Fuzzable
If you asked anyone to name the wildest rock star they’d ever heard of it’s highly likely that the name Ozzy Osbourne would come up first. The Birmingham-born metal maestro has hit the headlines hundreds, if not thousands of times, and unfortunately not for the right reasons.
For the 72 years that Ozzy Osbourne has (miraculously) been alive, the star has lived a very colourful life, having truly lived as one would expect a rockstar to do so, regularly enjoying a highly public relationship with practically every narcotic (and alcoholic beverage) under the sun.
There are plenty of stories we could tell you about Ozzy that will leave you needing you to pick your jaw up off the floor, they’re that shocking! We’ve compiled five (any more would be too much to handle) of the wildest tales for your enjoyment.
He accidentally drugged his local Vicar
In the early 1970s, Ozzy Osbourne lived with his first wife Thelma Riley in Bullrush Cottage (nicknamed Atrocity Cottage) in Ranton, Staffordshire. It was here that Ozzy first began causing chaos in his early years as a commercial success with Black Sabbath.
Whilst living at Bullrush Cottage Ozzy was known for being a regular at his local pub, the Hand and Cleaver (which was a just short stagger away), however, rather than walk the few minutes from door-to-door, Ozzy was known to ride his horse Turpin, or drive his ride-on lawnmower.
This isn’t the wildest occurrence from his time in the sleepy Staffordshire hamlet though! One notable story that’s often recalled is the time Ozzy thought he had accidentally killed the local Vicar. The rockstar had baked a cake that contained a large dose of hash which he’d stored safely and informed his wife not to let anyone eat it.
After spending several boozy days in the Hand and Cleaver he returned home to find the local Vicar sat down enjoying a cup of tea and a slice of cake with his wife. Within a short period of time, the Vicar was slumped passed out in the kitchen from the drugs.
Ozzy had to drag the Vicar out of the house and into the Vicar’s car which Ozzy (illegally) drove to the vicarage where he dropped him off at his doorstep. Two weeks later he bumped into the Vicar at the pub who said I must have caught such a dreadful flu at yours. I hallucinated for three days and had to miss church.’
Recounting the curious incident Ozzy told GQ magazine that he was “just relieved to see him alive!” as he genuinely thought he’d killed him, as he’d ingested a ‘big chunk of hash’.
Osbourne bit the head off a dove before he did the same with a bat
Whenever anyone talks about some of the crazy things Ozzy Osbourne has done over the years they usually recount the time he (mistakenly) bit the head off a bat live on stage in 1982 when teenage fan Mark Neal threw it onto the stage in Des Moines, Iowa…
This was not the first time Ozzy has had his teeth around the neck of an animal. In 1981 he and his Wife/Manager Sharon Osbourne were at CBS Records head office where they were due to sign the first record deal of his solo career.
In a weird attempt to impress the record executives, a drunk Ozzy had planned to release two doves (which he had smuggled in his pockets) to celebrate the new deal and as a sign of peace between the two entities.
Not long into the 7am meeting Ozzy found himself getting bored, so to ‘liven the atmosphere’ he decided to throw one of the doves into the air before promptly grabbing another, biting its head off, spitting blood (and the dove’s head) across the room.
Ozzy was promptly banned from the building by horrified staff, however, somewhat miraculously, his record deal remained intact and the rest is history.
Ozzy spent time in Winson Green prison
Going back to way before Ozzy found fame, at a young age Osbourne was unable to find a career that fit for him, from the age of 15 he worked in a slaughterhouse, a funeral home and as a horn-tester in the local car factory… None of which truly inspired him.
In an attempt to make quick and easy cash he turned to burglary, however, the issue was that he was an absolutely terrible thief. Ozzy had attempted to steal a television from a local shop, however, it fell on him during his getaway, so he had to abandon it, instead taking some baby clothes that he didn’t realise were baby clothes.
Upon being caught in the midst of the burglary the police asked him whether he had gloves, he told them yes, I left them inside! Thus giving the authorities all the evidence they needed to pin the crime on him. He was given a fine, but he couldn’t afford to pay it, and his father refused to teach him a lesson… As a result he was sent to the infamous Winson Green prison for 6 weeks.
He was banned from San Antonio, Texas for a decade
There’s no doubt that many rock stars have been thrown out and banned from venues across the world, but not many can say they’ve been thrown out and banned from an entire city before!
Whilst visiting the city of San Antonio in Texas, Ozzy was forcibly confined to his hotel room by Sharon Osbourne, who took all of his clothes away from the room so that he couldn’t go out, drink and ultimately cause trouble whilst intoxicated… Of course, this didn’t stop him as he just donned one of his future-wife’s dresses and went out to paint the town red.
Whilst out drinking he stumbled to the city’s Cenotaph opposite the famous Alamo building, not knowing where he was or the significance of the monument (it celebrated the lives of those killed during the Battle of the Alamo)… He promptly began to urinate on it.
Ozzy was very quickly apprehended by police for public intoxication and was sent to the local jail. Sharon paid the $40 bond that saw him released the same day, however, despite getting out he was told not to return to San Antonio and was banned from stepping foot in the city.
A decade laterOzzy made a public apology to the city and donated $10,000 to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, the organisation that looked after the Alamo. Upon being forgiven he played two nights at the city’s Freeman Coliseum.
He tried to kill Sharon Osbourne whilst high on drugs
The darkest and most troubling story on this list details when Ozzy tried to kill his wife whilst under the influence of drugs and alcohol in 1989. The story came out in a recent documentary called The Nine Lives of Ozzy Osbourne.
Talking about the attack Sharon told interviewers: “I had no idea who was sat across from me on the sofa, but it wasn’t my husband. He goes to a state where he gets a look in his eyes, there’s shutters, shutters were down on his eyes and I couldn’t get through to him
“He was calm, very very calm and he lunged across at me, I felt the stuff on the table and felt the panic button and just pressed it. Next thing I know the cops were there.”
Ozzy had attempted to strangle Sharon to death, however, thankfully he was apprehended before he could do any damage. The next day he woke up in a jail cell with no recollection of the event, he asked the policeman to explain why he was there and was horrified when he read him his charge of attempted murder.
Sharon dropped all charges against her Husband and the awful event left enough of a lasting impression on Ozzy that he cleaned up his act in the best interest of his family.
What’s Ozzy Osbourne up to now?
In 2019 Ozzy was due to travel across North America playing shows as part of his No More Tours 2 tour, however, he was hospitalised with a severe case of pneumonia that had him admitted to intensive care. Not long after he was sadly diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
Of course, this hasn’t stopped Ozzy from working hard, despite his health troubles the Prince of Darkness has released his very own branded online slot game with the world’s most famous developer NetEnt and is working on a brand new album that will follow 2020 release Ordinary Man, which he claims has kept him alive during his health struggles and the COVID-19 pandemic.
All being well it’s likely that Ozzy will be back on tour next year as he kick-starts the European leg of the No More Tours 2 tour in Berlin, Germany on January 26th, 2022.
