Hellraiser Ozzy Osbourne has faked his persona of appearing drunk, drugged up and out of touch for decades, according to a close pal.
Collaborator Max Norman claims the Prince of Darkness has created this odd “smokescreen”, pretending to struggle.
Max even questioned if Ozzy just pretended to be “out of it” when in company of people he “doesn’t want to be bothered with”.
He says that during their four decades of work together Ozzy was “lucid”, even though the Brummie has battled well documented drink and drug addictions.
Asked about dealing with Oz at the height of his wild days, which included eating bats and biting the heads of doves, producer Norman said: “Well, a lot of people have all these different views of Ozzy, and my view of Ozzy is that he was very lucid and that he’s a very smart guy.
“And he’s a very funny guy. I think that some of it is a little bit of a smokescreen. When he doesn’t want to be bothered with people, he kind of burbles a bit or whatever.
“I got to tell you, to be honest, when I see him now, he’s exactly the same as when he was then.
“He’s always kind of been like that, and he’s like, ‘F** this…’ He hasn’t really changed to me, which is quite astonishing.
“But he’s a lot more lucid than people think. People just think he’s out of it, but he’s not out of it, and I don’t know if that’s on purpose or just by accident or just by design or just by habit.”
Black Sabbath star Ozzy revealed last year he had developed a mild form of Parkinson’s Disease.
Norman, speaking to Sirius XM’s Eddie Trunk, says that Ozzy was a clearly real talent from the first moment they worked on his debut album Blizzard Of Oz.
(Image: BPM)
He added: “I’ve got to tell you, as a singer, he’s a top-notch singer.
“He was a top-notch singer in those days, and he’s still pretty good, considering how long of a career he’s had, the guy really is a really good singer, and that’s really probably what’s going on behind everything else.
“He wasn’t difficult to work with at all, and basically, of course, floating on top of this massively talented band that all of a sudden he seemed to have pulled together.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
