The Grammy-winning singer and Black Sabbath frontman died on Tuesday, July 22, at the age of 76, according to a family statement shared with USA TODAY. Osbourne’s death came just weeks after he reunited with Black Sabbath for the heavy metal band’s final show in Birmingham, England.
Taking the stage at Villa Park in front of 40,000 fans, the July 5 concert was a reprieve from the English singer’s harrowing battle with Parkinson’s disease, which had rendered him unable to stand or walk without assistance.
But for nine songs that included Black Sabbath classics “Paranoid” and “Iron Man,” as well as Osbourne standards “Mr. Crowley” and “Crazy Train,” the guitars cranked, and the Prince of Darkness reveled in his return to the spotlight.
Aside from his struggles with Parkinson’s disease, Osbourne also dealt with substance abuse. The outlandish rocker, who later embarked on a solo career, was booted from Black Sabbath in 1979 due to his rampant drug and alcohol addiction.
Ozzy Osbourne on ‘self-medicating’ with yearslong substance abuse
Osbourne’s battles with addiction have led to infamous moments in music history. He bit the head off a dove during a 1981 meeting with record executives in Los Angeles and the following year chomped the head off a live bat during a show in Des Moines, Iowa.
The singer got candid on his tumultuous relationship with addiction in a February 2021 interview with Variety.
“I’ve always been self-medicating because I’ve never liked the way I felt,” Osbourne told the outlet. “I’ve had great success in my life, but I’ve never felt great about myself. And so, from a very early age, I used to sniff fumes, all kinds of things, anything to get me out of my head.”
Osbourne, whose issues with alcoholism and drug addiction began in the 1970s, got serious about his sobriety around 2014 after numerous attempts at recovery dating back to 1984. “I thought I’d be drinking to the day I die,” he reflected.
“Most of the people that I drank with are dead. And the ones that aren’t, that still continue to drink, are going to be dead soon,” Osbourne added. “It’s not a happy ending. If you want to carry on drinking, my hat goes off to you.”
Ozzy Osbourne undergoes neck surgery after 2019 fall
In April 2019, a representative for Osbourne revealed on social media that he was postponing all tour dates on his farewell No More Tours II concert tour after the singer sustained injuries during a fall at his Los Angeles home.
In a January 2020 interview with “Good Morning America,” Osbourne detailed the “terribly challenging” year he went through due to his extensive recovery.
“I had to have surgery on my neck, which screwed all my nerves in,” Osbourne said at the time. “I’ve got numbness down this arm from the surgery. My legs feel going cold. I don’t know if that’s Parkinson’s or what. … It’s a weird feeling.”
Ozzy Osbourne breaks silence on Parkinson’s disease diagnosis
In a revealing sit-down interview with “Good Morning America” in January 2020, Osbourne, alongside wife Sharon Osbourne, shared that he’d been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
Parkinson’s is a degenerative syndrome that results in the slow loss of brain circuitry involved in movement, thinking, and behavior. It can cause tremors, stiffness, slowness, and falls, in addition to anxiety, depression, and sleep dysfunction.
Though fans knew the singer had suffered from tremors and was diagnosed with symptoms related to Parkinson’s in the early 2000s, Osbourne said he wasn’t officially diagnosed until 2019.
“I’m not good at secrets. I cannot walk around with it anymore,” Osbourne said on the ABC talk show. “I feel better now of owning up to the fact that I have a case of Parkinson’s.”
A month after his “GMA” interview, Osbourne canceled the North American leg of his No More Tours II tour to focus on his recovery, as the singer prepared to travel to Switzerland for treatment.
Ozzy Osbourne reveals emphysema battle amid ‘worst year of my life’
In a November 2020 interview with GQ, Osbourne revealed he had emphysema, a chronic lung condition — often attributed to smoking — that causes shortness of breath, according to Mayo Clinic.
“This year has been the worst year of my life!” said Osbourne, who’d revealed his Parkinson’s disease diagnosis in January. The singer also voiced his health concerns amid the COVID-19 pandemic: “I’ve got emphysema, so if I get this virus, I’m f—–.”
Contributing: Melissa Ruggieri, Sara M Moniuszko, Karen Weintraub, and Charles Trepany, USA TODAY
If you or someone you know needs help battling a substance abuse addiction, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).