John Michael "
Ozzy"
Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer-songwriter and occasional actor, whose career has spanned over 40 years. As of December 2010, Osbourne has sold over 100 million albums worldwide.[1]
Osbourne rose to prominence as lead vocalist of the pioneering English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, a band whose radically different, intentionally dark, doom sound spawned the heavy metal genre. In his subsequent solo career Osbourne achieved a multi-platinum status in addition to the one he had earned with Black Sabbath.[2] These things are what led Osbourne to become known as the "Godfather of Heavy Metal".[3] It was during his Sabbath days that, due to their dark style of music, Osbourne became known as the "Prince of Darkness".[4] Osbourne has over 15 tattoos, the most famous of which are the letters O-Z-Z-Y across the knuckles of his left hand. This was his first tattoo, created by himself as a teenager with a sewing needle and pencil lead.[5]
In the early 2000s, Osbourne's career expanded to a new medium when he became a star in his own reality show,
The Osbournes, alongside wife/manager Sharon and two of their three children, Kelly and Jack.
Awards
Ozzy Osbourne has been awarded several times for his contributions to the music community.
In 1994, he was awarded a Grammy Award for the track "I Don't Want to Change the World" from
Live & Loud for Best Metal Performance of 1994.[35]
In 2004, he received an
NME award for "godlike genius".
In 2005, he was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame along with the other members of Black Sabbath. Osbourne mooned the crowd because of their poor reception while they were playing.
In 2006 was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame with Black Sabbath band mates Tony Iommi, Bill Ward, and Geezer Butler.
In 2007, Osbourne was honoured at the second annual VH1 Rock Honors, along with Genesis, Heart, and ZZ Top. In addition, that year a bronze star honouring Osbourne was placed on Broad Street in Birmingham, England while Osbourne watched. On 18 May Osbourne had received notice that he would be the first inductee into The Birmingham Walk of Stars. He was presented the award by the Lord Mayor of Birmingham. "I am really honored," he said, "All my family is here and I thank everyone for this reception – I'm absolutely knocked out".[49]
In 2008, Osbourne was crowned with the prestigious
Living Legend award in the
Classic Rock Roll of Honor. Past recipients include
Alice Cooper,
Lemmy,
Jimmy Page and
Slash, the former Guns N' Roses guitarist, presented the award.[50]
In 2010, Osbourne won the "Literary Achievement" honour for his memoir,
I Am Ozzy, at the
Guys Choice Awards at
Sony Pictures Studio in Culver City, California. Osbourne was presented with the award by Sir Ben Kingsley. The book debuted at No. 2 on the New York Times' hardcover non-fiction best-seller list.[51]
Osbourne was also a judge for the 6th and 10th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.[52]