Venerable rock author Martin Popoff examines the life of Black Sabbath singer and metal icon Ozzy Osbourne by following his career in an almost day-by-day chronology. Everything in Osbourne's life is covered here including his early days, his addiction to drugs, the hiring and firing of various guitar players and the infamous episodes with bats and doves.
Here are several sample excerpts:
March 27, 1981
Blizzard of Ozz is issued in the US, featuring a different back cover than the UK edition issued six months earlier.
April 1981
"Crazy Train" is issued as the Ozzy Osbourne Band's first US single, backed with "Steal Away (The Night)."
April 22-July 12, 1981
The band embark on their first US tour, beginning in Towson, Maryland, with Motorhead as support and ending in Seattle, Washington. Motorhead, with four records out at this point including Ace of Spades, are pretty much a co-headliner, at minimum a strong secondary seller of tickets on the tour.
Additionally, Popoff has conducted over 30 interviews with everyone from Ozzy, Bill Ward, and Carmine Appice to Zakk Wylde, Rudy Sarzo and Leslie West. That content helps to flesh out the chronology presented here.
Innumerable books have been written about Osbourne but Popoff has managed to approach the subject in his own unique way. You'll learn a lot about the Prince of Darkness after reading this one.
Originally published on Curled Up With A Good Book at www.curledup.com. © Steven Rosen, 2014
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