Ozzy Osbourne’s half-time show at the Rams Season Opener in 2022 was like watching a living legend in action. He performed his brand-new single, “Patient Number 9,” just a day before the album officially came out. But what really sent the crowd wild was his classic hit “Crazy Train.” The energy was electric, and it felt like something supernatural was happening on stage.
“Patient Number 9” is Ozzy’s thirteenth studio album, and even though he’s recently featured on Billy Morrison’s 2024 song “Crack Cocaine,” this album remains his latest solo work. The title track he performed tells a haunting story about a patient trapped inside a psychiatric hospital, slowly losing their mind with no escape.
Ozzy’s journey to fame started when he helped create the heavy metal genre as the lead singer of Black Sabbath. The band was so unique and powerful that they accidentally created a whole new style of metal called doom metal.
Born in Warwickshire, England, Ozzy and his friends Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward formed Black Sabbath in Birmingham in 1968. Their music became legendary, with songs like “Paranoid,” “Iron Man,” and “Changes” becoming hits even outside the rock world.
But after dominating the 70s rock scene, Ozzy’s lifestyle caught up with him. His struggles with addiction and wild behavior led to the band firing him. Black Sabbath replaced him with another legendary singer, Ronnie James Dio. However, Ozzy didn’t stay down for long. In 1981, he launched his solo career with the album “Blizzard of Ozz,” featuring the unforgettable song “Crazy Train,” which he recorded with the legendary guitarist Randy Rhoads.
In 2002, Ozzy’s life took a surprising turn when a jazz-swing version of “Crazy Train” by Lewis Lamedica introduced the hit reality TV show “The Osbournes.” The show starred Ozzy, his wife Sharon, and two of his five children, Jack and Kelly. It became the first celebrity reality show to take the world by storm.
During the 2022 performance, Ozzy was 73 years old, and it was amazing to think that his band members—guitarists Zakk Wylde (55) and Andrew Watt (31), drummer Tommy Clufetos (42), and bassist Chris Cheney (52) from Jane’s Addiction—probably grew up listening to his music. Now, they were sharing the stage with him and making history together.
In recent years, Ozzy has faced serious health issues. A spinal injury in 2019 forced him to postpone his farewell tour multiple times, and things got even harder when he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2020. Even though he has been sober for over ten years, Ozzy has to deal with several health problems, including blood clots and severe nerve pain.
Despite all these struggles, Ozzy’s half-time show proved that he is still the godfather of heavy metal. With over 6.7 million views on YouTube, his voice sounded just as powerful as it did back in 1971. It’s as if even Parkinson’s disease couldn’t touch his legendary status.
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