The Fat Angel Sings

Ozzy Osbourne’s documentary, The Nine Lives of Ozzy Osbourne, is a life-spanning tale that delves into the musicians early years growing up in Birmingham and how he came to be the Prince of Darkness.

In promotion for the film, Sharon and Ozzy shared an unbelievable story about the time Ozzy attempted to kill her in a drug-induced haze and was subsequently arrested. Sharon detailed that the pair were living in Buckinghamshire in 1989 with their children — Jack, Kelly and Aimee — when the incident took place. They had just put their children to bed when Ozzy, who was under the influence of drugs, made the decision to kill Sharon.

So it goes, Ozzy was calmly sitting across the room from Sharon, when she realised that something wasn’t right.

“He came into the room,” Sharon revealed. “I had no idea who was sat across from me on the sofa but it wasn’t my husband. He goes to a stage where he gets that look in his eyes, the shutters were down and I just couldn’t get through to him. And he just said, ‘We’ve come to a decision that you’ve got to die.’ She went on to detail that without warning, Ozzy jumped across the room and attempted to strangle her.

“He was calm, very calm,” she continues. “Then suddenly he lunged across at me and just dived on me and started to choke me. He got me down on the ground on top of me and I was feeling for stuff on the table. I felt the panic button and I just pressed it and the next thing I know, the cops were there.”

Due to the (unspecified) drugs he was under, Ozzy has no recollection of the incident ever taking place.

“I felt the calmest I had ever felt in my life,” Ozzy recalled. “I was just peaceful. All I remember is waking up in Amersham jail and I asked the cop, ‘Why am I here?’ And he says, ‘You want me to read your charge?’ So he read, ‘John Michael Osbourne, you have been arrested for attempted murder.’”

Sharon admitted that the incident was almost enough of a catalyst for her to file for divorce. Ultimately, she decided to stay with Ozzy for their children. The judge working the case sentenced Ozzy to six months of medical treatment.

“Thank God the judge put him in treatment for six months,” Sharon mused. “I had time to really think about what he should do. I told him, ‘I don’t want the money but if you do this again, either I am going to kill you or you are going to kill me. And do you want that for the kids?’”

The third expansion of an Ozzy album released this year (after 1991’s No More Tears and 2001’s Down to Earth), the Prince of Darkness’ sophomore album – the last with guitarist Randy Rhoads before his tragic passing – now comes with two bonus tracks from the Blizzard of Ozz tour. (Perplexingly, these were part of a whole live bonus disc when Blizzard of Ozz and Madman were reissued in 2011.

The “Diary Of A Madman” special digital re-issue will be available November 5th via all digital platforms.  The album is Ozzy’s second studio release and the last album to feature 2021 Rock & Roll Hall of Famer guitarist Randy Rhoads. The multi-platinum release (with five million albums sold worldwide) included the #2 Mainstream Rock track, “Flying High Again.”

The album was listed at #15 on Rolling Stone’s 2017 list of “100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time.” Kory Grow noted, “A year after proving he was still a vital musical force on his first post–Black Sabbath solo LP, 1980’s Blizzard of Ozz, Ozzy Osbourne demonstrated it wasn’t a one-time fluke with an album of poppy and gothic anthems like ‘Flying High Again’ and the almost classical closing title track. Guitarist Randy Rhoads, who died in a plane crash while touring for “Diary” in 1982, had already proven himself a virtuoso on “Blizzard”; here, he worked even harder to find the rare nexus between showboat chops and clever song writing…”

also Ozzy Osbourne is set to commemorate the 40th anniversary of his landmark debut solo album, Blizzard of Ozz, with an expanded release.

Set for digital release this Friday, September 18th. The re-release will see the original album in all its glory, with additional bonus tracks ‘You Looking at Me, Looking at You’, the 2010 mix of ‘Goodbye to Romance’, and Randy Rhoads instrumental outtake ‘RR’. It will also feature seven live tracks from the Blizzard of Ozz tour that were previously unavailable digitally.

In addition to the expanded release of the record, Osbourne will finally give his revered concert films Live & Loud and Live at Budokhan the digital treatment. This will be the first time this classic footage will receive an official digital release.

With Ozzy Osbourne’s “Diary Of A Madman” celebrating its 40th anniversary this week, a variety of video clips have been released to commemorate the album. These include a new video for “FLYING HIGH AGAIN,” (created from exclusive images from Ross Halfin’s newly released Randy Rhoads book), along with live versions of “Over The Mountain,” “Flying High Again,” and “Believer.”