Farewell to Ozzy Osbourne, heavy metal legend

Ozzy Osbourne, 'The Prince Of Darkness', living rock icon, the 'godfather' of heavy metal music, passed away today at the age of 76, in Birmingham.

John Michael Osbourne, this is his given name, was born on 3 December 1948, in a working-class suburb of post-war England: he grew up amidst hardship and boredom. The fourth of six children (two brothers: Paul and Tony; three sisters: Jean, Iris and Gillian), his family circumstances are discomfort and he has language problems, being dyslexic and stammering. But it is from his discomfort that the seed of success germinates: for over half a century he will shout his madness and genius in the face of the world. After dropping out of school, at the age of fifteen he began to work at various jobs: building site labourer, plumber, toolmaker, worker in a car factory and butcher at a slaughterhouse, but he did not feel inclined for these jobs.

And so, together with Tony Iommi (one of the schoolmates he detested the most), Geezer Butler and Bill Ward he founded the Polka Tulk Blues Band, which, after a few name and member changes, later became known as Black Sabbath, after the American title of Mario Bava's film 'The Three Faces of Fear'. With them they write legendary pages of heavy rock: "Paranoid", "War Pigs", "Iron Man". Dark sounds, disturbing riffs and lyrics about war, alienation, nightmares and witchcraft. On 13 February 1970, with their eponymous debut album, the heavy metal genre was officially born.

Ozzy becomes its most iconic voice: success comes hand in hand with demons. Ozzy embraces them and does not back down. He becomes the very embodiment of excess: alcohol, Lsd, cocaine, his life is a constant trip. Famous is the anecdote, legendary the madness. He snorts ants on the pavement on tour with Mötley Crüe (together with Nikki Sixx, in one of the most absurd toxic challenges in rock history), bites the head off a b>bat thrown on stage, mistaking it for a puppet.

Scenes verging between horror and the surreal made him a pop icon even before Mtv consecrated him with The Osbournes, the first rock-reality TV series of the small screen. Kicked out of Sabbath in 1979 for substance abuse, Ozzy suffered a manic-depressive psychosis, locked himself in a hotel room in Los Angeles and stayed there for just under a year, drinking and drugging in despair at the end of his adventure with the band, reducing him to a shadow of his former self. Having recovered, Ozzy, with the support of his future wife Sharon Arden, daughter of Black Sabbath manager Don, decided to form a solo project again. With him, a young guitarist destined to become a legend, Randy Rhoads.