Ozzy Osbourne sells five of his paintings for huge sum to save endangered chimps
The Black Sabbath frontman created the pictures with the help of the apes in a sanctuary.
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Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne has sold five of his paintings to save endangered chimps
Credit: getty
One painting called Paranoid, which he made with chimp Janice at the Florida Save the Chimps centre, fetched £13,820.
He also collaborated with three other chimps, Kramer, Sable and Sophie on, on the acrylic on canvas works.
The five pictures raised a total of £54,040.
They were sold by Omega Auctions in Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside.
Read more on Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy, 76, who once bit the head off a bat at a concert in 1982, said: 'I paint because it gives me peace of mind.
"But I don't sell my paintings.
'I've made an exception with these collaborations as it raises money for Save the Chimps, a sanctuary for apes rescued from labs, roadside zoos and wildlife traffickers.'
Save the Chimps provides refuge and lifetime care to hundreds of chimpanzees.
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The apes receive top-notch veterinary care, nutritious meals, and a variety of social enrichments - including painting.
Ozzy Osbourne takes to stage for final time with Black Sabbath band mates in front of delighted rock fans
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Irish Examiner
27 minutes ago
- Irish Examiner
Seeing Ozzy surrounded by generations he had inspired 'was a life-changing experience'
Few people in the music world can legitimately lay claim to being an icon, and fewer still can remain at the top of their game for the better part of five decades — or to have pioneered a whole new genre. With Ozzy Osbourne's passing, only the three surviving founding members of Black Sabbath can now say that. Pick a heavy metal band, and they'll ultimately be inspired by Black Sabbath. But it stretched way beyond that into all sorts of genres. Even one of the bands that got me seriously into rock and punk, Green Day, played Ozzy's song Crazy Train at their first ever jam session. The fact that people as diverse as Dolly Parton and Elton John sent video messages to be screened at his final concert testifies to the tremendous goodwill Ozzy built up over decades, and nations, and genres, regardless of his personal troubles. Making it to Villa Park at the start of the month for his (and Sabbath's) farewell show was one of those things that's going to stay with me. He could have played it anywhere, but instead, matching the theme of 'Back to the Beginning', he played at his soccer team's grounds within walking distance of the house he'd grown up in. In ages, it stretched from his peers to kids young enough to be his grandchildren, and somewhere in the middle were people like me, who find their greatest expressions through listening to, well, everything (but death metal in moderation, please). The show at Villa Park was almost a blink and you'll miss it experience, but running the gamut from rock and roll to thrash metal to progressive metal, there wasn't a band or musician from across the metal world who didn't show an obvious debt to him or his Sabbath comrades. From left: Geezer Butler, Tommy Iommi, and Ozzy Osbourne from Black Sabbath with their Album of the Year award for '13', Event of the Year, and Living Legend award at the Classic Rock Roll of Honour at The Roundhouse, Camden, London. Picture: Ian West/PA It had everything from old Ozzy comrades on stage (Jake E Lee), to Tool performing on camera for the first time, to Jason Momoa joining the moshpit during Pantera's set. Not just a celebration of music and legacy, but of life itself. With each band performing at least one Black Sabbath song (Guns 'N' Roses did four) or one of his solo tracks, it was a reminder that no matter what the background, their work could just slip right in. For me, some three decades as a metalhead (and proud of it), I had almost given up on the chance of seeing him live. I knew his songs long before I'd given any serious time to Black Sabbath. Listening back at them now, it's amazing to think of the breadth of his solo career — even if he nearly destroyed it several times due to chronic substance problems I was supposed to see him a lifetime ago during Ozzfest when it came to Punchestown, though he was sick on the day and couldn't perform (still, Tool took the headline slot in one of the best concerts I've ever seen). This would have been at the height of The Osbournes TV series, where he ended up slightly reinvented, and more beloved, as the more befuddled dad than prince of darkness. To see him in the flesh, and surrounded by the generations of musicians he had in some way inspired (and I'm a fan of many, from Slayer to Ghost), was a life-changing experience. Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne on stage at the Olympic Torch concert in The Mall, London, England. Picture: Myung Jung Kim/PA I'm glad he got to say goodbye on his own terms, and I'm glad the 45,000 people at Villa Park, including my 20-year-old nephew ('I feel like I've just seen my god in the flesh'), and the millions of people who livestreamed it got to see him on stage one last time. 'I've pretty much been laid up for the last six years,' he told us during a five-song set of his solo work before a four-song reunion with Black Sabbath. Even robbed of his ability to walk by Parkinson's, which had also affected his vocal range (but not his power), he still showed hallmarks of classic Ozzy, grimacing and flashing horns at the crowd before leading them to wave along to his music. One of the biggest cheers went up when he tried to raise himself up out his chair, like all his instincts were telling him. Plenty of otherwise stoic folks got a bit misty around the eyes during his ballad, Mama I'm Coming Home There was something about it, something about the emotion on his face and the catch in his voice that meant everybody in the stadium had an inkling, watching him, that we were in his latter days, even if we all half expected him to defy the odds and go on forever. Even with the final strains of the Sabbath classic Paranoid ringing to bring the curtain down on an epic career the likes of which we'll never see again, we all hoped that maybe, just maybe, he had one more song in him, or one more project. Alas, he has not. The Crazy Train may have left the station one last time, but having raised nearly $200m for charity with that final concert, it left with one of the finest legacies in rock. Would that we could all go out on a high like that. David O'Mahony is the assistant editor at the Irish Examiner and resident office metalhead Read More Ozzy Osbourne's most shocking moments
RTÉ News
27 minutes ago
- RTÉ News
Ozzy Osbourne in five songs
Ozzy Osbourne, who died Tuesday at the age of 76, was a pioneer of heavy metal music as lead singer of Black Sabbath, producing songs with a powerful and often sinister mix of distortion and dark lyrics. Here are five of his most memorable songs, three of which are from Black Sabbath's most successful album 'Paranoid' (1970). 'Paranoid' (1970) Often listed as one of the greatest heavy metal songs of all time, 'Paranoid' came about largely by accident, being written at the last minute because the album of the same name was too short. Describing a man's depressed state, the "rapid-fire chugging" of the song was "a two-minute blast of protopunk", Rolling Stone said. After leaving Black Sabbath in 1979 and going solo, Osbourne continued to perform the classic at the end of his concerts. 'War Pigs' (1970) Another icon from 'Paranoid', this is a classic anti-war protest song often associated with the Vietnam War of the period. It was originally entitled 'Walpurgis' - a reference to a satanist festival - but this was changed on the recommendation of Black Sabbath's record company. Described as "dense" by Rolling Stone magazine, it compares military commanders to "witches at black masses" and criticises politicians for starting war and "treating people like pawns". 'Iron Man' (1970) Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler said he wrote the lyrics to this piece, also from 'Paranoid', when Osbourne described a dark riff by guitarist Tony Iommi as sounding "like a great iron bloke walking about". It tells of a man who is unable to communicate and feels rejected and so wreaks revenge on the world. Osbourne "gave metal a sense of menace during his first 10-year tour of duty with Black Sabbath, approximating the sound of a nervous breakdown on songs like 'Paranoid' and 'Iron Man'," Rolling Stone wrote in 2018. 'Crazy Train' (1980) After being sacked by Black Sabbath in 1979 because of his abuse of drugs and alcohol, Osbourne reinvented heavy metal during an epic solo career, "picking up the pace of his songs and injecting them with baroque noir," Rolling Stone said. 'Crazy Train', the first single from his debut solo album 'Blizzard of Ozz' in 1980, deals with the Cold War pitting the West against the Soviet Union, and fears of mutually assured destruction. In 2019, Osbourne was reported by US media, as having complained to US President Donald Trump after the Republican used the song unauthorised in a social media video which mocked the 2020 Democratic Party candidates at a debate. 'I Don't Want to Change the World' (1991) Continuing his successful solo run into the 1990s, "I Don't Want to Change the World" appeared on the multi-platinum winning "No More Tears" album - his last before retiring for the first time. Osbourne won a Grammy award for his live performance of the piece in 1993. It deals with the attitude of religious-minded people towards him, and his own views of them. The lyrics say, "Tell me I'm a sinner / I've got news for you / I spoke to God this morning and he doesn't like you".
RTÉ News
27 minutes ago
- RTÉ News
Ozzy Osbourne's most shocking moments
Ozzy Osbourne was famed as a provocative and powerful performer on stage and a wild hedonist off it. The Black Sabbath singer and successful solo artist was known for his controversial live shows. Drug and alcohol use often fuelled manic behaviour in front of his adoring audiences, and also his most crazed moments in between shows. These are some of the most memorable and infamous moments from the hell-raising life of the late heavy metal pioneer. The Alamo In 1982, Osbourne was wearing one of his wife's dresses for a photoshoot close to The Alamo in Texas, the site of a heroic sacrifice by the Texan troops against the invading Mexicans. The rock star drunkenly relieved himself on a cenotaph commemorating the dead, later donating thousands to the group which maintains The Alamo. Cats In the midst of an alcohol and drug haze, Osbourne said that he set about slaughtering 17 cats with a shotgun. The rocker said he was found by his wife under a piano, armed with a knife in one hand and a shotgun in the other. Ants Osbourne toured with Motley Crue in the 1980s, and it was during this time that he is rumoured to have shocked his fellow rockers after "spotting" a line of ants. Bassist Nikki Sixx claimed that Osbourne took a straw and, as if snorting cocaine, hoovered the line of ants up his nose. Bats In 1982, Osbourne was on stage at a gig in Des Moines, Iowa, during a US tour. A fan threw a bat on stage, and in the frenzy of performance Osbourne – believing it to be rubber – bit its head off. There remains debate as to whether the bat was alive or dead when it was thrown on stage. Doves Osbourne had history with the decapitation of winged creatures, beginning with an incident which stunned CBS Records executives. Celebrating a new album in 1981, the Black Country-born rock star was intending to release two doves in a symbolic act at the record label. Instead, he grabbed a dove and bit its head off, before being thrown out of the building.
