Latest news with #Villa Park
Screen Geek
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Screen Geek
Ozzy Osbourne Dead At Age 76
Ozzy Osbourne has sadly been confirmed dead at age 76. The heavy metal legend had just finished a final farewell concert for fans, and now his family has issued a statement to confirm his passing just several weeks later. Osbourne passed away on the morning of July 22, following several years of ongoing health battles including a diagnosis of Parkinson's he revealed in 2020. Here's what his family had to say regarding his death: '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.' The 76-year-old heavy metal star, who helped pioneer the aforementioned genre of music with his band Black Sabbath, recently had a final concert titled ' Back to the Beginning ' on July 5. Sadly, it occurred only a few weeks ago, and in a location at Villa Park in Aston, Birmingham, England, which is near where the band first originated in 1968. The concert was notable even prior to Osbourne's death, especially for being what was said to be his final show, one which he performed while seated at a throne due to his poor health. The event was a massive success, however, and the event sported a large audience both in person and online via pay per view. It's certainly a devastating time in the history of music for Ozzy Osbourne to be dead, especially with the artist having spent so much of his life pioneering new styles of music and iconic songs. Fortunately, he was always adamant about wanting to give a final show prior to his death, and it seems as though he got his wish. Osbourne is survived by his wife, Sharon, as well as their children, Aimee, Kelly, Jack, and his two older children, Jessica and Louis, who were form his previous marriage with Thelma Riley.
Russia Today
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Russia Today
Rock icon Ozzy Osbourne dies at 76
British rock legend Ozzy Osbourne, the charismatic frontman of Black Sabbath who helped shape the sound and legacy of heavy metal, has died at 76, his family announced on Tuesday. No cause of death was given, though Osbourne had battled numerous health issues in recent years. He was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and suffered complications from a 2019 accident, among other ailments. '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,' the statement says. His death comes less than three weeks after his retirement from performing live. On July 5, Osbourne took the stage one final time with his Black Sabbath bandmates at Villa Park in Birmingham, UK, marking their first reunion since 2005. The all-star farewell concert – 'Back to the Beginning' – featured some of metal music's biggest names. 'I've been laid up for six years, and you've got no idea how I feel,' Osbourne told the crowd, referring to his long battle with Parkinson's and multiple spinal surgeries. 'Thank you from the bottom of my heart.' Born John Michael Osbourne in Birmingham in 1948 to factory-worker parents, he endured a tough upbringing and left school at 15. Before finding fame, he worked a string of jobs, including as a manual laborer, plumber, and at a slaughterhouse. He went on to become a pioneering figure in heavy metal with Black Sabbath before achieving major solo success. He was known for iconic tracks such as 'Iron Man', 'Paranoid', 'War Pigs', 'Crazy Train' and 'Changes'. Osbourne, long known as the 'Prince of Darkness,' launched a solo career shortly after leaving Black Sabbath. His debut album 'Blizzard of Ozz,' released in 1980, went five times platinum in the US and ushered in a wildly successful run. He released 13 studio albums in total, the most recent being 'Patient Number 9' in 2022. Osbourne was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame and the US Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame – both with Black Sabbath and as a solo artist. He earned a star on both the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Birmingham's Broad Street, won five Grammys, and even became a reality TV star. He is survived by his wife, Sharon, and their three children, as well as two children from a previous marriage, and also several grandchildren.
Sky News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sky News
Ozzy Osbourne obituary: Heavy metal, reality TV, and biting bats – the wild life of Birmingham's Prince Of Darkness
"You've no idea how I feel - thank you from the bottom of my heart," an emotional Ozzy Osbourne told fans as he performed from a throne on stage at his beloved Villa Park, reunited with Black Sabbath, less than three weeks ago. It was an exit on his own terms by heavy metal's biggest character, with a supporting line-up of hard rock luminaries including Slayer, Metallica and Guns'n'Roses, all inspired by his music. With Black Sabbath, Osbourne was at the forefront of heavy metal. As Ozzy, he was one of the biggest rock stars in the world. Nowhere was this more evident than at the Back To The Beginning in his home city, where 40,000 fans gathered to see the show billed as his "final bow". 1:17 "Without Sabbath, there would be no Metallica," frontman James Hetfield told the crowd in Birmingham. It was a sentiment echoed by many of the other acts who performed on stage. Announced by his wife Sharon earlier this year, the show was a chance for the performer to reunite with Black Sabbath and say thank you and farewell to fans after years of health problems, including Parkinson's disease, which had forced him to cancel recent tour shows. Other celebrities, from Sir Elton John to Dolly Parton, sent video messages of support. Fans knew it would be his last performance, but could not have known his death, at the age of 76, would come so soon. It was a truly metal goodbye. 'I think there's a wild man in everybody' John Michael Osbourne was born in Solihull in December 1948 and grew up in the Aston area of the West Midlands city. As a teenager, he was bullied at school. Drink and drugs later became a way to escape his fears, he said in interviews, and after leaving school at 15, he worked several jobs, including labouring and in an abattoir. It was hearing The Beatles, he said, that made him want to be a musician. "I think there's a wild man in everybody," he says in a resurfaced interview clip. "Ozzy Osbourne and John Osbourne is two different people. John Osbourne is talking to you now." His eyes widen a little manically, he grins, the voice cranks up. "But if you want to be Ozzy Osbourne, it's like... it just takes over you." In 1967, he was recruited to the band that two years later would become Black Sabbath, inspired by a film of the same title. This was a line-up of four working-class schoolfriends - Tony Iommi, Bill Ward and Geezer Butler, alongside Ozzy - who twisted heavy blues into something darker, creating a sound and otherworldly image that felt new, exciting and rebellious. A self-titled debut album was released in 1970 and made the Top 10 in the UK. The follow-up, Paranoid, released just seven months later, topped the charts after the single of the same name became their big breakthrough. The album also included the unforgettable Iron Man and the anti-war protest song War Pigs - its unmistakeable riff inspiring the Arctic Monkeys' 2014 single, Arabella. Black Sabbath went on to release six more albums with Osbourne at the helm before he was fired in 1979 due to his drinking and substance use, something he claimed was no better or worse than other members at the time. In 1980, he returned with his debut solo album, Blizzard Of Oz, and the lead single Crazy Train. As a solo artist, he went on to release 13 studio albums - the last being Patient Number 9, in 2022 - and had hits with songs including Mr Crowley, Diary Of A Madman, No More Tears, Bark At The Moon and Shot In The Dark. His first UK number one was a re-recording of the Black Sabbath ballad Changes, as a duet with his daughter, Kelly, in 2003, and his collaborations over the years included everyone from Alice Cooper (Hey Stoopid in 1991) and Post Malone (Take What You Want in 2019) to, in a somewhat unusual move, Hollywood star Kim Basinger for a re-recording of the dance hit Shake Your Head by Was (Not Was) in 1992. With Black Sabbath and as a solo star, he is estimated to have sold 100 million records throughout his career - for context, this is reportedly on a par with Sir Paul McCartney's solo sales - so the numbers speak for themselves. Biting the bat Osbourne was also a huge personality and played up to his hellraising image - the Prince of Darkness. The most famous Ozzy story goes like this. The singer was on stage in Des Moines, Iowa, 1982, when the bat appeared. He assumed it was a toy. So, like any good hellraiser would do, he bit its head off. For more than 40 years, he found himself jokily fielding questions about bats. What do they taste like? (Salty). What happened afterwards? (Headline news, painful rabies shots). Do you have any pets? (Yes. They're all dead). "I get a lot of weird people at my concerts," he told David Letterman in 1982, of how the animal came to appear in front of him. "It's rock 'n' roll, y'know". He was sometimes irritated by the bat connection. But he also played up to the image, recounting the story in interviews, offering plush bat toys among his merch, and appearing as himself, biting a bat, in the 2000 Adam Sandler comedy Little Nicky, about the son of Satan. Known for catapulting raw meat at fans during gigs, there were plenty of other tales of darkness and debauchery. Osbourne's wild persona and on-stage theatrics always went hand-in-hand with the music. From Prince of Darkness to reality TV He was famously managed by his wife, Sharon, whom he first met when her dad, Don Arden, was managing Black Sabbath. As well as the music, Sharon and Ozzy together founded the Ozzfest festival tours in 1996 - and in 2002 came his second act. It's hard to imagine it now, but before the perfectly coiffed Kardashians it was a scruffy 50-something rocker from Birmingham and his family who ruled the Hollywood reality TV scene. As with his music, he was a pioneer - this time round of a new era of addictive viewing. The Osbournes followed the lives of Ozzy and Sharon and two of their children, Kelly and Jack (their eldest daughter, Aimee, famously had nothing to do with the show), and the family fallouts and sunny California culture clash proved to be a ratings winner. The MTV series catapulted the metal star to global mainstream celebrity heights. His marriage to Sharon was tumultuous but the pair always stayed together, and they renewed their wedding vows in 2017. Sharon was the driving force behind Ozzy's successes, to him eventually getting clean, and behind his farewell show. Despite weathering the storm of drink and drug use, Osbourne's air of indestructibility was challenged when a quad bike accident left him with a broken collar bone and ribs, as well as short-term memory loss, in 2003. The 2020 documentary Biography: The Nine Lives Of Ozzy Osbourne, had summed up with its title the performer's seeming ability to defy the odds. However, the health problems started to mount up. Scheduled tours were postponed, and in 2023 he told fans holding on to tickets that he had come to the realisation he was "not physically capable" of dealing with life on the road. But there was one gig he couldn't miss - a surprise appearance to close the Commonwealth Games in his home city in 2022, just weeks after undergoing surgery. Now, fans will remember the shows they did get to see, the music that ushered in a new genre - and especially his most recent gig, which was said to have raised around £140m for charities. Just a few days afterwards, his new memoir, Last Rites, was announced. It will be released in October. During his career, Osbourne was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame and the US Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame - twice for both, with Black Sabbath and as a solo artist. "Countless artists from many genres have credited Ozzy as a major influence, including Metallica, Lita Ford, Rage Against The Machine, and Busta Rhymes," reads his US citation. "With his longevity, impact, and iconic persona, Ozzy Osbourne is a phenomenon unlike any other." He also has a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame - as well as in Birmingham's Broad Street - an Ivor Novello, and five Grammy wins from 12 nominations. But other honours, such as the NME's Godlike Genius award, and Classic Rock's Living Legend, also give a sense of how much his personality played a part in why he is so beloved by fans and critics alike. In the Nine Lives documentary, daughter Kelly describes him as "the most irresistible mad man you will ever meet in your life". Osbourne's was an unlikely journey from Birmingham to LA. He was a working-class hero of heavy metal, a reality TV favourite - forever the Prince of Darkness. "People say to me, if you could do it all again, knowing what you know now, would you change anything?" he once said. "I'm like, f*** no... If I'd done normal, sensible things, I wouldn't be Ozzy."
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Ozzy Osbourne 1948-2025: A life in pictures
Ozzy Osbourne , who has died at the age of 76 , was best known as the frontman of Black Sabbath. At the forefront of the heavy metal scene, Osbourne had a theatrical stage presence, once biting off the head of a bat and styling himself as the Prince of Darkness. Black Sabbath's eponymous debut album in 1970 made the UK top 10 and paved the way for a string of hit records. They went on to become one of the most influential and successful metal bands of all time, selling more than 75 million albums worldwide. READ MORE Earlier this month Osbourne bid farewell to fans with a Black Sabbath reunion, telling thousands of heavy metal enthusiasts at Villa Park, Birmingham that it was 'so good to be on this stage' as he performed his last set from a large black throne. Here is a selection of photographs capturing his music career and life. Black Sabbath, 1970s: Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Bill Ward and Ozzy Osbourne. Photograph: Chris Walter/WireImage Ozzy Osbourne with his wife, Sharon, and children Kelly and Jack. Photograph: Ian West/PA Wire Ozzy Osbourne on stage with Ricky Martin, Rod Stewart and Cliff Richard during the Golden Jubilee concert at Buckingham Palace in 2002. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire Ozzy Osbourne arriving for the UK Music Hall Of Fame in 2005. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA Wire. Ozzy Osbourne performing during the Black Sabbath The End Tour in August 2016. Photograph: Kevin Mazur/WireImage/Getty Images Ozzy Osbourne performing at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games closing ceremony. Photograph:Ozzy Osbourne with his wife, Sharon, and children Kelly, Jack and Aimee at the Kerrang Awards 1997 in London. Photograph: Neil Munns/PA Wire Ozzy Osborne with his wife, Sharon, and Ant McPartlin (left) and Declan Donnelly (right) at the Royal Albert Hall in London, 2004. Photograph: Myung Jung Kim/PA Wire Ozzy Osbourne with his wife, Sharon, and daughter, Kelly arriving at the Hertfordshire home David Beckham and his wife Victoria for their pre-World Cup party in 2006. Photograph: Chris Radburn/PA Wire Geezer Butler, Tommy Iommi and Ozzy Osbourne from Black Sabbath in 2013. Photograph: Ian West/PA Wire Ozzy Osbourne and Kermit the Frog backstage for a concert to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. Photograph: Peter Jordan/PA Wire Ozzy Osbourne performing in 2022 in Birmingham. Photograph: David Davies/PA Wire - Additional reporting PA, AP
