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Ozzy Osborne

Page history last edited by Barton-Wallace, Ashley 15 years, 1 month ago

*Ozzy Osbourne*

 

 

    There’s a man from England whose whole life has been about doing crazy things. Like biting the head off a bat. Or getting banned from a state for doing something stupid. Who is this man? The one and the only…Ozzy Osbourne. Drugs and alcohol nearly ruined Ozzy Osbourne’s life, but his music brought him to the top.

 

The Early Years

     Ozzy’s life at home was not much better than his life at school. His parents weren’t around to tell him what he could and couldn’t do. So Ozzy was left to make these harsh decisions by himself. John Michael Osbourne was born in Birmingham, England Dec. 3, 1948 to Jack and Lillian Osbourne. His father Jack was a toolmaker and his mother had her own job to support Ozzy and his five brothers and sisters.

     At school, Ozzy didn’t have it easy. His classmates, and even his teachers, called him dumb and stupid. But what they did not know was that the reason behind his learning difficulties at school was a  learning disability called dyslexia. Despite this road block during his early years, Ozzy enjoyed taking music classes and acted in many school plays. And it was in fact, the school where he would meet his first band member. In high school, Ozzy spent time in jail for robbing a clothing store. In jail, he often became bored so he decided to give himself a tattoo. It was his nickname, O Z Z Yon his knuckles. He did this with pencil lead and a needle. At the age of fifteen, Ozzy dropped at a school to go look for a job so he could support himself. He was everything from a construction worker, to a plumber. He took every job that he could get his hands on. When Ozzy became bored of looking for random jobs, he auditioned to be Tony Iommi’s, a classmate from school, lead singer.

 

The First Band

     Ozzy’s life changed dramatically, when he got the part. They already thought they had the music part down packed, so now all they needed was a band name. After many days of thinking, all they came up with was Polka Tulk and Earth. Only later, they were sad to discover that these names were already taken. The final name, Black Sabbath, came from a scary movie the band saw at the cinema.

 

Black Sabbath

     The band was rising in popularity. It attracted mostly teens with its fun and scary lyrics. Ozzy’s biggest inspiration was The Beatles. They were his favorite band and they were the reason Ozzy was even in the music business in the first place. Ozzy eventually made ten albums with Black Sabbath. Such as Tribute, Ten Commandments, and Diary of a Madman. Together with Tony’s awesome guitar skills, Ozzy’s unique voice, and Geezer Butler’s lyrics, the band managed to get a small investment from Warner Bros. and their songs were being played on the radio. But there came a point in time when it wasn’t all about being crazy and having fun. Things began to get serious. And suddenly the band turned on Ozzy.

 

Drugs and Alcohol

     Ozzy’s obsession with drugs and alcohol suddenly got serious in the 1980’s. He used cocaine, weed, crystal meth, and heroine. During the height of his drug obsession, he went crazy and shot all seventeen of his cats. Also, one night in 1989, Ozzy was drunk and was angry. He tried to strangle his wife Sharon, but she made it out unharmed. When Ozzy got depressed, he used more and more drugs which didn’t help with his already deep usage.

 

Fired

     Ozzy was fired from Black Sabbath in 1979 supposedly because the other band members noticed Ozzy using more drugs than they were doing and on top of that, he was already skipping rehearsals.

     Ozzy decided that if he couldn’t be a part of his best friend’s band anymore, then he would make his own. The band name started out as The Blizzard of Ozz, but later changed to The Ozzy Osbourne Band. Ozzy’s future wife Sharon was the manager.

     Most of Ozzy’s famous songs were with Black Sabbath. Like: Paranoid, Crazy Train, and Iron Man. One particular song actually caused two teenage deaths. Ozzy was not known for making slow paced songs. His songs weren’t easy to understand, but they were very important to Ozzy. They went very deep inside his soul and he expressed himself through his songs. Knowing that no one could fully understand his life otherwise. Ozzy has sold over fifty million CD’s world wide. He also made special appearances on a Madonna track and at WWE Smackdown where he sang I Don’t Wanna Stop. He has also gone as far as making a song with his daughter Kelly called Changes. The song allowed him to bond with his daughter.

 

Depression

     Ozzy became depressed after his best friend and guitarist, Randy Rhoads died in a plane crash in 1982. The plane was stolen by Randy, Andrew Aycock, and the band’s hairdresser. They were trying to freak out Ozzy by flying low over some tour buses. When accidentally, the wing hit  a bus and the plane crashed, only to explode later. All three people were killed. Ozzy was devastated. The company only let him take a week off work. Ozzy made an album called Tribute in honor of his best friend.

 Once the depression ceased Ozzy began to feel that it’s his duty to become closer to his family. He also tried quitting drugs and becoming sober again.  Sharon was Ozzy’s second wife. He has three children with her and three kids with his first wife. Plus he accepted his friend’s son who is now living with them. Only Jack and Kelly decided to participate in their show The Osbourne’s. Ozzy said that everything that is in that show, is what he is, and what his family is. Ozzy and Sharon are one of the UK’s richest couples. He has a house in the UK and a house in the U.S. which was on MTV Cribs. He feels like he needs to make sure that his kids, being the children of a rockstar, do not become like him and follow his ways.

 

Sued

     In 1925 Ozzy was sued by the parents of John McCollum. Their son John committed suicide while listening to Ozzy’s disturbing song Suicide Solution. The parents blamed Ozzy for the death of their son. Although they pleaded in court, the judge was on Ozzy’s side and the case was dismissed. But this was not the end. There was another teenage death. And it happened by the same reason. Ozzy was sued again for nine million, but yet again, he won.

 

Ozzfest

     Ozzfest was a special tour founded by Ozzy and Sharon. It helps many new bands get recognized and maybe have a chance at stardom. Ozzfest was created in 1996. It’s a tour that happens every year. Some bands who appeared on the tour in the 2000’s were Marilyn Manson, LinkinPark, Disturbed who are now big money making musical performers. Ozzy stated that for 2009, he will not be holding Ozzfest, but it will start up again in 2010.

 

Medical Problems

Ozzy Osbourne has many medical problems. Most of them caused by the many drugs he took. The drugs also affected his voice which is why he doesn’t sound like a normal person. Ozzy is dyslexic, which is an illness where it makes it hard for you to learn how to read and speak. He also has parkin syndrome. Which is related to Parkinson’s disease. It causes you to sometimes shake or shudder, but he is taking medication which makes the shaking happen less often. Ozzy has shown signs of hearing loss although he is not completely deaf, but this is normal for sixty year old men and women. Ozzy was in a car accident in 2003 where he was rushed to the hospital. He broke his collar bone, eight ribs, and a neck vertebra. While in the hospital, Ozzy made his first ever number one single in the UK.

     Ozzy Osbourne’s life has been a rollercoaster. His emotional and physical distress will forever be in his head and he will never forget the good old days. Ozzy has settled down a little bit, but is still living large and up to his crazy schemes.

     

    

Ozzy Osbourne: Crazy Train 

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Iron Man

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Bibliography:

1.          

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozzy_osbourne

2.           http://www.ozzy.com/

3.           http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005285/

4.           http://www.veinotte.com/ozzy/

5.           http://www.starpulse.com/Music/Osbourne,_Ozzy/

6.           http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Ozzy_Osbourne_songs

7.           http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/o/ozzy_osbourne.html

 

Comments (1)

AKabodian said

at 3:51 pm on Mar 4, 2009

Well done, Ashley. That photo at the top is sort of shocking, but sets the mood.

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