Ozzy Osbourne

 One of the pioneers of heavy metal, and one of the most successful commercially and legendary performers, Ozzy Osbourne was born in Birmingham, England, as John Michael Osbourne. After graduating from school Ozzy joined a group with Geezer. The group broke up and Ozzy and Geezer joined Tony Iommi (and Bill Ward) in a new group. This was called Black Sabbath and was named in honor of the song with the same title that appeared on their first album (released 1969/70). Even though the relationship between Tony Iommi and Geezer was deteriorating He recorded a number of albums with Sabbath. Then, in 1979, he left the band and was later fired. After a short time the singer began a solo career with a group of musicians to his left that changed from album to album and from tour to tour. In the 80's, he was treated several times for alcoholism and was accused of suicide twice of some of his young supporters (cleared totally). Following the release of his No More Tears album he said he was going to tour for the last time. On his final date in 1991 He briefly reunited with Black Sabbath to perform three songs. However a much discussed reformation tour went through and Ozzy was seen to be heading towards retirement. His bassist (Mike Inez) joined Alice in Chains and the guitarist (Zakk Wylde) started his own group, Pride and Glory. However, he's currently working on new music and has said he intends to return to the stage. The album will be out in the summer of 1995 and the tour is expected to follow shortly thereafter. Geezer Butler who was a bass player with Ozzy during the tour of the mid to late 80's, has resigned from Sabbath. He is expected to be playing on the forthcoming album.