20 things you didn't know about Ozzy Osbourne

Think you know everything about Ozzy Osbourne? Here are twenty things you didn't know about the Prince of Darkness

 

 

 

 

 

20

-There was a record for gaps between albums. Bob Dylan had 39 years between one album and the next. Black Sabbath broke it. In 1970, Paranoid was released, topping the UK charts and then 2013's 13 topped the charts, making it 43 years between the two

19
-Nearly 40 years after Yes keyboard player Rick Wakeman played on 1973's Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Rick's son Adam worked with Ozzy on 'Scream' in 2010
18
-Ozzy's guitarist Gus G. was born in Greece as Kostas Karamitroudis
17
-Metallica bass player Robert Trujillo worked with Ozzy in 1991 on The Infectious Grooves' song 'Therapy' and in 2001 on 'Down to Earth'
16
-A year after Steve Vai worked with Ozzy, he recruited Joe Holmes, formerly of David Lee Roth's band and Lizzy Borden when Zakk Wylde took too long considering his option to join Guns N' Roses
15
-In 1994, Ozzy hired Steve Vai. Their work resulted in 'Ozzmosis' 'My Little Man' and 'Dyin' Day'. from Vai's solo 1996 album Fire Garden
14
-Ozzy lent vocals to the song 'Led Clones' from Northern Irish rocker Gary Moore
13
-There's a mysterious message on "Bloodbath in Paradise", where Ozzy says "Your mother sells whelks in Hull", a line from The Exorcist
12
-Ozzy and Madonna lent vocals to the same song: "Shake Your Head (Let's Go to Bed) by Was (Not Was)
11
-On the song "Speak of the Devil", Ozzy makes a dedication to the late guitarist Randy Rhoads
10
-On the album Diary of a Madman, the strange runes read "The Ozzy Osbourne Band"

9

-On Diary of a Madman, the song S.A.T.O. was said to be strange. In reality, it's the initials of two of the most important women in his life, manager Sharon Arden and then wife Thelma Osbourne

Sharon Arden-Osbourne

 

Thelma Osbourne

8

-Motorhead supported the Ozzy Osbourne Band for the majority of it's first US tour but flipped it around when they returned to England, making Motorhead the headliners

7
-Don Airey, keyboard player for Rainbow, Deep Purple, etc played the signature introduction to 'Mr. Crowley'
6
-When Randy joined Ozzy, he wasn't a big Black Sabbath fan. He took his inspiration from the glam rock scene, like Mick Ronson, the guitarist for David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust"era band The Spiders
5
-Randy Rhoads got the job of guitar with Ozzy with help from future Slaughter bass player Dana Strum
4
-It surprises all that when Ozzy left Black Sabbath to pursue a solo career that it was Sharon Arden who recommended using Ronnie James Dio
3
-1978 marks where Ozzy's solo career really started

2

-In 1972, Black Sabbath recorded Vol. 4. One of the tracks, 'Changes' started off with Tony Iommi doing lines of cocaine and messing around on a piano. When this song came out, a lot of Sabbath fans were let down, hearing their heroes releasing a ballad. But 30 years later, it found fame when it was re-recorded as a duet between Ozzy and his daughter Kelly, sending it to #1 on the UK charts

1

-He was the fourth of six kids born to John and Lillian Osbourne. Early on, he showed an interest in performing by taking part in school plays. Who would have thought that an early interest in performing plays would lead to singing heavy metal? Wow :)