What is Ozzy Osbourne’s Net Worth?
| Net Worth | $220 million |
| Source of Wealth | Popular hard rock vocals |
| Date of Birth | December 3, 1948 |
| Nationality | British |
| Height | 5 feet 8 inches |
| Place of Birth | Marston Green, England |
| Star Sign | Sagittarius |
| Religion | Christian |
| Marital Status | Sharon Levy |
The Usual Intro
Ozzy Osbourne has one of the most iconic voices in rock and roll history. As the original front man for the landmark band Black Sabbath, Ozzy earned his $220 million net worth with a long history of producing some of the most popular heavy metal tracks of all time.
His career has some remarkable ups and downs, and he has had a hand in a number of the most noteworthy achievements in the heavy metal genre. Today, he is something of a media darling and a nostalgic British national treasure. But his fame and fan base is global.
Born John Michael Osbourne, “Ozzy” is best known for his time as the lead singer for Black Sabbath. He is a singer, songwriter, and popular TV personality with his reality TV show, The Osbournes.
His career and fame go back as far as the early 1970s when Black Sabbath got its start. The band was the first, with the possible exception of Jimi Hendrix, to feature hard and heavy riffs, driving drum lines, and soaring fantastical and even philosophical lyrics.
Before the Spotlight
Osbourne grew up in Birmingham, England. His father was a nightshift tool maker at the General Electric Company. His mother was a non-observing Catholic who worked at a factory in the daytime. Ozzy has three older sisters and two younger brothers.
During his childhood, the Osbournes lived in a small two-bedroom house. He got his nickname “Ozzy” in primary school and it has stuck with him ever since. Ozzy worked as a construction laborer after leaving school at the age of 15.
He dabbled in petty crime and spent six weeks in prison. He started as the front man for Black Sabbath at the age of 21 in 1969, and since then, his career has been laid out before him.
The Journey to Success
Black Sabbath got its start when Osbourne’s bandmate Geezer Butler read an occult book and woke up to see a dark figure sitting at the foot of his bed. He told Ozzy about it, and the two wrote Black Sabbath’s first song, “Black Sabbath.” The band became known for its dark and moody sounds and lyrics.
But fans often remark on the thoughtful, philosophical, and even uplifting messages. Songs featuring lines about Generals gathered like “witches at black masses” turn out to contain anti-war messaging and other songs feature Ozzy crooning lines like “just remember love is life and hate is living death.”
The band’s most famous and well-reviewed album featured guitar work by Randy Rhodes, which is some of the most respected heavy metal guitar work to this day. Ozzy’s time working with Rhodes is something he remembers fondly and with considerable sadness due to Rhode’s untimely death in 1982.
The Best Moments
The highlight of Ozzy’s career, he will tell you, was the tour of the Black Sabbath Album with his friend and bandmate Randy Rhodes. Ozzy considered it to be the most creative and rewarding time of his career. Outside of Black Sabbath fans, Ozzy might be best known for a concert in which he was handed a live bat and presumably bit the animal’s head off. The band suffered a major blow to its reputation and was maligned as “satanic” by concerned parents and reviewers.
Ozzy has frequently said about the incident that he was on drugs, the atmosphere was frenetic, and he only bit down until he realized that he had been handed a live animal. This episode also coincided with Ozzy’s period of excessive drug use following the death of Rhodes.
Ozzy was fired from the band due to his heavy drug use and was replaced by the iconic Rodney James Dio. Ozzy and Black Sabbath remained on good terms, and the band briefly reunited with their original singer in 1998.
After leaving Black Sabbath, Osbourne embarked on a very successful solo career which continued well into the late 80s and early 90s. His album, Blizzard of Oz, is one of the 100 top-selling musical compilations of the 1980s.
The Private Side
After the success of his best-selling solo album, the Black Sabbath’s former drummer Bill Ward commented that Ozzy appeared to have turned his life around and recovered from drug abuse. Today, Ozzy is married to Sharon (Levy) Osborne, and the two live very public lives as the stars of a reality TV program named after the family. Ozzy has two children with his first wife, Thelma Mayfair, and three with his current wife, Sharon.
Ozzy is something of a media darling with his unintelligible working-class English accent, his round blue sunglasses, and long hair. His children are reality TV stars in their own rights and feature prominently on the program. His daughter Kelly gave a smashing performance on Dancing With the Stars in season 9. After that, she launched her own musical career with a cover of Madonna’s “Papa Don’t Preach.”
Since that time, Ozzy himself has become better known as the father and husband of the Osbourne family than as the Prince of Darkness, as he was once self-fashioned.
Ozzy Osbourne Related YouTube Video
10 Unforgettable Ozzy Osbourne Moments
Famous Quotes of Ozzy Osbourne
These are some of the most impactful quotes of Ozzy Osbourne:
- “I have a saying. ‘Never judge a book by its cover’. I say that because I don’t even know who Ozzy is. I wake up a new person every day.”
- “You gotta be really careful what you bite off. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. It’s a dangerous world.”
- “I am a raging alcoholic and a raging addict and I didn’t want to see my kids do the same thing.”
The Social World
Here are the social media statistics of famous musician Ozzy Osbourne:
Lessons for Entrepreneurs
Ozzy’s life and career have been marked by blazing success and stark tragedy. His period of desperate drug use after the death of his friend and bandmate, Randy Rhodes, sent him tumbling to the depths of despair.
He even once attempted to hang himself before he was asked to leave Black Sabbath. His ability to go from the heights of stardom to drugs and suicidal tendencies and back to a new pinnacle of success speaks to his impressive personal resilience.
The Unusual Stuff
- A wax statue of Ozzy stands in Madame Tussauds in Nashville, Tennessee, which pees itself when gawkers stand too close.
- Former First Lady Barbara Bush is a Black Sabbath fan. At least George Bush once told him as much.
- Black Sabbath’s original name was The Polka Tulk Blues Band.
- Ozzy once fought a robber in the nude. Ozzy caught the intruder unexpectedly in the night, rifling through Sharon’s closet. He wrestled with the robber until the intruder fled with some pricey jewelry in hand.
Answering Frequent Questions
Did Ozzy bite the head off a bat?
Not entirely. He did bite the bat but stopped as soon as he realized it was real.
Is Ozzy religious?
Ozzy joined the Church of England in the early 90s and is said to pray before each live performance.
How many records has Ozzy sold?
Throughout his career, more than 51 million recordings featuring Ozzy have been sold.
The Closing Remarks
Ozzy’s life and career have been through the gamut of fortune and folly. He has been a key part of some of rock and roll music’s most important landmark achievements, and his bouts with personal loss and drug abuse were legendary. Today, he is as famous for being a charming and eccentric father as he is for his music.
Featured image credit: s_bukley / Shutterstock.com
