Ozzy Osbourne in Toronto: sold-out concerts, partying on Yonge and that failed Maple Leaf Gardens live album
heavy metal legend who died Tuesday at 76
, had a warm, occasionally raucous relationship with Toronto.
Osbourne
co-founded Black Sabbath in Birmingham, England in 1968; the band made its first Canadian appearance at the Beggars' Banquet Festival in Toronto three years later. Toronto Star reviewer Wilder Penfield may not have been impressed — he sniffed that the group's off-key singing was 'like a hangover from cheap wine' — but within a decade, Sabbath was one of the biggest bands in the world, buoyed by the success of albums like 'Black Sabbath,' 'Paranoid' and 'Masters Of Reality.'
As the band grew in popularity — and infamy due to Osbourne's excesses — Toronto became a frequent tour stop. In 1978, the band recorded the self-produced 'Never Say Die,' in Toronto at Kensington Market's Sounds Interchange recording studio, rehearsing daily in a freezing cinema during the dead of winter.
Drew Masters, founder and publisher of heavy metal magazine M.E.A.T., recalled the stories about Sabbath members post-session hangouts at the Yonge and Gerrard rock club known as The Gasworks.
'Ozzy, especially, was a staple there during that time and apparently it involved a lot of alcohol and drug dealings,' Masters told the Star during a phone interview. 'The guys who lived through it told me it was crazy.'
Ozzy Osbourne. Photo taken by Frank Lennon April 25, 1984 at Maple Leaf Gardens.
In June 1982 — months after Osbourne famously bit the head off a bat that he initially thought was a toy — Black Sabbath planned to record a live album at Maple Leaf Gardens. 'Speak of the Devil' was to be recorded with an accompanying video that would be sold in the exploding rock videocassette market.
The Maple Leaf Gardens plans were derailed when guitarist Randy Rhoads was killed in a private plane crash.
Osbourne still played Toronto on the date promised, with Brad Gillis filling in on guitar for Rhoads.
Masters was there: 'It was almost too soon, but the show went on.'
Masters met Osbourne in person in 1991, when he interviewed him during what he called a 'spectacular memorable' encounter at the Four Seasons Inn On The Park on Leslie Street, next to Sony Music Canada, the artist's record label.
'We did it poolside,' recalled Masters. 'Picture all the tourists sitting around the pool in swimming trunks and white clothing, and (Osbourne) came trucking out dressed in black covered in gold jewelry. He was pretty unstable at the time: he was going through a lot of withdrawal from the drugs and alcohol and trying to clean up. So, he was very shaky … but he was completely coherent and answered every question perfectly.'
Tim Henderson, the Toronto-born founder and CEO of BraveWords records, told the Star that Osbourne was unfazed by rock superstardom.
'He was truly lovable,' said Henderson, who hosted a press Q&A at Casa Loma for Osbourne and his wife, Sharon, in the early '90s. 'He was such a gentleman. He was very polite. The fact that you're meeting an icon — he made you feel so comfortable, like you're just another human being. We all put on the same pants, one leg at a time — and that was Ozzy Osbourne.'
Masters said that fellow musicians were in 'awe of his never-ending spirit': 'You never heard a bad word from him from other musicians. Not one.'
Ozzy Osbourne performs on a giant stage prop at the old Exhibition Stadium on the CNE grounds in 1986.
As a solo artist, Osbourne played Toronto 13 times. His last concert was a sold-out show at Budweiser Stage in September 2018. With Black Sabbath, he sold almost 70 million albums, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and won a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Osbourne also became a reality TV star with 'The Osbournes,' which won an Emmy in 2002. On July 5, he reunited with his old band for a final performance in Birmingham for a concert called 'Back to the Beginning.'
Ozzy Osbourne's image — and reality TV — forever changed with the 2002 launch of his family reality show 'The Osbournes.' (July 22, 2025)
'The highlight of it was when he did 'Mama, I'm Comin' Home' from his solo career,' said Masters. 'There wasn't a dry eye in the whole place. That kind of put the bow on it.'
'He always said he was, the Prince of Darkness, but he was the King of Metal. He's going to be remembered as one of the most spectacular music artists from the 20th and 21st centuries.'
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