Ozzy Osbourne Dies At 76, Weeks After Final Show

By Media Feed | Published

Heavy metal icon and Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne has passed away at the age of 76, according to a statement from his family.

Osbourne had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2019 and had recently played his final show, in which he reunited with his Black Sabbath bandmates.

His family made the announcement on July 22, 2025.

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In a statement, the Osbourne family wrote, “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.”

His death marks the end of an era — one in which the flamboyant, theatrical Osbourne was a mainstay of the heavy metal genre for decades.

His final show took place on July 5, 2025.

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Just over two weeks before his death, Black Sabbath played a benefit concert called Back to the Beginning in Birmingham, England — near where the band was formed in 1968.

The event marked the first time in two decades that the band’s original lineup, consisting of Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward, had played a show together. The show was directed by Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine fame, who promised to make it “the greatest heavy metal show ever.”

The show was a celebration of Black Sabbath.

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While Osbourne’s band was undoubtedly the main event of the concert, numerous bands that were influenced by Black Sabbath made performances as well, including Mastodon, Anthrax, Guns ‘N Roses, Pantera and Lamb of God, among others.

Osbourne, sadly was unable to stand due to complications of Parkinson’s, but he was able to perform while seated on a throne. It was a fitting sendoff to perhaps the most legendary figure in heavy metal.

Osbourne had a career like no one else.

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John Michael Osbourne was born in Birmingham in 1948 and was nicknamed “Ozzy” by his classmates. He had a troubled upbringing and pursued a career in music after being inspired by the Beatles as a teenager.

In 1967, Osbourne was recruited by Geezer Butler to be the singer of his band, Rare Breed. The band didn’t last long, but it marked the beginning of a collaboration. After a few band name changes, Butler and Osbourne were joined by guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward, and Black Sabbath was born.

The band was unique for its time.

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While Black Sabbath became synonymous with the metal genre, it’s worth noting that their theatrical, eerie stage performances and hard-driving blues-inspired music stood out in the musical landscape of the late ’60s and early ’70s.

Despite this, the band was successful right from the start, with their first two albums, Black Sabbath and Paranoid gaining radio airplay. Their third album, Master of Reality, was released in 1971 and firmly established Black Sabbath as a commercially successful juggernaut.

As the decade wore on, tensions increased.

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Black Sabbath steadily released albums throughout the ’70s, and Osbourne left the band in 1978 to pursue a solo career and release Blizzard of Oz. He later rejoined the band, but the pressures of stardom had affected Black Sabbath’s chemistry.

Iommi reported that the band’s 1978 album, Never Say Die!, was heavily affected by the use of substances, saying, “Nobody could get anything right.” Osbourne was seen as particularly unreliable, and he was dismissed from the band.

The original lineup reunited several times.

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Black Sabbath continued on without Osbourne, but the original lineup did come back together several times.

In addition to their 2025 farewell show, the lineup — minus Bill Ward, who was replaced by Brad Wilk — took part in a 2012 world tour. In 2016, they held a farewell tour, called “The End.”

Osbourne had a prolific solo career.

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Blizzard of Ozz, released during his initial hiatus from Black Sabbath, was a massive success, anchored by the hit single “Crazy Train.”

Osbourne released five solo albums during the ’80s, and continued his solo output until 2022, when he released Patient Number 9.

His life was marked by controversy.

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Osbourne’s theatrical and sometimes shocking stage presence led him to be accused of being a Satanist early in his career, and was also the subject of colorful anecdotes in which he bit the head off of a live dove — and later, a bat (though he believed the bat was made of rubber).

If there’s anything else that characterized Osbourne’s public image during his prime years, it was his penchant for substance abuse. Osbourne admitted that these missteps had a profound effect on not just his professional career, but also his family life.

He became a devoted family man.

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Osbourne’s first marriage ended in divorce, but his second marriage — to Sharon Arden, his manager, in 1981 — seemed to help him become more grounded. Sharon and Ozzy had three kids together: Aimee, Kelly, and Jack.

While the private life of the Osbournes remained largely private, they’d eventually become well-known through their reality show The Osbournes — one of MTV’s biggest hits of all time.

The Osbournes took a light-hearted look at Osbourne’s life.

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The show, which was centered around Ozzy but also featured Sharon, Jack, and Kelly as main characters, showed a somewhat fictionalized version of Osbourne’s home life.

The juxtaposition between Osbourne’s fearsome stage presence and absent-minded, gentle family man proved to be a massive success, and aired for four seasons. It achieved the highest ratings in MTV history and won a 2002 Primetime Emmy.

The Osbournes were tycoons.

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Thanks to Osbourne’s prolific musical career and the success of The Osbournes, Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne were ranked as one of the United Kingdom’s richest couples. In 2005, it was reported that their net worth was around £100 million.

Following The Osbournes, Ozzy and Sharon were firmly established as mainstream media stars, with many fans knowing Ozzy more for his reality show than for his music.

Sadly, his health took a turn for the worse.

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A bout with pneumonia in early 2019 and then a bad fall later in the year prompted Osbourne to cancel a planned tour. It was in 2019 that he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, a diagnosis that he made public in January of 2020.

Later in 2020, he announced that he was also suffering from emphysema. Unable to walk due to his Parkinson’s, Osbourne cancelled another planned tour in 2020.

He leaves a powerful legacy.

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Osbourne passed away in 2025 and was survived by his wife Sharon, their three children (along with two children from a previous marriage), along with several grandchildren.

From metalheads who appreciate Black Sabbath’s pioneering work in the genre to millennials who fondly remember The Osbournes, Ozzy Osbourne’s legacy will continue to serve as an influence.