Ozzy Osbourne News

Drugs, alcohol and domestic violence tend not to make a happy marriage. Add to that Sharon’s success, and who would have guessed the outcome?

Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne are rumoured to have ended their marriage after 31 years. Apparently, a union that has survived Ozzy’s addiction to drugs and alcohol, and his profuse domestic violence, has buckled under the strain of Sharon gaining a public profile. The moral of the story seems to be that being beaten by your out-of-control husband shouldn’t be tolerated in the first place, because it might be a sign that your partner doesn’t have your best interests at heart. Who knew?

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Metal veterans’ first studio album with Ozzy Osbourne in 35 years is scheduled for a June release

Black Sabbath have announced more details of their hotly anticipated new album, their first LP with Ozzy Osbourne in 35 years. Due in June, the record will be called 13.

13 is an odd title for what will be Black Sabbath’s 19th studio album, their ninth with Osbourne. Perhaps it has 13 tracks: last year, the band said they had recorded 15 songs. Some fans have joked that it’s an attempt for Black Sabbath to rewrite history, disowning the six albums they made with singers Glenn Hughes and Tony Martin. More likely it’s just to do with the year: “Next year – 2013 – is a good clue of what we’ll call the album,” Osbourne told NME in 2012.

To make things easier for Tony Iommi, who is being treated for cancer, some of 13 was recorded in the UK. But most of the work took place in Los Angeles, the band said, with producer Rick Rubin. Since Iommi and Geezer Butler were unable to come to an agreement with the band’s original drummer, Bill Ward, the trio hired a relative newcomer: their new sticksman is Brad Wilk, best known as a co-founder of Rage Against the Machine.

Black Sabbath have also announced that they are to tour the album. In April and May, the band will play eight concerts in New Zealand, Australia and Japan. “Additional tour plans will be revealed in the coming months,” they said. Black Sabbath played only three gigs in 2012: in Birmingham, and at Download and Lollapalooza festivals. A previously announced world tour was downgraded to an appearance by Ozzy and Friends.

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There’s life in the maligned celebrity genre yet – as memoirs by the likes of Arnie, Bob Dylan and even Piers Morgan attest

Ah, Pippa Middleton. It’s not really her fault, you know. Dazzled by the sight of her in a white dress, some chump at Penguin gave her several buckets of cash to write a book about pass the parcel. And so she did – and now nobody wants to buy it, and critics are mocking the poor lass. But can you blame her for accepting that fool’s coin? Take the money and run, Pippa, that’s what I say. Furthermore, I agree: turkeys are an ideal bird for large gatherings.

Besides, it’s not like she’s the only famous person to write a book that landed in the marketplace like a corpse dumped in an unmarked grave. Arnold Schwarzenegger is rumoured to have been paid millions for his recently published memoirs. According to the Daily Beast, it has so far sold 27,000 copies, most of them in October, the month it was published. Avengers vs. X-Men Versus #6, a totally shit comic featuring nothing but extended fight scenes from an equally shit comic of almost the same name, sold three times as many units in the same month. Snooki’s novel Gorilla Beach has sold a paltry 3,000 copies since it was published in May, while curiously nobody seems to give a toss about 80s actor Andrew McCarthy’s memoir of how travelling helped him to overcome his fear of settling down. Well, around 5,000 people do, but no more than that. And Britney Spears is soon to write a novel. Can you spell “fiasco”? She can’t.

And that’s just in the last couple of months. Go into the past and you’ll find many big celebrity books that made oodles of cash vanish like a seaside magician fiddling with a publisher’s gold watch. Edwina Curry’s memoirs, anyone?

But does this mean that the publishing model of big name+any old crap=$$$” is finished? Don’t hold your breath, my friends. Publishers have to make money somehow and throwing scads of cash at a famous moron is, well, easy. After all, glamour model Katie Price’s novels sold, so it’s not as if quality matters. We can look forward to many more years of “novels” and “memoirs” from people who barely know how to hold a pen, never mind whether i comes before e.

Is this much-maligned genre entirely awful? No. Every now and then, whenever I need a break from quality, I indulge. It started a few years back when I read Piers Morgan’s memoir. Yes, I know he’s a knob, but so does he, and the book was gossipy, entertaining and easy to read. I can’t remember anything in it, of course, but I don’t think that was the point.

And it wasn’t the only good celebrity book I’ve read. Bob Dylan’s Chronicles was widely praised, and even though I never listen to his music I gave it a whirl. It’s very good: self-aware, nicely written, full of interesting stories and observations. Another great rock autobiography is Keith Richards’s Life. When it came out, the papers concentrated on twaddle about Mick Jagger’s alleged micro-penis, but over the course of Richards’s book I absorbed not only the tale of a remarkable life led by a clever man who had (remarkably) never lost touch with reality, but also an excellent portrait of a transitional era in British culture. John Cale’s What’s Welsh for Zen is likewise a great and thoughtful rock memoir.

These books were good at least in part because the authors hadn’t spent the past 40 years repeating the same anecdotes on chat shows; in many ways they were writing to counteract the myths that had accreted around their names. Written with some dude at the Times, but there was no trace of effort on the journo’s part. It reads as though the legendary singer had mumbled into a tape recorder for a few hours and then shuffled off to drink a smoothie while his collaborator phoned it in almost as quickly as you can say “the cheque has cleared”. Alice Cooper’s Golf Monster reads like extended chat-show schtick. Recently I’ve been dabbling in Rick Wakeman’s Grumpy Old Rock Star. Wakeman’s voice is affable and engaging but every story has the feel of a well-worn anecdote rehearsed a thousand times down the pub. Still, none of those books are boring, and better yet, they can often be found in bargain bookstores for hardly any money at all!

Books by actors I tend to avoid. I did read Charlie Chaplin’s autobiography and agree with everyone else that the first 200 pages are excellent. Simon Cowell is supposed to be vaguely literary, but who cares? I heard that Rob Lowe’s autobiography is better than you might expect, but obviously I’m not going to pay for it. The same goes for Michael Caine’s second autobiography. I am, however, up for Schwarzenegger’s Total Recall – as soon as I see it on the “reduced” racks of my local bookshop, that is.

Actually, all that talk of actors reminds me. I once sat in a pub with some people from a prestigious publisher (hint: it sounds like phaber) and was horrified when an editor suggested getting Russell Brand to write a book of essays about Arnold Bennett. I mean, that’s an atrocious idea, nearly as awful as making relevant-in-the-90s pop crooner Jarvis Cocker an editor-at-large. Wait, what’s that you say? They did?

Still, I cannot end this brief overview of non-terrible celebrity books without mentioning the sub-category of cash-in titles by people made momentarily famous by a mega-scandal. These are usually twaddle but at least one of them is a fantastic read: The Politician by Andrew Young. You may remember him as the dead-eyed reptilian weirdo who degraded himself and his family for the sake of shiny-haired reptilian politician and fantasist John Edwards. Read that book, and shiver at its lies, its emptiness, its triviality; shudder at the hollow cores of the world’s most ambitious men and the self-deception of the fools who follow them. Edwards is hardly unique, after all – he just got caught. Friends, forget your Ozzys, your Alices, your Keefs and all those other infamous lords of rock – here is the real heart of darkness.

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New record will not feature original drummer Bill Ward, says guitarist Tony Iommi

Black Sabbath have recorded six songs for a new studio album produced by Rick Rubin – their first with original singer Ozzy Osbourne since 1978’s Never Say Die!, and also featuring Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler, the original guitarist and bass player.

In an interview with Blairing Out, Iommi said: “We’ve written the 15 songs and we’ve played them all, but now at the moment we’re recording them. We’re about six tracks in at the moment.”

However, he said, there was no chance of original drummer Bill Ward rejoining the fold. “We’ll always have a heart for Bill, but I think it’s gone past that now, because it’s gone on so long I don’t see that happening at the moment.”

What’s “gone on so long” appears to be the disagreement between Ward and the rest of the band after he was excluded from this summer’s headline show at Download festival “I [can't] help feeling some resentment towards the failure to reach an agreement, the failure to remember where we came from, the failure to be as brothers, as we once were,” Ward said before the festival. “To be clear, I’m not blaming the other guys or finding any faults with them. I would think it can’t be easy for them either, but this situation is just really sad.”

However, the news that Black Sabbath have made it back into the studio will delight fans, given that earlier this year 64-year-old Iommi was diagnosed with early-stage lymphoma. Indeed, the band are throwing themselves into projects, and last week announced their first Australian shows since 1974. The new album is due for release in April 2013.

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The 26-year-old son of Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne reveals he has condition in Hello! magazine interview

Jack Osbourne, the son of ex-Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy and former X factor judge Sharon has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS).

The 26-year-old – who has recently become a father – was found to have the incurable autoimmune disease after a frightening spell in which he lost 60% of the vision in his right eye.

He and his family have revealed his condition in an interview with Hello! magazine in which Jack said he had experienced a range of emotions.

“While I was waiting for the final results, I got really, really angry,” he said.

“Then I got really sad for about two days, and after that I realised, being angry and upset is not going to do anything at this point – if anything it’s only going to make it worse. “‘Adapt and overcome’ is my new motto.”

Osbourne has spoken out to raise awareness of the condition and the support of his fiancee Lisa Stelly – who gave birth to baby Pearl two months ago – is helping him to keep a positive outlook.

Jack went for tests at the same hospital his daughter Pearl had been born just three weeks earlier. The condition affects the brain and the nervous system.

He said: “The timing was so bad. I’d just had a baby, work was going great – I kept thinking: ‘Why now?”‘

Sharon said she has been questioning whether she was to blame. She added: “I keep thinking: ‘What did I do wrong? What did I eat or drink when I was pregnant?’ I feel like it’s somehow my fault.”

Ozzy said: “If it was me, you’d think: ‘Ozzy had a reputation and it caught up with him’, but Jack is such a good guy.”

Jack – an extreme sports enthusiast – will use a combination of daily drug treatments, holistic therapies and lifestyle changes.

Stelly said: “Jack will have to change his life for the better – get healthier, not get stressed.”

View full post on Music: Ozzy Osbourne | guardian.co.uk

Reunited band close metal festival with triumphant hits set

Black Sabbath brought the 10th Download festival to a dramatic close on Sunday evening.

Ozzy Osbourne appeared onstage, enthusiastically introducing original bandmates Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler. Drummer Bill Ward chose not to take part in the reunion, claiming he had only been asked to play “minimally” with the band, so Tommy Clufetos stepped in. Guitarist Iommi, who is being treated for cancer, was deemed well enough to appear, with Osbourne declaring him “the real Iron Man”.

The set featured such classics as War Pigs, Paranoid and Sweet Leaf. Black Sabbath already have 15 songs written for a new album, but the Download show was packed with nods to their history, with an opening montage of vintage photos, before the show began with their titular song. “When we first formed 40 years ago, I had no idea we’d be here doing this.”

Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne have an illustrious history with the seminal Donington rock site. Before being rebranded as Download 10 years ago, and following its heritage as Monsters of Rock, the annual metal event was known as Ozzfest.

Festival promoter Andy Copping praised this year’s event, saying: “This year is undoubtedly the biggest and best lineup we’ve ever had, and we’ve seen some absolutely cracking performances to help us celebrate our 10th anniversary.”

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Original drummer takes umbrage at being asked to play only three songs at Download festival

Bill Ward will not be reuniting with Black Sabbath. The group’s original drummer has revealed he will not join Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne and Geezer Butler for any of their forthcoming concerts, including Download festival, Derby, Lollapalooza, Chicago, as well as a show in the band’s hometown in Birmingham on Saturday.

“I’m very, very sorry that it’s fallen to this,” Ward said on his website. “I [can't] help feeling some resentment towards the failure to reach an agreement, the failure to remember where we came from, the failure to be as brothers, as we once were. To be clear, I’m not blaming the other guys or finding any faults with them. I would think it can’t be easy for them either, but this situation is just really sad.”

Earlier this year, Ward announced that due to the lack of a “signable” contract, he would not participate in Black Sabbath’s reunion album and world tour. Although recording sessions continued without him, most of the tour dates were subsequently downgraded to shows by “Ozzy and friends”. Nevertheless, thousands of fans – and Ward himself – hoped band and drummer would come to an agreement.

All along, Ward said, he was in negotiation with the band, “standing by” to join the reunion. “Throughout this process, which began over a year ago, I have had to stand up for myself time and time again,” he wrote. “My criteria for a ’signable’ contract is based in mindful principles, respectability, and acknowledgment of my history within the band.”

He seems to have had reason to feel insulted. For Black Sabbath’s Download festival appearance, Ward has revealed, he was invited to play only “minimally”, for “no more than three songs”. “I was not prepared to watch another drummer play a Sabbath set,” Ward said, “while I was to play only three songs.”

As for this weekend’s warm-up show in Birmingham, the drummer only learned of the concert at the end of April, from an online advert. “I had no prior knowledge of the date and location, and I felt totally excluded.” After about a week of back and forth, Ward claims he received the following offer: “Come to the UK, play for free and see how the first show goes.”

“I was tempted,” he said. “Playing for free would not have been a problem for me, but … I can’t come to Birmingham and ’see what happens’ knowing there is a risk of not being able to play Download or Lollapalooza … I had to say ‘no’ to Birmingham on the principle of wanting to play all the shows.”

While Ward maintains an “open mind” about future work with Black Sabbath, the 2012 negotiations seem to have reached a dead end. “I hold no malice or resentment towards the other band members,” he said. “My fight has never been with them. I’ll love them forever. In my opinion, nobody wins this time; the band doesn’t win; the fans for an original lineup don’t win. Nobody wins, nobody. Even the ones who thought they did.”

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The TV star and businesswoman talks about her family

My parents were very deceitful people so I have made a big effort not to be like that with my own family. I try to be honest and upfront about everything. Practically everything my parents did taught me a lesson – a lesson to do the opposite. My mother was also very cold and I was determined not to be like that with my children. I was estranged from my parents for years because of their behaviour, but we were reconciled before they died.

There was a strong work ethic in our family as I was growing up. I knew you had to work for what you’ve got. Every day was a working day and we never went on holiday. I have passed a strong work ethic on to my kids. I wanted them to have no sense of entitlement. I hate those famous people’s kids who are always saying, “Do you know who my dad is?” I say to them, “No – but who are you?” I wanted them to have pride and dignity in themselves; they need to be able to buy their own car and have pride about that. There is nothing like feeling it for yourself.

I hope my children have more structure and guidelines than I did. My childhood was chaotic and I basically had to bring myself up. Both my parents were in showbiz – my mum was a dancer and choreographer and my dad managed bands – the Small Faces and later Black Sabbath, through which I met Ozzy. They were always all over the place. When I came home from school, I never knew if there would be anyone in. It was often just me and my older brother, David.

My parents didn’t think it was very important for David and me to be close. Because there wasn’t much parental attention, we had to compete for it. I wanted to be the good one. We always fought physically, like all siblings do, and he was stronger. But I’d get my own back in clever ways, like the time I stole his trousers when he was showering after PE and he had to walk home in his shorts. As a result of this competitiveness, we aren’t friends now, because when one does well it can become very awkward.

My dad was Jewish and changed his name from Levy to Arden before I was born, to avoid antisemitism. I don’t remember any particular stigma to being Jewish, but I do recall once in the playground in Brixton when I was wearing Star of David earrings, some of the kids hissing “She’s a Jew!” I didn’t know what they were on about.

Mum was an Irish Catholic and when Dad married her, she was divorced with two children, so he can’t have been that religious. What a mixed mutt I was. Dad used his Jewishness and would turn it on when he needed it. I don’t like that. In my book, you either are or you aren’t. You can’t just turn religion off and on to suit yourself.

I’m not an atheist, but I like to see what every religion has to offer and I’ve brought my kids up to know and respect all religions. My main principle in life is to treat everyone as you would like to be treated. That is what I hope I have passed on to my kids and will be passed on to my granddaughter, my son Jack’s daughter, who is to be born in a couple of months.

Structure in a family makes you feel safe, otherwise you are all over the place. I made sure my children knew they would have to get up and have a family dinner at a certain time – that was important. Although we moved around a lot, we have always stayed close to our areas in LA and Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, where the children went to school. I have tried to keep stability for them in this way so they can have a continuity of friendships.

My parents didn’t respect money, but they did have this attitude that if you haven’t got any, you can make it again, and I guess I feel the same. However, money certainly doesn’t insulate you from the realities of life – it doesn’t matter if you are a billionaire if you have a child who is very sick. I tell my kids: “You have to be happy with what you’ve got, because there is always someone better-looking, more talented, richer – and that kind of thinking will never end.”

I spent my early childhood in Brixton, living in Angell Road, off Brixton high street, which was very bohemian, full of artists in those days and, of course, very multiracial. I once showed Ozzy the road where I’d lived, but it had been bulldozed and council flats built in its place. In those days I went to the Italia Conti stage school, as did my brother. It taught me to have a good speaking voice in public and to have the right social skills.

I was the fat girl at school but my parents were never bothered – I can’t lay that one on them – but I worried about my body. I wanted to be tall and lean when, of course, I had short, squat legs. I’ve learned to respect my body now – well, it has got me this far hasn’t it, and it is still working.

The greatest value my parents imparted was a strong survival instinct. My dad, for all his misdemeanours, whenever he went down and you thought that was it, he would come back again. You have to admire that.

My mother, Hope, was not at all cuddly. I pined to be a physical, touchy, huggy person when I was young and have loved being like that with my three children – Aimee, now 29, Kelly, 28, and Jack, 27. I wanted my kids to be able to crawl into bed with us if they felt sick or were scared in the night. I wanted them to be able to tell us anything they needed to.

• Sharon Osbourne stars as the voice of Mama Hook in season two of Jake and the Never Land Pirates, which launches on Disney Junior UK on 16 April

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Black Sabbath world tour reduced to 15 dates under new name, although band will still play Download festival

Black Sabbath’s reunion tour has been downgraded to a string of Ozzy Osbourne concerts. As Tony Iommi continues his battle with cancer and Bill Ward continues his dispute with Black Sabbath, the group have replaced their world tour with a 15-date jaunt under the name Ozzy and Friends.

For the moment, only one Black Sabbath concert is going ahead: Osbourne will play with Iommi and Geezer Butler, although not Bill Ward, at June’s Download festival. While five gigs were cancelled, 14 more, including performances at Norway’s Bergen Calling and Italy’s Gods of Metal festival, are now billed to Ozzy and Friends. The singer’s friends will allegedly include musicians such as Butler, Zakk Wylde and Slash.

Iommi, who was recently diagnosed with early-stage lymphoma, is making “excellent progress”, according to the Black Sabbath website, “and is looking forward to getting back out on the road”. He, Butler and Osbourne are still working on a new Black Sabbath album – their first in 33 years – but show no sign of reaching out to Ward, the group’s original drummer. Despite his initial involvement in the reunion, Ward withdrew earlier this month, complaining of an “disrespectful” contract.

“I have not declined to participate in the Sabbath album and tour,” Ward wrote on Friday. “At the earliest opportunity, I am prepared to go to the UK and record, and later tour with the band … I remain hopeful for a ’signable’ contract and a positive outcome.”

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Metal legends dismiss drummer’s complaints over ‘unsignable’ contract, saying their comeback will carry on without him

Black Sabbath’s comeback will take place without Bill Ward. The metal legends have announced they are moving on without their original drummer, dismissing his complaints about the terms of their reunion.

In a statement on their website, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler and Tony Iommi hardly seemed sympathetic to Ward’s grievances. “We were saddened to hear via Facebook that Bill declined publicly to participate in our current [plans],” they wrote. “We have no choice but to continue recording without him although our door is always open.”

Though the specifics of the dispute have not been revealed, Ward has emphasised his interest in and commitment to the group – he simply has issues with the contract. “My position is not greed-driven,” Ward wrote on Thursday. “I’m not holding out for a ‘big piece’ of the action (money) like some kind of blackmail deal … [just] a signable contract … that reflects some dignity and respect toward me as an original member of the band.”

Fans have been vocal in their respect for Ward’s decision. “Your support from across the world has given me further strength and hope for a positive resolve,” Ward wrote on Saturday . “I have been moved and overwhelmed by the thousands of messages. I love you all.”

Meanwhile, Osbourne, Butler and Iommi have begun writing and recording their first album in 34 years. They are currently based in England, where Iommi is receiving treatment for cancer. Black Sabbath still plan to launch a world tour in May, including an appearance at June’s Download festival. But it seems they will do so without Ward – who played on 10 of the band’s first 11 albums.

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