Well, I wasn’t expecting that (so soon) John ‘Ozzy’ Osbourne has died at the age of seventy six shortly after performing his final concert appearance with Black Sabbath.

If ever anyone, with the exception of Keith Richards, lived beyond their expected time it was Ozzy. A man who pushed near every boundary, saved from near certain early physical and financial demise by his wife and manager, Sharon Osbourne he overcame alcohol and drug addiction before falling to Parkinson’s Disease.

I have been listening to Ozzy Osbourne’s music since 1979, Black Sabbath were inextricably linked to my childhood and youth. In an age before the luxury of smart phones, games consoles and tv sets in every room all we had were our records and books. I knew every square inch of their album covers, every lyric, it’s apparent meaning and every guitar riff and solo. My Father told my brother and I that if we “studied our school books like we did those records we’d be geniuses”. He had a point.

Ozzy had Lady Luck on his side from early on. He was blessed with working with Tony Iommi, without doubt the most influential guitar player of the 1970s and later, Randy Rhodes who died far too young. He took his body to the brink and back and survived and found renewed success throughout the decades managing to be universally loved regardless of people’s taste in music.

Ozzy was the ultimate frontman, few could work a crowd like him. His voice was perfect for Black Sabbath who never truly got the credit and respect they deserved. With the exception of The Beatles I honestly cannot think of another band that influenced so many genres of music than Sabbath. They invented heavy metal and hard rock, their contemporaries (Purple, Zeppelin, Cream) were blues bands at heart. Every subsequent off shoot of heavy metal owed their existence to Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne. That’s some epitaph.