The China Mail - Ozzy: 'Prince of Darkness' and maestro of heavy metal

After decades of debauchery and more than 100 million albums sold, the British singer died on Tuesday at the age of 76, leaving behind his wife Sharon, six children, a host of grandchildren and a permanent legacy in the annals of rock'n'roll.

His death came a little more than two weeks after Black Sabbath played a farewell concert to 40,000 fans at Villa Park, in his native Birmingham. Rock royalty lined up to pay tribute to him including Metallica, Guns N' Roses and members of Aerosmith and the Rolling Stones at the stadium that is the home to his beloved Aston Villa football team.

Ozzy, as he was routinely referred to, attracted legions of new fans in the 2000s after appearing as the hard-of-hearing, slightly crazy but doting grandfather in MTV's hit reality show "The Osbournes", a far cry from the excesses that defined his 1970s heyday.

Until his renaissance, he was best known in the mainstream for biting the head of a live bat during a concert and for urinating in the wine glass of a record-label chief -- as well as on the Alamo monument in Texas.

But for hard-rock fans he will forever be remembered as the "Prince of Darkness" leading Black Sabbath, the band that helped launch heavy metal, a blend of rock and blues drenched in distortion and dark lyrics.

- 'Girls ran out screaming' -

The band enjoyed immediate success on the release of its eponymous debut album in 1970.

Hundreds of thousands around the world continued to flock to hear rock hymns such as "Paranoid", "War Pigs" and "Iron Man" at the band's riotous live shows for almost 50 years, until the band brought down the curtain a first time with a gig in Birmingham in 2017.

Ozzy, like many of his contemporaries, suffered from gaps in his memory due to drink and drugs on on the road, but few can claim to have such monumental black holes.

He said that he had forgotten attempting to strangle his wife Sharon the year their eldest daughter was born, adding that he had very few recollections from the 1990s as a whole.

In 2010, scientists even analysed his genome to try to understand how he had survived so much self-inflicted punishment.

Ozzy said he could not remember where he performed Black Sabbath's debut album for the first time.

"But I can sure as hell remember the audience's reaction: all the girls ran out of the venue, screaming," he recalled in his autobiography "I am Ozzy".

His wild lifestyle led to run-ins with the law, including visits to court on charges of satanism and encouraging suicide, though his criminal career started before he joined the band, spending time in jail for stealing a television and baby clothes.

John Michael Osbourne was born into a working-class family in Birmingham on December 3, 1948. He inherited his nickname in primary school.

Dyslexic and angry with homework, he left school at 15 before working in manual jobs, including at an abattoir.

But he decided he would become a rock star after hearing the Beatles on the radio, a fantasy he realised incredibly quickly.

- 'Everyone around me is dying' -

Shortly after meeting guitarist Tony Iommi, the two decided to "stop doing blues and write scary music instead", inspired by horror movies.

The resulting sound of heavy riffs accompanied by Ozzy's droning voice singing lyrics exploring the dark side of human nature became the template for heavy metal.

"Pink Floyd was music for rich college kids, and we were the exact opposite of that," he said.

Albums followed at a frantic pace, often shunned by critics but acclaimed by fans.

Ozzy left the band in 1979, going on to have a succesful solo career and releasing 11 albums while juggling a turbulent personal life.

His first marriage to Thelma, with whom he had two children, Elliot and Jessica, was by his own admission a disaster.

In 1982 he married Sharon, his manager, who quickly became his rock. They had three children -- Aimee, Kelly and Jack -- and adopted another boy, Roberto.

Despite his seemingly carefree personality, the deaths of his rocker friend Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead and David Bowie left him in a reflective mood.

"Everybody's dying around me, but I'm at that age," he told Rolling Stone magazine in 2016.

He was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2019, with all profits from his last concert on July 5 going to charities including Cure Parkinson's and Birmingham Children's Hospital.

The Prince of Darkness clung on for another six years after his diagnosis, before joining his peers in the pantheon of late, great British musicians.

D.Wang--ThChM