Ozzy Osbourne, the legendary frontman of heavy metal group Black Sabbath, died on Tuesday, his family said, just weeks after he gave an epic farewell concert.
He was 76.
The hell-raising singer, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2019, passed away just over two weeks after playing a final gig before a sold-out crowd in his home city of Birmingham in the UK.
Photo: Reuters
“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,” the family said in a statement. “He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time.”
Tributes poured in for the notorious figure nicknamed the “Prince of Darkness.”
His original bandmates posted tributes on social media, with guitarist Tony Iommi saying: “There won’t be another like him,” and bassist Geezer Butler saying: “So glad we got to do it one last time, back in Aston. Love you.”
Photo: Reuters
Drummer Bill Ward said Osbourne would forever be in his heart and added: “Never goodbye. Thank you forever.”
Osbourne was instrumental in pioneering heavy metal as Black Sabbath enjoyed huge commercial success in the 1970s and 1980s after forming in Birmingham in 1968.
Black Sabbath’s eponymous 1970 debut album made the UK top 10 and paved the way for a string of hit records, including their most famous song Paranoid.
“It was Ozzy’s voice that took me away to a dark universe. A great escape,” Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready wrote on X. “Thanks for the music, Ozzy it makes our journey in life better.”
He gained huge notoriety along the way for his outlandish stunts, many of them fuelled by a hedonistic lifestyle involving the lavish use of drugs and alcohol.
His performances at the height of his hedonism have gone down in rock folklore, particularly a 1982 gig in Des Moines, Iowa, when he bit the head off a bat on stage.
Osbourne said he thought a fan had thrown a fake rubber bat onstage and it was not until he took a bite that he realized it was real.
“I can assure you the rabies shots I went through afterwards aren’t fun,” he told US TV host David Letterman in 1982.
His public persona took a new turn with the reality television series The Osbournes in the 2000s, which followed the ups and downs of his family life alongside his wife, Sharon, whom he married in 1982, and their three children.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency as well as long-term residency in Taiwan has decreased, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that the reduction of Chinese spouses staying or living in Taiwan is only one facet reflecting the general decrease in the number of people willing to get married in Taiwan. The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency last year was 7,123, down by 2,931, or 29.15 percent, from the previous year. The same census showed that the number of Chinese spouses applying for long-term residency and receiving approval last year stood at 2,973, down 1,520,
RSS