Ozzy Osbourne, the legendary Prince of Darkness and one of heavy metal’s most iconic stars, has died. He was 76.
He died “surrounded by love,” his family said in a statement to The Sun on Tuesday. “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. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time. Sharon, Jack, Kelly, Aimee and Louis.”
News of Osbourne’s death comes more than five years after he announced his Parkinson’s disease diagnosis in January 2020.
Born John Michael Osbourne in Birmingham, England, on Dec. 3, 1948, he was first nicknamed “Ozzy” in primary school.
He had a challenging childhood, but music provided him with an outlet.
Ozzy Osbourne signs copies of his album “Patient Number 9” at Fingerprints Music on September 10, 2022, in Long Beach, California. Getty Images
Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath performs on stage at British Summer Time Festival at Hyde Park on July 4, 2014, in London. Redferns via Getty Images
Black Sabbath members Bill Ward, Geezer Butler, Ozzy Osbourne and Tony Iommi in 1970. WireImage
Learning was difficult for him due to dyslexia, and the future Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee claimed to have been sexually abused by bullies when he was 11. He also recalled attempting suicide as a teen.
Osbourne credited The Beatles and their 1964 song “She Loves You” for inspiring him to pursue a music career.
When he was 15, Osbourne dropped out of school and worked several trade jobs.
Two years later, he spent six weeks in the Winson Green prison because he was unable to pay a fine after stealing from a clothing store.
Once released, Osbourne and his friend, Geezer Butler, formed their first band, Rare Breed, with Ozzy on vocals.
He became a founding member of Black Sabbath in 1967. The band is highly regarded as a major influence in the development of heavy metal music, with hits like “Paranoid,” “War Pigs” and “Iron Man.”
The group, as well as Ozzy himself, would often be criticized by critics for their music’s dark and sometimes “satanic” themes.
“When we started gigging way back when, as soon as we started playing this song’s opening chords, young girls in the audience would f–king freak out,” Osbourne told NME in 2016. “They thought we were Satan’s f–king friends or something.”
Ozzy Osbourne attends the Black Sabbath town hall event celebrating the release of “13” at The Angel Orensanz Foundation on June 11, 2013, in New York City. Getty Images
Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne pose for a picture with their dog. Instagram/@sharonosbourne
Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath performing on stage at Rainbow Theatre, London, on March 16, 1973. Redferns
“That’s when the whole ‘Prince of Darkness’ s–t started,” he explained about the origin of his nickname. “When people get excited about Halloween coming around each year, all I think is, ‘Well, we used to have Halloween every f–king night.”
Ozzy was fired from the band in 1979 for alcohol and drug abuse, which he later revealed felt hypocritical at the time.
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel betrayed by what happened with Black Sabbath,” he wrote in his 2009 memoir “I Am Ozzy.”
“We were four blokes who’d grown up together a few streets apart. We were like family, like brothers. And firing me for being f–ked up was hypocritical bulls–t. We were all f–ked up.”
“If you’re stoned, and I’m stoned, and you’re telling me that I’m fired because I’m stoned, how can that be? Because I’m slightly more stoned than you are?” he added.
But that’s when Sharon Arden, daughter of Black Sabbath’s manager, Don Arden, decided to manage Ozzy as a solo act.
Ozzy Osbourne performs with Black Sabbath at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, N.J., on August 4, 2013. Chad Rachman/New York Post
Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Bill Ward and Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath pose for a band photo. WireImage
He would go on to make 12 solo albums with hits like “Crazy Train,” “Mama, I’m Coming Home” and “No More Tears.”
Ozzy sold over 100 million albums worldwide as a solo artist and a member of Black Sabbath.
Both the band and Ozzy as a solo act were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. He joined the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Black Sabbath in 2006.
Ozzy also made headlines for his outlandish behavior.
He infamously bit the head off of a bat during a concert in January 1982. The next month, Ozzy was arrested in Texas for drunkenly peeing on a cenotaph made to honor people who died at the Battle of the Alamo.
He and Sharon, 72, married that same year. The couple had three kids: Aimee, 41, Kelly, 40, and Jack, 39. The family would go on to reach a new level of fame on a first-of-its-kind reality TV show.
Aside from Aimee, who refused to take part in the MTV series, “The Osbournes” invited cameras into their home to chronicle the raw rock-and-roll domestic life of Ozzy and his family.
Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne with their children Aimee, Kelly and Jack in 1987. Getty Images
The show premiered in March 2002 and ran for three years. Its first season was the most-viewed series in MTV history at the time.
Jack later alleged his father “hated” filming the wildly successful show.
“I don’t know how the Kardashians have done it for so long — it sent us crazy at the end,” Ozzy recounted in January 2023.
“I am not sorry I did it, but after three or four years I said, ‘Do you know what, we’re going to lose somebody because it is getting too crazy,’” he continued, adding that the show traumatized him and his family.
“There is rock-and-roll fame, which is pretty intense, but that Osbourne level was just unbelievable. The kids paid for it. They all ended up doing drugs. Jack got clean and sober on that show, Kelly messed up on that show, I was messed up, and Sharon got cancer.” (In 2002, Sharon was diagnosed with colon cancer and underwent surgery and chemotherapy.)
Ozzy reunited with Black Sabbath on several occasions and rejoined the group in 2013 to record their final album, “13.” He also joined the band on their farewell tour from 2016 to 2017.
Ozzy struggled with heavy drug and alcohol addiction throughout his life. He was introduced to cocaine in 1971 and later claimed he took LSD every day for two years while in Black Sabbath.
At the end of his time with the band, the musician said he “got very drunk and very stoned every single day.”
In September 1989, Ozzy’s challenges got him into legal trouble when he allegedly tried to kill Sharon.
Sharon Osbourne, Kelly Osbourne, Jack Osbourne and Ozzy Osbourne appear as guest presenters on MTV’s “TRL” in London on December 17, 2004. Getty Images
Kelly Osbourne, Ozzy Osbourne, Sharon Osbourne and Jack Osbourne attend the 56th Grammy Awards at the Staples Center on January 26, 2014, in Los Angeles, California. WireImage
The Osbournes celebrating Ozzy’s 75th birthday in 2023. kellyosbourne/Instagram
He was too intoxicated to remember the incident, and Sharon ended up dropping the criminal charges against him. But a judge still ordered Ozzy to complete six months in rehab.
“We’ve come to a decision that you’ve got to die,” Sharon recalled Ozzy saying before he allegedly strangled her.
“He was calm – very, very calm,” she said in the A&E series “Biography: The Nine Lives of Ozzy Osbourne.” “I felt the stuff on the table, and felt the panic button, and just pressed it. Next thing I know, the cops were there.”
“It’s not exactly one of my greatest f–king achievements,” Ozzy added.
He was sober for many years until Ozzy announced on Facebook in April 2013 that he had been drinking and doing drugs for the past year and a half.
In February 2021, he told Variety that he had been sober for seven years.
Then, in August 2022, Ozzy stated that he was “fed up” with the staggering amount of gun violence in America and that he and Sharon would be moving to the UK.
Ozzy, Sharon, Jack and Kelly Osbourne turned another television convention upside down and inside out on the series “Osbournes Reloaded.”
Ozzy Osbourne attending the ceremony where the original line-up of Black Sabbath was inducted into the Rock Walk of Fame at Guitar Center in Los Angeles, California, on November 18, 1992. Getty Images
However, he later walked back his statement and said he would rather stay in the States.
“I’m American now. To be honest with you, I don’t want to go back [to England],” he reiterated. “F–k that.”
The rocker canceled his 2023 tour three months before it was scheduled to kick off in Finland in May and declared that his touring career was officially over forever.
“This is probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to share with my loyal fans…” he captioned the announcement on social media.
He thanked and apologized to fans who bought tickets to his postponed 2019 shows, saying he was “honestly humbled by the way you’ve all patiently held onto your tickets for all this time.”
“My one and only purpose during this time has been to get back on stage,” he explained at the time. “My singing voice is fine.”
“However, after three operations, stem cell treatments, endless physical therapy, and most recently, groundbreaking Cybernics (HAL) Treatment, my body is still physically weak,” he added.
Despite the announcement that he was quitting touring in 2023, Ozzy later returned to the stage one last time in July 2025 to perform with Black Sabbath for the band’s final-ever concert in his hometown of Birmingham, England.
Ozzy, Kelly and Sharon Osbourne pose backstage following Kelly Osbourne’s first night of “Chicago” at the Cambridge Theatre on September 10, 2007, in London, England. Getty Images
“I’d love to say ‘never say never’, but after the last six years or so … it is time,” he told The Guardian two months before the concert. “I lived on the road for 50-odd years, and I’ve kind of got used to not picking up my bags and getting on the bus again.”
Ozzy also opened up about his battle with Parkinson’s shortly before his death.
“You wake up the next morning and find that something else has gone wrong,” he said in May 2025. “You begin to think this is never going to end.”
Ozzy and Sharon’s daughter Kelly took to social media shortly before the rockstar’s death to dispel rumors that her famous father was dying.
Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath performs during the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games closing ceremony at Alexander Stadium on August 8, 2022, in Birmingham, England. Getty Images
She posted to her Instagram Stories in July after an AI video of Ozzy went viral.
“So, there’s this video going around on social media, and it’s supposed to be my dad, but it’s AI,” the TV personality told her fans at the time.
“And it starts out saying, ‘I don’t need a doctor to tell me that I’m going to die. I know I’m going to die,’” she continued. “What the f–k is wrong with you people? Why would you spend your time making a video like this?”
The former “Fashion Police” host — who got engaged at her famous dad’s final Black Sabbath show — then clarified that Ozzy is “not dying.”
Bill Ward, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler and Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath announce their first new album in 33 years and a world tour at the Whisky a Go Go on November 11, 2011, in West Hollywood, California. Getty Images
“Yes, he has Parkinson’s, and yes, his mobility is completely different than it used to be, but he’s not dying,” she said. “What is wrong with you?”
Kelly also took a moment to slam the rumors that her parents had a “suicide pact” after Sharon suggested as much back in 2007.
“That was bulls–t my mum said to get attention one time,” Kelly concluded. “And my dad’s not dying. Stop.”
Ozzy is survived by his wife, Sharon, and their children: Aimee, Kelly, and Jack, as well as his children, Jessica, 45, and Louis, 50, from his first marriage to Thelma Riley, 71.
Ozzy also adopted Riley’s son from a previous relationship with Elliot Kingsley, now 59, during their marriage, which lasted from 1971 to 1982. The late star also had 10 grandchildren.
