Ozzy was one of ours: A tribute to a colossus of music as Birmingham mourns its loudest son

Born in Aston on 3rd December 1948, and given a nickname at Albert Road junior school that was a shortening of his surname which has remained with him throughout his career.

As one of the key influences on heavy metal, Ozzy Osbourne’s death marks the end of a remarkable life of someone who was the epitome of indulging in the cliché of the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle.

Much will be written about Ozzy’s wild behaviour which started when he was at school.

Suffering from dyslexia and what’s now recognised as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) he found study difficult and left Birchfield Road Secondary Modern School aged 15 which, was demolished to make way for the site of Birmingham Polytechnic.

It became University of Central England/Birmingham City University in Perry Barr where I was based for the vast majority of my academic life.

His early experience, including not speaking to his parents after he was sexually abused by two bullies aged 11 undoubtedly contributed to a belief by many who encountered him at this time that Ozzy was difficult and had insufficiently respectful of authority.

In one incident he attacked a teacher with an iron bar which has led many to, incorrectly, believe he was expelled.

Dreadfully, Ozzy attempted to hang himself and was only saved by his father.

However, having a troubled soul probably contributed to his willingness to be utterly different and to escape the constrictions of his working-class environment through music though not before having a series of random jobs including working in a slaughterhouse – with typical bravado he stated he “loved killing animals” – and from which he’d collect the eyeballs of cows and put them in peoples' pints in local pubs.

Notably, for a man who enjoyed wealth that will remain a dream for most, one of Ozzy’s endeavours was to become involved in petty crime for which he was convicted of stealing a television and baby clothes when he was still 17 and spent six weeks in prison when his father refused to pay the £40 fine (which was a great deal of money then).

Reflecting on this experience he described himself as the “Norman Wisdom [a famous comedian of the 1960s and 70s] of burgling”.

However, reminiscences of Ozzy following his death will, rightly, focus on his musical career as lead singer of Black Sabbath and the fact he became a celebrity as a result of his family’s willingness to be the subject of an entertainment series The Osbournes.

Amusingly, as a result of this newfound fame which happened at the time that Black Sabbath’s popularity as a band was in decline, Ozzy admitted he craved being the centre of attention.

Ozzy developed himself to become a compelling and provocative character - that is beyond doubt.

His early life experiences surely gave him a hunger to try anything that would give him a chance of escaping the numbing poverty he’d experienced when growing up in Birmingham, a city recovering from the war and its role in the fight against Nazism through manufacturing.

Developing a different genre of music, what’s now known as ‘heavy metal’ through willingness to experiment created precisely this opportunity.

It’s therefore notable that in the mass of tributes to Ozzy was the fact that when he was at secondary school the one subject in which he showed interest was music.

That Ozzy also performed in several productions of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas might have been an early clue that he enjoyed being centre stage and appearing in theatrical make up.

In the 58 years since 1967 when, calling himself Ozzy Zig he put a card in the window of his local music shop – it’s how you advertised services and requests back then – announcing his intention to form a band and that he had his own PA (Public Address – sound system to amplify sound to an audience), the boy from Birmingham grasped the opportunities presented to him with gusto.

Many commentators will focus on his addiction to drink, drugs and, it would seem, any other substance that would induce intoxication as well as Ozzy’s many and varied of acts bizarre and outrageous behaviour, as well as occasional outbursts of violence, including trying to strangle his second wife Sharon.

This is understandable.

Ozzy seemed intent on a combination of trying to both shock by evermore extreme incidents and self-destruction psychologists might explain as way of dealing with childhood traumas.

Maybe Ozzy found escape in being a caricature of the rebellious teenager he’d been in 1960s Birmingham before finding success in Black Sabbath.

Nonetheless, it must be stressed, his music brought joy to millions, either on the music he performed as lead singer of Black Sabbath or as a solo artist.

Notably, in December 2003, having injured himself whilst riding an all-terrain quadbike on his estate in Buckinghamshire, breaking his collar bone, eight ribs, and a neck vertebra and resuscitated by his bodyguard after he stopped breathing, requiring emergency surgery, Ozzy achieved a number one single in Britain with his daughter Kelly, a reworking of Black Sabbath’s ballad ‘Changes’.

As a piece of pop trivia which may earn you a few points in a quiz, this is a record for the greatest period of 33 years between an artist’s first British chart appearance (with Black Sabbath’s ‘Paranoid’ which reached number fours in August 1970) and their first single to top the charts.

Memorably, Ozzy performed to millions over the last six decades across the globe culminating, of course, in his last appearance with the other three original members of Black Sabbath at Villa Park a few weeks ago on 5th July.

Vitally, what seems abundantly clear is that above all else he valued the joy his family brought to him having been married twice, firstly to Thelma Rile then to Sharon Arden, and being father to six children, one of whom he adopted.

Ozzy Osbourne was something of a conundrum wrapped in in an enigma; a sensitive soul who engaged in hedonism.

What’s important to us here in Birmingham is that he was one of our own who never forgot his roots and his love for the city he spent this formative years in.

As the saying goes, despite his incredible success and wealth, you could take the boy out of Birmingham, but you can’t take Birmingham out of the boy.

Rest in Peace Ozzy Osbourne aka ‘The Prince of Darkness’.

Dr Steven McCabe

Steve is Professor and Pro Vice Chancellor, DoctorateHub.

Previously, having worked for Birmingham City Council, he spent the last 35 years as an academic at Birmingham City University teaching and researching economics, management and business. Additionally, he has written extensively for edited texts examining economics and politics.

He regularly writes and comments regularly in the national and international media on politics and the economy and has published texts on quality management, benchmarking, ‘Brexit’ and its economic and social impact, the green economy and manufacturing, house prices and India’s progress since independence.