His theatrical stage presence – including once biting off the head of a bat – and styling himself as the Prince of Darkness marked him out as a controversial figure.
Ozzy was the ultimate rock n’ roll wild man. But for some of us, he’ll always be the bloke who bit the head off a bat. The rocker was performing in Des Moines, US, in 1982 when someone threw what looked like a fake rubber bat on stage.
He picked it up and bit into it – then immediately realised his mistake. “My mouth was instantly full of this warm, gloopy liquid with the worst aftertaste you could possibly imagine,” he said. It had apparently already been dead, but he still had to endure nightly rabies shots for the rest of the tour.
It was just one bonkers moment in a life more packed with drama than the average episode of The Osbournes. He had previously bitten the head off a dove at a CBS Records convention in Los Angeles.
Alamo incident
Then there was the time– also in 1982 – he got banned from San Antonio, US, for urinating on the Alamo Cenotaph, while wearing a dress owned by future wife Sharon.
Ants
When he toured with Motley Crue in the 80s, Ozzy is said to have shocked them by snorting up a line of ants as if they were cocaine. And don’t even ask about the hunks of meat he used to throw at his audiences.
Bats
But the bat-biting incident would follow him for the rest of his life. Speaking in 1997, he said: “It’s all they’re going to remember! When I die the bats will go, ‘F*** me, thank god he’s dead. I was waiting for him to come round our f****** belfry.”
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.
Motley Crue
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.
His entire life
As frontman of Black Sabbath, he was at the forefront of the heavy metal scene – a deeper, darker offshoot of hard rock.
His theatrical stage presence – including once biting off the head of a bat – and styling himself as the Prince of Darkness marked him out as a controversial figure.
Band break-ups fuelled by disputes with fellow members and drug abuse and a well-documented battle with alcoholism cemented that reputation.
He was also among the vanguard of now-ubiquitous modern reality TV stars, appearing with his family in the hit MTV show The Osbournes.
Born John Michael Osbourne on December 3 1948 in Aston, Birmingham, he left school at 15 and did odd jobs including factory work before teaming up with school friend Geezer Butler in several bands.
The pair then linked up with the other founder members of Black Sabbath, Tony Iommi and Bill Ward, to form what was then called Earth Blues Company – later shortened to Earth – in 1968.
Initially a Mod who loved soul music, according to his biography on the band’s official website, Osbourne crafted his darker image after writing lyrics for a song entitled Black Sabbath after the 1963 Boris Karloff film of the same name.
The name stuck – after they were forced to change it from Earth – and the band went on to sell millions of records over the next decade on the back of sound-defining tracks including Paranoid and War Pigs.
A product of their working-class roots and the post-Vietnam War era, the band tackled themes of war, social chaos and the supernatural.
But drug use began to take its toll on Osbourne and his relationship with his fellow band members, and he was eventually fired in 1979.
He launched a solo career, enjoying success during the 1980s, before reforming with Sabbath several times – including in 2016 for a final world tour.
As a group, Black Sabbath are widely credited with defining and popularising the sound of heavy metal.
As a solo artist, Osbourne released 11 albums, with his debut Blizzard Of Ozz issued in 1980, which featured two of his most revered songs, Crazy Train and Mr Crowley.
The Birmingham-born singer sold more than 100 million records worldwide with Black Sabbath and as a solo artist.
In 2014, he was presented with a global icon award at the MTV Europe Music Awards.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
