“It was my fate to be who I am and what I am. I’ve just been myself.”

“Nobody else in the world f***ing sounds like me,” he said when looking back on his career in 2008.

Rarely does one band pave the way for an entire genre, but Black Sabbath did just that and their influence remains just as strong today as it did in the 70s.

Ozzy’s vocal range and incredible skill was a crucial part of what made the band so successful.

But his antics led to the band’s undoing.

The relationship between Ozzy and the rest of Black Sabbath deteriorated and on April 27, 1979, he was ejected from the band.

His bandmates told him he was unreliable and had excessive substance abuse issues.

After leaving the band, Ozzy, at his own admission, began a months-long party filled with drugs and alcohol.

But once he got done with that, he launched a solo career that spanned four decades.

His first solo album, Blizzard of Ozz, was released in 1980 and has since been certified four times platinum. Some debut.

Ozzy released a total of 13 albums in his hall-of-fame-achieving solo music career, alongside many other escapades.

He credits his success in his solo career, and his survival in general, to his wife, Sharon.

The Osbournes

The world knew Ozzy as a wild rock star but when The Osbournes premiered in March 2002, the world saw a new side to him.

Far from centre stage, the show revealed a softer side to Ozzy — a husband and a dad.

Of course, there was still glimpses of his life as a then-aging rockstar, or clips of him struggling with sobriety, and plenty of disagreements within the family.

But it was television gold.

Fifty-four episodes were broadcast across four seasons of the show, which featured Ozzy alongside wife Sharon and two of their children, Kelly and Jack.

There are so many highlights, particularly from Ozzy. He was once again the frontman, or the “burrito man” as he referred to himself in the show.

That was because he was eating two burritos a day.

Other memorable moments from Ozzy include him calling his dog a terrorist for peeing on the carpet and him reminding Sharon he was the Prince of Darkness when they got a bubble machine for a show he was performing.

One of the producers of the show, Jeff Stilson, said Ozzy was a comedic genius whether he meant it or not.

“I’ve worked with really great comedians, but Ozzy, I put up there as one of the funniest people I’ve ever worked with,” he said.

What the show did really well, though, was show the real issues the family dealt with.

Viewers were right there with the family as they endured Sharon’s battle with cancer, the aftermath of an ATV accident that could have killed Ozzy, and family members’ substance abuse issues.

What you saw was what you got.

Another producer, R Greg Johnston, said Ozzy was not as self-aware as you would think.

“He’s a rock star but he’s not contrived — what you see is what you get,” he said.

The show laid the groundwork for reality television, inspiring so many of the shows we have watched and continue to watch today.

Once again, Ozzy had paved the way on stage, this time on the small screen.

A long and storied battle with sobriety

By his own admission, Ozzy misused alcohol and hard drugs for large parts of his adult life.

Ozzy first took cocaine in 1971 and said: “The world got a bit fuzzy after that.”

He spent time in and out of rehab, and even as recently as 2013 was drinking and taking drugs.

Speaking in 2021 to Variety magazine, Ozzy said he began drinking and taking drugs as a form of self-medication because he never liked the way he felt.

He admitted that he was very lucky to live through to old age, despite his storied drug abuse.

“There’s nothing special about me. I should have been dead 1,000 times,” he said.

Recognition in later life

Black Sabbath got back together on November 11, 2011, and played a farewell tour that fittingly finished in Birmingham.

The group released a final album, 13, on June 11, 2013, and it topped both the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200.

When asked how he would feel if this album and tour were Sabbath’s final statement, Osbourne seemed comfortable with the notion.

“Well, I wasn’t really happy with the way it ended before, but this album went to number one and it’s been received really well all over the world,” he said.

“I know I can now rest my head and die a happy man.”

Ozzy stopped performing with Black Sabbath in February 2017 and in 2023 he stopped touring Europe as a solo act due to poor health.

He and Tony Iommi returned for the 2022 Commonwealth Games closing ceremony, where he was once again adored by fans in his home city of Birmingham.

In January 2025, Ozzy announced his last show at his beloved Aston Villa’s football stadium, where he and Black Sabbath would both be performing.

That show, on July 5, featured the band’s original line-up and Ozzy sang from a black throne that rose up from the stage.

A fitting end to the music career of one of the best to ever do it.

Tributes flow for ‘greatest of all time’

As news of Ozzy’s death spread, Elton John sent his condolences to his family and said Osbourne was a “dear friend and a huge trailblazer who secured his place in the pantheon of rock gods — a true legend”.

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Singer Rod Stewart bid farewell to the rockstar, saying: “Bye, bye Ozzy. Sleep well, my friend. I’ll see you up there — later rather than sooner.”

British singer Yungblud, who only weeks ago performed with Ozzy at his farewell concert with Black Sabbath, said he would never forget him.

Yungblud is a 27-year-old alt-rock and punk-rock artist whose 2022 music video The Funeral featured Sharon and Ozzy.

In a social media post, he said: “I will never forget you — you will be in every single note I sing and with me every single time I walk on stage … You were the greatest of all time.”