Known as the Prince of Darkness, the legendary Black Sabbath co-founder and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne became one of the most influential Heavy Metal artists of all time. He achieved fame not only for his praised work with the group that created Metal music but also for his extremely successful solo career, where he worked with incredible artists like Randy Rhoads, Jake E. Lee, Bob Daisley, Zakk Wylde and more.
Although heavy music is his main focus he always had a broad musical taste that made him be always interested in a good melody. Over the decades the musician talked a lot about his favorite bands but there is one who since he was a kid have been his favorite of all time.
The band that Ozzy Osbourne said is his favorite of all time
John Michael Osbourne was born in Marston Green, Warwickshire, England in 1948 so he was only a young kid when the “British Invasion” started. In the early 60s many incredible bands appeared in the United Kingdom and released classic albums that changed the course of music.
One of those bands were The Beatles, which was formed in Liverpool in 1960 and was active until 1970. It was after hearing “She Loves You” which released as a single in 1963 that Ozzy’s life changed and he decided that he would become a musician. Since then he always praised The Beatles and said that they are his absolute favorite band of all time.
In an interview for his 2020 documentary “The Nine Lives of Ozzy Osbourne” he recalled that experience of hearing them for the first time. (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage). “Nothing really happened to me in my life until The Beatles happened. Then it was like someone had turned the world into me. They’ve played ‘She Loves You’ on the radio and I remember thinking ‘F*cking hell, this is incredible’. From that moment after I heard ‘She Loves You’ I knew I wanted to be a Rock star for the rest of my life,” Ozzy Osbourne said.
Ozzy curiously was walking down the street, in Witton Road in Aston at that time. He had transistor radio when the song came on and he heard it for the first time.
He covered The Beatles many times
Ozzy Osbourne had the opportunity to cover The Beatles many times over the years. On his 2005 covers album called “Under Cover”, he re-recorded the track “In My Life”. He performed the song live once with the Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash as a special guest.
On “Under Cover”, he also covered two John Lennon solo songs: “Woman” and “Working Class Hero”. His band on that album was formed by Alice In Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell, bassist Chris Wyse and drummer Mike Bordin (Faith No More).
Five years later, in 2010, he released a version for “How?”, another Lennon solo track. He is a huge fan of the late legendary Beatles singer and guitarist. He recalled in a conversation with Goldmine Magazine in 2010 that he remembers exactly where he was when he heard the terrible news of his death.
“I was in Wales. I was writing and rehearsing. Sharon calls me up and says, ‘You’ll never guess what happened.’ She says, ‘John Lennon got shot last night.’ My world just f**kin’ stopped. It was like when Kennedy got done, you know. But a f**kin’ guy like Lennon. It just stopped my world,” Ozzy Osbourne said.
He had the opportunity to meet Paul McCartney and see him live many times
Ozzy had the opportunity to see Paul McCartney live in concert a few times. But also had the chance to meet him and say thank you for the inspiration. There is a famous video of when McCartney was being interviewed in the early 00s and Ozzy entered the place by surprise.
After the Beatle noticed that it was Ozzy he joked saying: ‘Oh God, you’re not letting him in’. But of course, they hug each other and talk for a while. Right before Ozzy walked in he was talking about when the Black Sabbath vocalist asked him to play the bass in the song “Dreamer” from his 2001 album “Down To Earth”. “I was just saying about, ‘Dreamer’ track. Good track but I said I didn’t wanna do the bassline”.
Ozzy recalled that in an interview with Billboard in 2023. He said (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage): “I think I would die to have a Beatle in my album. I did ask him one time. But he came up with an excuse (saying he) couldn’t beat the bass player that was already on. I went ‘Ahh, ok. Maybe you’re right’.