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Ozzy Osbourne music biography continued...

3, 1948, in Aston, England, Osbourne acquired the nickname "Ozzy" as a youth and got his start in a band composed of friends from school, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler. The band went through several name changes before it settled on Black Sabbath, crafted a dark, ominous sound, and were signed by Warner Records. Built around Tony Iommi's guitar riffs, Geezer Butler's lyrics, and topped by Osbourne's eerie vocals, Black Sabbath met with swift success with massive sales for their self-titled debut album and the follow-up, Paranoid. In 1979, Osbourne was fired from Black Sabbath largely for unreliability due to substance abuse, and embarked on a solo career. Managed by his new wife, Sharon Osbourne, Ozzy formed a backing band called the Blizzard of Ozz. The act was instantly successful, with songs charting in both the U.S. and U.K. About this time, Osbourne also started to become a magnet for controversy; he bit the head off a bat while on stage, giving himself a rabies scare; he bit the head off a dove in the offices of record executives he felt were ignoring him; he was sued over his song "Suicide Solution" by the parents of a teenage fan who had killed himself (the case was dismissed); and he was arrested in 1982 for urinating on a historical "shrine" -- The Alamo. Strangely, incidents like these only endeared him more to his fans.



After a brief retirement, Osbourne resurfaced in 1995, to create Ozzfest, a heavy metal festival that remains vibrant to this day. In 1997, Osbourne reunited Black Sabbath and they continued to tour and record together through 1999. A new solo album, Down to Earth, appeared in the fall of 2001, followed by a few successful rock radio singles and a huge Christmas tour. Following that, Osbourne teamed with MTV to come up with the hit reality show, The Osbournes, which presented Ozzy to a whole new generation of fans. Ozzy returned to the studio in 2006 and released Black Rain in 2007. In August 2008, Osbourne stated in USA Today that he intends to retire from his music career after two more albums. Fans everywhere are hoping he changes his mind.