Ozzy Osbourne Has Died At Age 76

In his interview with The Guardian earlier this year, Osbourne recalled the band’s less-than-stellar critical response.

“I don’t think we ever had a good review. Maybe that was a catalyst in a way: every critic didn’t like us, so more of the people liked us. We were a people’s band: four guys from Aston, one of the poorest parts of Birmingham,” he said.

Maybe even more influential than the band’s music was its image. Dark in color and rich in religious symbolism, the band’s aesthetic frightened parents but would help define the heavy metal scene for decades, leading fans to dub Osbourne “The Godfather of Metal” and “Prince of Darkness,” even though he personally didn’t like to associate himself with the term “heavy metal.”

Osbourne married his first wife, Thelma Riley, in 1971. The couple had two children, Jessica and Louis, and Osbourne adopted her son Elliot from a previous relationship.

During the Black Sabbath years, drugs became central to Osbourne’s identity as well. Legend has it that he and drummer Bill Ward took LSD every day for two years. But regardless, Osbourne’s drug and alcohol abuse overwhelmed those around him by the end of the 1970s, and the other members of Black Sabbath kicked him out of the band.