Ozzy Osbourne facts: Black Sabbath singer's family, death explained

23 July 2025, 13:26

Ozzy Osbourne may have been known as The Prince of Darkness, but just who was the heavy metal star?

Here we bring you all the important facts you need to know about the Birmingham-born singer.

1. Who was Ozzy Osbourne, and when did he die?

   

   John Michael 'Ozzy' Osbourne was born on December 3, 1948, and died on July 22, 2025, aged 76.

   Brought up in Aston, Birmingham with his three older sisters Jean, Iris and Gillian, and two younger brothers Paul and Tony, the proud Brummie was destined to become a trailblazing music star.

   Ozzy, who credits The Beatles' song 'She Loves You' with him wanting to become a musician, was the lead singer of Black Sabbath from 1969.

   • Ozzy Osbourne and Elton John's duet is fantastic and very poignant
   • Brian May, Rod Stewart and more pay tribute to ‘fearless’ Ozzy Osbourne

   The performer, who gained the nickname 'The Prince Of Darkness' during his time in the band, had increasingly erratic problems with drugs an alcohol and was fired from Black Sabbath in 1979.

   

   Ozzy went on to pursue a highly successful solo career, releasing 12 studio albums - seven of which went multi-platinum - and became a household name through MTV reality show The Osbournes, a no-holds-barred look at the eccentric life of the Osbourne family, filmed from 2002 to 2005.

   Ozzy reunited a number of times with Black Sabbath since going solo. He helped the group record their final album 13 in 2013 and joined them on their 2017 farewell tour, which culminated in their home city of Birmingham.

   In July 2025, Ozzy performed for one last time with Black Sabbath - again in their home city of Birmingham - at their huge Back to the Beginning send off concert. The performance took place just two weeks before his death.

2. What health problems did Ozzy Osbourne have?

   Ozzy Osbourne had a well-publicised battle with alcohol and drugs and told Rolling Stone in 2017 that he realised he needed to clean up his act: "When I started waking up covered in my own urine in a gutter."

   In later life, Ozzy successfully got clean and sober, but sadly his health problems didn't end with addiction.

   View this post on Instagram

   A post shared by Kelly Osbourne (@kellyosbourne) on Oct 6, 2018 at 5:09pm PDT

   In 2003, Ozzy fell off a quad bike at the family's Buckinghamshire home and broke six ribs and vertebrae in his neck.

   In January 2019 Ozzy had a fall in his home, resulting in three operations, two months in hospital and 15 screws in his spine.

   The singer had also just recovered from being in hospital with bronchitis and pneumonia when the fall occurred.

   

   The Nine Lives of Ozzy Osbourne | A&E

   Ozzy told The Sun in September 2019: “I’m like a superhero, held together by screws, but I ain’t felt like a superhero for months. I’ve felt dreadful."

   In 2020, there was even more bad news for the Prince Of Darkness' health.

   Ozzy announced in January that he has been diagnosed with a type of Parkinson's disease called Parkin, and gave details of the diagnosis in an emotional TV interview with Good Morning America.

   "It's PRKN 2," said his wife, Sharon. "There's so many different types of Parkinson's; it's not a death sentence by any stretch of the imagination, but it does affect certain nerves in your body. And it's -- it's like you have a good day, a good day, and then a really bad day."

3. Who are Ozzy Osbourne's wife and children?

   Ozzy Osbourne married his second wife Sharon Osbourne in July 1982.

   The couple met when Sharon's father, Don Arden, was the manager for Black Sabbath and was instrumental in having Ozzy fired.

   

   Sharon become his girlfriend and took over as his manager in 1979, she is widely regarded as the driving force behind his hugely successful solo career.

   Sharon and Ozzy have three children, Aimee, Kelly and Jack and the family became famous overnight with the airing of their MTV reality TV show The Osbournes in 2002.

   • Read more: Michael Bolton actually auditioned for Black Sabbath, reveals Tony Lommi

   The show aired until 2005 and did not include eldest daughter Aimee who decided early on that she didn't want to be famous and has stayed out of the public eye.

   

   Since The Osbournes aired, the family have all found individual TV success.

   Kelly has been a presenter on the E! channel, Jack has presented his own TV shows including the BBC's Saving Planet Earth in 2007 and Sharon has been a judge on both America's Got Talent and The X Factor.

   Before Sharon, Ozzy was married to his first wife Thelma Riley from 1971 to 1982. The couple shared three children: Louis, Jessica and Elliot.

4. What was Ozzy Osbourne's net worth?

   

   In 2020, Ozzy's estimated net worth was reported to be $220 million (£163k).