Music
2018: No.39 - £140m
2017: No.35 - £135m
The Brummie band who gave heavy metal to the world - and - played their last ever live shows in their home city earlier last year. And for the avoidance of doubt, the tour was titled "The End"
The tour lasted almost a year and took in the US, Australia, New Zealand and Europe, drawing to a close a rock saga that lasted nearly five decades. The final 海角视频 date was at Birmingham's Genting Arena last February.
He continues his solo career, though, and will be the headline act for the 2018 Download Festival at Donington Park. He will also headline at the Barcelona Rockfest and the Fort Rock Festival in Fort Lauderdale, Florida as part of a farewell world tour. In addition work on a new solo album is underway and he has been touring with guitarist Zakk Wylde and appearing on Gogglebox.
It’s been a busy few years for legendary Brummie rocker Ozzy, who will turn 70 in December. The last successful Black Sabbath tour in 2014 culminated in a home town Christmas gig and added nearly £45 million to the Black Sabbath coffers. And they picked up a Grammy into the bargain. The final tour has boosted the coffers of the Godfather of Heavy Metal still more
The 2014 tour came immediately after a reunion album that raced to No. 1 in more than 50 countries. Ozzy’s best-of solo album, Memoirs of a Madman, also received wide acclaim.
Three of the original members of the band – Ozzy, guitarist and bassist Geezer Butler reformed for their first new album in 33 years, named 13, which achieved global success, becoming their first chart-topper since their Paranoid album 44 years earlier. The album topped the charts in the 海角视频, the USA, Canada, the Far East and Europe.
The original line-up reunited in 1997 to headline the Ozzfest festival, and released the live album Reunion, recorded at the NEC, in 1998. That project came to an end when Ozzy resumed his solo career.
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Ozzy’s company, Monowise, has a turnover of nearly £5 million and is doing nicely, boosted by past tours and his 100 million album sales, not to mention royalties. Sharon makes a sizeable contribution with US talk show earnings and TV advertising work as well as her X Factor appearances. She has now been on X Factor for six seasons. In addition, she sold two million copies of her autobiography Extreme.
Ozzy's phenomenal musical success is a long way from his childhood in Lodge Road, Aston where John Michael Osbourne was born into a poverty stricken family with six children. The son of a GEC toolmaker, he was bullied at school and suffering learning difficulties, he turned his back on crime and found refuge in music.
His leap from rock star to celebrity came in 2002 when he became the unlikely star of an MTV reality TV series The Osbournes . The series, based on the unconventional domestic life of Ozzy and his family, ran for three years and became one of MTV’s greatest hits.
He lives on a vast Buckinghamshire estate and has homes in Beverly Hills and Malibu, but Ozzy remains Brum’s favourite rocker.