Dec. 3: "Ozzy" Osbourne is 62 today. (I bet he never thought he'd make it this long.)

Born John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne  in was born in Aston, Birmingham, England has enjoyed a career in music that has lasted over 40 years.  He has been known as Ozzy since he was a kid, and has said he seldom responds when called by his given name, John.

Osbourne grew up dealing with dyslexia and other learning disabilities, but nevertheless, took part in school plays such as The Pirates of Penzance. Upon hearing the Beatles when he as 14, he became a huge fan of the group.

He left school at 15 and was then employed as a construction site laborer, trainee plumber, apprentice toolmaker, car factory horn-tuner and slaughterhouse worker. He spent six weeks in Winson Green Prison when he was unable to pay a fine after being found guilty of burglary of a clothes shop.

Osbourne rose to prominence as lead vocalist of the pioneering English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, a band whose radically different, intentionally dark, doom sound spawned the heavy metal genre.

In his subsequent solo career Osbourne achieved a multi-platinum status in addition to the one he had earned with Black Sabbath. As a solo artist, Osbourne has sold over 32 million albums worldwide. This led Osbourne to become known as the "Godfather of Heavy Metal." But that's not his only nickname.

It was during his days with Black Sabbath that, because of their dark style of music, Osbourne became known as the "Prince of Darkness."

 

(Continued below video and CDs and DVDs...)

 

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In 1967, Ozzy and Geezer Butler formed a band they named "Rare Breed." The band played two shows then broke up. Osbourne and Butler reunited in Polka Tulk Blues along with guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward. They renamed themselves Earth, but after being booked in error instead of a band with the same name, they decided to change their name again. They finally chose the name Black Sabbath in early 1969 based on a film directed by Mario Bava, starring Boris Karloff.

The band had noticed how people enjoyed being frightened, and, inspired, Iommi and his partners decided to play a heavy blues style of music laced with gloomy sounds and lyrics. While recording their first album in a castle, Geezer read an occult book and had a dream of a dark figure at the end of his bed. Butler told Osbourne about the dream and together they wrote the lyrics to "Black Sabbath," one of their first songs in a darker vein.

Black Sabbath met with swift success. Built around Tony Iommi's guitar riffs, Geezer Butler's lyrics, Bill Ward's dark tempo drumbeats, and topped by Osbourne's eerie vocals, early records such as their debut album Black Sabbath and Paranoid sold extremely well.

Six months after the release of Paranoid the band released Master of Reality which reached the top ten in both the US and UK, and was certified gold in less than two months. In 1973, Black Sabbath released the critically acclaimed Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. For the first time, the band received favorable reviews, with Gordon Fletcher of Rolling Stone calling the album "an extraordinarily gripping affair," and "nothing less than a complete success."

In 1994, Ozzy was awarded a Grammy Award for the track "I Don't Want to Change the World" from Live & Loud for Best Metal Performance of 1994. In 2005, he was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame along with the other members of Black Sabbath. Osbourne mooned the crowd because of their poor reception while they were playing.

In 2007, Osbourne was honoured at the second annual VH1 Rock Honors, along with Genesis, Heart, and ZZ Top. In addition, that year a bronze star honoring Osbourne was placed on Broad Street in Birmingham, England.

In 2008, Osbourne was crowned with the prestigious Living Legend award in the Classic Rock Roll of Honor. Past recipients include Alice Cooper, Lemmy, Jimmy Page and Slash, the former Guns N' Roses guitarist, presented the award.

Osbourne has over 15 tattoos, the most famous of which are the letters O-Z-Z-Y across the knuckles of his left hand. This was his first tattoo, created by himself as a teenager with a sewing needle and pencil lead.

In the early 2000s, Ozzy stared in his own reality show, The Osbournes, alongside wife and manager Sharon, and two of their three children, Kelly and Jack.

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