The wizardry of Ozzy Osbourne

By Phil Roura

Considering the drugs and alcohol he has poured into his body since he rose from dirt-poor obscurity with Black Sabbath in 1970, few people would argue with Ozzy Osbourne. But as a new year dawns, the wrinkled 59-year-old rocker marches on - though a bit wobbly - with a tour that defies belief in its success. His latest campaign comes in support of the CD "Black Rain," which surprisingly debuted at No. 3 in May. The Mohegan Sun gets Ozzy this Saturday night, warts and all. For fans, another Ozzy triumph merely adds to the legend. And not only are they acutely familiar with his odyssey to fame and fortune, much of the planet is as well. The MTV reality series "The Osbournes" unveiled a side of him that few thought possible. At the heart of this prophet of satanic verse was a family man.

Who would've thought? Not long ago, Osbourne would bristle at comments like, "Oh, you're the guy who bites the heads off everything!" - a reference to a 1982 Iowa concert when he supposedly bit the head off a bat. "I'm about caring, I'm about people and I'm about entertaining people," Osbourne said during an interview. "I'm a family man, a husband, a father. I've been a lot of other things over the years, which we don't really want to talk about, [but] I'm always working on trying to better myself." That may be the way he views history today, but it was a lot different in his early years, when he was dropping out of school and having brushes with the law. Even his marriage to Sharon Osbourne, depicted as a loving, caring relationship on the TV show, had its rocky moments. There were times when they fought physically, with intent to maim, and the cops were called. But Sharon, the daughter of his one-time music manager, who married Ozzy in 1982, is credited with putting his career back on track after a deep depression (fueled by drugs and booze after the divorce from his first wife). Sharon nursed Ozzy back to health and took over his career, eventually putting him on a solo track that made them one of the richest couples in the United Kingdom. She is also the brains behind Ozzfest, a heavy-metal tour that draws thousands each summer.

Her battle with colon cancer, chronicled on the TV show, helped thousands of viewers cope with their own diseases and encouraged others to get medical exams. "I don't know what I would have done without Sharon," Osbourne says. "She has been my life. Without her I am nothing." For the Mohegan Sun, an Ozzy show "is a no-brainer," says vice president Tom Cantone. "Any time you have a rock icon like Ozzy Osbourne in the house, you're going to have a sold-out place with the right age group, especially for a casino. His fan base spans generations. His renewal with a younger generation puts him back on the radar screen." And his antics? "His fans know what to expect by now," says Cantone. But it is still remarkable that Osbourne, who has abused his body to the point where it is often difficult to understand what he is saying, still performs at a relatively ambitious pace. As he moans on the new album, "I can't believe I'm still here."


Source: nydailynews.com 06.01.08

Awww bless him, that's so sweet! :wub: Thanks for posting. :)

^^^aaww that is so sweet

Ozzy is cute, I'd like to marry him :yes:

I admire Ozzy. Sharon and Jack always get a lot of credit for him being sober and drug free now and I am sure his love for them and his other children had a lot to do with that but at the end of the day it was Ozzy who made the decision to give it all up. I am so proud to be his fan as he still knows how to make the best music of them all. Black Rain has gotten a Grammy nod and in my personal opinion it is a heck of a cd and will become a classic of its time.

agreed. :yes: at the end of the day, the person must do it for themselves.