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Last week, Kelly Osbourne denied rumors that her father was dying. And then, yesterday, Ozzy Osbourne did indeed pass away. He was 76.
There’s no word on the cause of death. Here’s the official statement: “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. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time.”
Ozzy’s biography is pretty well known by now. He got his start in Black Sabbath, got fired in 1979, and launched a massively successful solo career.
Then in the early 2000s, he reinvented himself and made his family just as famous with the MTV reality show “The Osbournes”.
Along the way he bit the head off a bat AND a pigeon, snorted a line of ants, and got arrested for peeing on the Alamo while wearing his wife’s dress. He also consumed MASSIVE amounts of mind-altering substances.
He sold 100 million records and he’s in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame TWICE. He was inducted as a member of Sabbath in 2006, and as a solo artist last year.
Ozzy’s health took a turn for the worse in 2003, following an ATV accident in which he broke his collarbone, eight ribs, and a neck vertebra. He reinjured his neck in a fall in 2019.
And, of course, he was battling Parkinson’s disease, which he was diagnosed with after that fall.
In a 2023 interview, he said his life had been, quote, “five years of absolute hell.”
And yet just two and a half weeks ago, he was able to perform one last time at the Back to the Beginning show in Birmingham, which raised $190 million for charity.
Ozzy is survived by his wife Sharon, his daughter Kelly and his son Jack.
There are also some offspring you DON’T know: A son named Louis John, an adopted son named Elliot Kingsley, and a daughter named Jessica Starshine, all from his first marriage.
And then there was Aimee, a daughter of Ozzy and Sharon who opted NOT to be on family reality show.
Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi said he was heartbroken, adding, quote, “There won’t ever be another like him.”
Bassist Geezer Butler said, quote, “So glad we got to do it one last time.”
And drummer Bill Ward added, quote, “You’re in my heart forever.”
HERE is a look at the First EP of the First Season of The Osbournes from MTV
***WARNING – ADULT LANGUAGE/CONTENT***
(Check out other tributes from, like, everybody here and here. And here’s Ozzy’s final Instagram post.)
