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Timeline : Ozzy Osbourne

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December 3, 1948

Ozzy Osbourne is born John Michael Osbourne in Birmingham, England. He forms the genre-defining heavy metal band Black Sabbath in 1968 but goes solo in 1979 when he's booted from the band. Remarkably, his solo career is even more successful, with a run of hits that includes "Crazy Train" and "Mama, I'm Coming Home."

December 6, 1956

Guitarist Randy Rhoads is born in Santa Monica, California. An early member of Quiet Riot, he makes his biggest impact as Ozzy Osbourne's guitarist, supplying the electrifying riffs on songs like "Crazy Train" and "Mr. Crowley." He dies at 25 in an airplane accident.

August 30, 1969

The Birmingham band Earth changes its name when lead singer Ozzy Osbourne announces on stage that the band's new name is Black Sabbath. The band had played "N.I.B.," "The Wizard," "Black Sabbath," and "Warning."

January 2, 1978

Two months after quitting the band, Ozzy Osbourne rejoins Black Sabbath. The reunion doesn't last long: He's kicked out of the band the following year.

April 29, 1980

Black Sabbath launch their first tour with Ronnie James Dio as lead vocalist, replacing Ozzy Osbourne.

January 20, 1982

While performing at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Des Moines, Iowa, Ozzy Osbourne bites the head off a bat.More

February 19, 1982

Ozzy Osbourne urinates on a statue near the Alamo, desecrating a Texas landmark.More

March 19, 1982

Ozzy Osbourne's guitarist Randy Rhoads, just 25, dies when he takes a plane ride with a pilot who tries to buzz Ozzy's tour bus. When the wing hits the bus, the plane crashes into a nearby house, killing Rhoads, the pilot, and the tour costume designer/hairdresser.

July 4, 1982

Ozzy Osbourne and his manager, Sharon Arden, get married. She is the daughter of music mogul Don Arden, and a keen businesswoman. The union results in an MTV reality show, Ozzfest, and three children: Aimee, Kelly and Jack.

May 29, 1983

Van Halen get a record $1.5 million to play Day 2 ("Heavy Metal Day") of Apple founder Steve Wozniak's US Festival, the second and final year of the event. It's the most any act has ever been paid for a single performance.More

March 2, 1984

This Is Spinal Tap is released in theaters, chronicling the hapless heavy metal band with exploding drummers and an amp that goes to 11. It leaves some in laughter and some in tears. Ozzy Osbourne is just confused.More

October 27, 1984

Ozzy Osbourne and wife Sharon welcome baby girl Kelly Osbourne, born in Westminster, London. She releases two albums before switching her focus to fashion, appearing on shows like Fashion Police, Project Runway and RuPaul's Drag Race.

January 13, 1986

Ozzy Osbourne is taken to court by the parents of John McCollum, a depressed teenager who shot himself while listening to Ozzy's song "Suicide Solution." The parents claim that their son was driven to suicide by Ozzy's song. The court later throws the case out.

March 27, 1986

In Valley Center, Kansas, Metallica join Ozzy Osbourne's Ultimate Sin tour as the opening act.

August 16, 1986

At a soggy Monsters Of Rock festival at Castle Donington, England, Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen gets a huge ovation when he takes the stage with the band. Twenty months earlier, Allen's left arm was severed in a car accident, and after extensive rehab and some warm-up gigs, he makes a triumphant return at the festival, playing barefoot behind a drum kit modified with electronic pedals. Scorpions and Motörhead are also on the bill, which is headlined by Ozzy Osbourne.

July 28, 1987

Ozzy Osbourne performs "Jailhouse Rock" at Wormwood Scrubs prison in London, England. He says it's his "last good memory of the '80s."More

November 15, 1992

At the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa, California, Ozzy Osbourne plays the final date of his No More Tours tour, which he says will be his last. His former band, Black Sabbath, opens the show in tribute with Rob Halford on lead vocals, since Ronnie James Dio wants no part of it.More

March 1, 1994

Ozzy Osbourne wins Best Metal Performance with Vocal for "I Don't Want to Change the World" from his album No More Tears. It's the first of his five career Grammy wins.

June 17, 1997

When Ozzy's voice gives out before the Ozzfest date in Columbus, Ohio, he doesn't appear but the show goes on without him. Fans, who aren't told until later that he won't be there, don't take the news well and trash the venue.More

March 5, 2002

MTV launches its new reality television show, The Osbournes, which chronicles the domestic life of heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne and his family. In its first season, it becomes the most-viewed series on MTV.More

October 14, 2003

Ozzy Osbourne seeks treatment for Parkinson's Disease-like tremors and postpones a fall European tour. The veteran rock artist says in a statement, "I have been in Boston for the last three weeks, having medical tests for a tremor which has become markedly worse over the last two years."

December 8, 2003

On the same day "Changes," his duet with his daughter Kelly, is released, Ozzy Osbourne crashes his quad bike, breaking several bones, including his collarbone, and fracturing vertebrae. Some good news: Ozzy's injuries aren't life-threatening, and "Changes" goes to #1 in the UK.

November 16, 2005

Pink Floyd, The Kinks and Eurythmics are among the honorees inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame. The second annual show, which takes place in a ceremony at London's Alexandra Palace, features some momentous reunions, including the gathering of the original Kinks and a performance by the classic line-up of Black Sabbath, featuring Ozzy Osbourne.

September 24, 2009

On his 19th attempt, Ozzy Osbourne finally passes his driving test. He celebrates by buying a new Ferrari, which he gets into an accident with the following year. Why did he keep failing the tests? That Afroman song will explain it.

October 30, 2010

Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) makes a rare public appearance, performing "Peace Train" at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, which is organized and hosted by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Midway through the song, Colbert interrupts him and introduces Ozzy Osbourne, who starts performing "Crazy Train." Stevens and Osbourne go back and forth, resulting in a strange and hilarious train wreck.More

October 26, 2010

Results of Ozzy Osbourne's genome sequencing are revealed. The study shows that Ozzy has a very high predisposition for alcohol and cocaine addiction, and that he was partly descended from Neanderthals.

December 30, 2012

The Birmingham Mail reports that Jim Simpson, the record industry A&R man who discovered and signed Black Sabbath, is launching a campaign to have the airport in Birmingham, England, renamed as "The Ozzy Osbourne International Airport." No word on whether the planes would play "Flying High Again" on takeoff and landing.

January 12, 2013

Black Sabbath, complete with their newly reunited original frontman Ozzy Osbourne, announce the upcoming release of the album 13, the first Black Sabbath album in 18 years (since 1995's Forbidden).

November 6, 2015

After visiting the Texas Capitol two days earlier, Ozzy Osbourne visits the Alamo in San Antonio, where he famously peed on a statue in 1982. Ozzy's road trip is part of a History Channel show he's working on with his son, Jack.

August 21, 2017

During a historic solar eclipse, Bonnie Tyler sings "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" while Ozzy Osbourne performs "Bark At The Moon."More

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