Charles Brammall
My son was a Grind Core drummer (the heaviest of Heavy Metal music). He chose it out of all the genres because it involved the most technical and difficult drumming, and he wanted to stretch himself. I would sit on his bed listening and watching as he practised, and I marvelled in disbelief that human hands were able to move at that speed. They were nothing but a whirr of skin toned fuzz.
Some time prior to his death this week, he of the most unusual and exquisitely mellifluent voice (for a Metal singer), the Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne, chatted about his trust in the Lord of Light.
It may be counterintuitive for some to imagine that one with his dark, heavy metal brand could be a servant of Jesus, but it ain’t. He died just a few days after his final performance (sitting in an elaborate black throne) on July 5, with his solo band, and Black Sabbath- the so-called Back to the Beginning concert. It was in his childhood stamping ground (and VERY blue collar) city of Birmingham. He went Home, (back to the beginning), just 27 days later. Izzy was 4 years shy of an octogenarian.
In an interview with Audacy in ‘92, the Wizard of Oz discussed what he thought at the time would be Sabbath’s final tour, as well as his belief in God. He said (in that stale old chestnut) that for him being a Christian doesn’t mean going to church:
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“I believe in God. I don’t go to church, but I don’t think you have to… go to church to believe in God.”
And I get it. It is trying and exhausting to go to church as a high profile entertainer, and a vastly different experience to everyone else.
ABC Radio broadcaster Clive Robertson was a VERY keen (and delightfully droll and laconic) Evangelical Christian, led to Jesus by his friend and fellow broadcaster Kel Richards.
But dear Clive was never able to go to church because of his celebrity, and extreme shyness. So he subscribed to Phillip Jensen’s sermons and listened to them at home each week, bless his heart.
But at the risk of being reductionistic, in normal circumstances I think the scriptures are pretty perspicacious on the issue, Heb 10:24-5:
“And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.”
But in an ‘86 “Spin” interview, the OTHER Big O said, “I’m a Christian. I was christened as a Christian. I used to go to Sunday school. I never took much interest in it because … I didn’t.”
The Dark Prince then described heaven: “My idea of Heaven is feeling good. A place where people are alright to each other. This world scares the… out of me. We’re all living on the tinderbox… there’s some maniac somewhere trying to devise a new means of destruction. It always amazes me that mankind always goes to find the biggest, powerful-est means of destruction before they find anything good. It’s always the negative things they find first”.
Since he’s had children he wonders what will be left for them and “what a future we’ve got for mankind.”
But Ozzy had the blessed opportunity of hearing the Gospel of Jesus’ death a mere fortnight before his death. An evangelist visited him home at home and plopped a Bible in his hand. According to the evangelist, “God’s Spirit was drawing him,”. He detected a spiritual openness in the final days of the artist’s life.
Ozzy was raised in a working-class RC Birmingham family, and attended Catholic school.
Despite his dark image, he frequently used Christian imagery in his lyrics, and album art. Songs like After Forever even defend belief in God:
“Have you ever thought about your soul, can it be saved?
Or perhaps you think that when you’re dead you just stay in your grave.
Is God just a thought within your head, or is he a part of you?
Is Christ just a name that you read in a book when you were in school?
When you think about death do you lose your breath or do you keep your cool?
Would you like to see the Pope on the end of a rope, do you think he’s a fool?
Well I have seen the truth, yes I’ve seen the light and I’ve changed my ways.
And I’ll be prepared when you’re lonely and scared at the end of our days.
Could it be you’re afraid of what your friends might say
If they knew you believe in God above?
They should realize before they criticise.
That God is the only way to love.
Is your mind so small that you have to fall
In with the pack wherever they run?
Will you still sneer when death is near
And say they may as well worship the sun?
I think it was true it was people like you that crucified Christ.
I think it is sad the opinion you had was the only one voiced.
Will you be so sure when your day is near, say you don’t believe?
You had the chance but you turned it down, now you can’t retrieve.
Perhaps you’ll think before you say that God is dead and gone.
Open your eyes, just realize that he’s the one.
The only one who can save you now from all this sin and hate.
Or will you still jeer at all you hear, yes I think it’s too late.”
And while he believes in God, he has admitted to oh-so-common struggles with organised religion: “I’m not religious, but I’m spiritual. I don’t go to church.”
Ozzy died surrounded by his family in Buckinghamshire this week.
His transfixing stage presence birthed heavy metal, a genre that reflected the angst of a generation. But Metal aficionados are contrary to our expectations. My son, a metal tragic, tells me that if anyone’s injured at a gig, everyone else rushes to help them, wisely, empathically and gently. He says they’re the loveliest people.
Yet beneath Ozzy’s wild persona, his life revealed a surprising spiritual journey, marked by his own statements affirming his reliance on God, while he endured decades of addiction, controversy, and health struggles.
With his hard-living rock lifestyle, some may be surprised that he lived to the age of 76. Others, perhaps, expected the icon might continue to live into his 80s and beyond.
His family’s statement, shared with The New York Times, says, “It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning.
He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time.”
Born December 3, 1948, in Aston, Birmingham, Osbourne grew up in a working-class family. His dad Jack, a toolmaker, and mum Lillian, a factory worker, raised six children in a home where domestic violence was common, as Osbourne recounted in his memoir, I Am Ozzy.
Leaving school at 15 due to undiagnosed dyslexia and ADHD, he worked odd jobs as a plumber’s assistant, slaughterhouse worker, and car horn tuner. Then began his pursuance of music. Inspired by ‘The Beatles’ “She Loves You,” Osbourne said, “I was going to be a rock star the rest of my life”, a vow he fulfilled against all odds.
In ‘68 he co-founded Black Sabbath with Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward, naming the band after a Boris Karloff horror film. Their self-titled debut in ‘70 (likened to the “Big Bang of heavy metal,”), crashed the hippie era with dark anthems like “Paranoid” and “Iron Man.”
Critics like Robert Christgau, described them as “Satanic claptrap,” but many fans embraced their dark influences. Ozzy’s performances were marked by haunting vocals and theatrical malevolence – wearing crosses crafted by his toolmaker father.
Despite his “Prince of Darkness” image, Osbourne’s affirmation of trust in Jesus grew out of his Anglican upbringing. Christened C of E, he went to Sunday school, and briefly considered vocational parish ministry as a boy.
In a ‘92 New York Times interview he declared himself a “practicing member of the Church of England,” and said he prayed before every concert, a ritual captured in the 2011 documentary God Bless Ozzy Osbourne, produced by his son Jack.
“I do believe in God,” he told GQ in 2020, “but I’ve got my own idea of what he looks like.” His non-traditional (and non Biblical?) expression of faith nonetheless seemed sincere, but it often clashed with his stage persona.
Tunes like “After Forever,” penned by fellow bandmember Geezer Butler, warned of hell and affirmed Christ’s sacrifice, reflecting Osbourne’s belief in God. His life was a battle against darkness within and without. Fired from Black Sabbath in ‘79 due to substance abuse, he rebounded with solo albums ‘80’s Blizzard of Ozz and ‘81’s Diary of a Madman.
They spawned hits like “Crazy Train” and “Flying High Again.” His antics, including ‘82’s biting the head off a live bat (which he mistook for a prop), and doves, at a record label meeting, fueled accusations of Satanism, which he vehemently denied:
“I’m a Christian,” he told The Guardian in 2014: “I was christened as a Christian. I used to go to Sunday school.” An ‘80s lawsuit claiming that his song “Suicide Solution” incited a teen’s death, was dismissed, affirming his music as art, not advocacy.
Ozzy’s personal life was also turbulent. Married to Thelma Riley from ‘72 to ‘82, he adopted her son Elliot, and had two children with her, Jessica and Louis. He later admitted to being an absent, abusive father due to addiction, calling the marriage a “terrible mistake.”
In ‘82 he married Sharon Arden, daughter of manager Don Arden, who guided his solo career. They had three children – Aimee, Kelly, and Jack – and faced trials, including his arrest for attempting to strangle Sharon while drunk.
She dropped the charges, and their marriage endured, celebrated in the Emmy-winning reality show The Osbournes (2002–2005), which revealed Ozzy as a “doddering and sweet father.”
His later years brought multiple health challenges. Diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2003 (but not revealed publicly til 2020), he battled mobility issues, requiring the throne for his final solo and Sabbath concert.
In 2019 he had a serious fall, and in 2003 an ATV accident caused him severe injuries. But his voice remained strong, as Sharon said: “Parkinson’s doesn’t affect his voice.” Osbourne leaves a legacy of musical innovation, cultural impact, and spiritual complexity.
Survived by Sharon (who adored him, and it was mutual), their three kids, and grandkids, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame twice— with Sabbath in ‘06, and as a solo artist in ‘24.
So Ozzy has gone home to his dear Heavenly Father, as these “Crazy Train” lyrics suggest: “Maybe it’s not too late to learn how to love and forget how to hate.” This lyric doesn’t sounded like it came from the Prince of Darkness. They’d feel more at home in a non-denominational Evangelical service.
And the press inevitably remind us about the bat, doves, and the bans… The sacking, the arrest, and the alcohol… The strangling, and the black eyeliner. And fair enough. But those of us who came up inside music, especially Christian music, have the blessing of knowing that the truth about Ozzy is deeper.
His O-ness was the godfather of metal as well as the Dark Prince. Period. Without him, the genre as we know it wouldn’t exist. No Sabbath, no Slayer, no Scorpions. No Stryper, Skillet or Demon Hunter.
“Heaven’s Metal” Magazine founder Doug Van Pelt said: “Like members of the mafia in the movies, it’s interesting to note how soberly some of these characters looked at God and morality. Black Sabbath, the legion of bands that they inspired, and his solo career, wore a confusing veneer of ‘evil’ that was easy to react to from the surface…
“As in one of those funeral scenes from a mobster film, we pause now to reflect on the family he’s left behind. We bless them in the Name of Jesus and we show kindness to those grieving. When we do this, we might show the attractiveness and power of God’s love.”
And that can be our tone today – grateful, introspective, and unapologetically rock ’n’ roll.
Ozzy’s fingerprints reach even further into the Christian rock landscape than most fans realise.
Like many kids of his generation, he was raised Christian, and that early foundation stuck with him. Praise God for kids’ work, Sunday School, camps, school scripture, and ISCF and Crusaders! My wife and my submission to Jesus are both products of these ministries.
Ozzy often called Jesus as “the original rock ’n’ roll star”. And these comments, from a man who despite having everything in the world’s eyes, still acknowledged someone MUCH bigger than he could EVER be. And his lyrics reflects that messiness.
Stryper, the original Christian metal band, covered a song of his with Gospel lines in 2015, without changing a word. And when Ozzy died, frontman Michael Sweet posted that same lyric, with this simple statement: “I believe he believed. God bless you, Ozzy.”
Ozzy’s legacy has also shaped the way Christian bands are seen by the mainstream. In the early 2000s his son Jack helped book and push artists for Ozzfest. This tour has become a launching pad for San Diego outfit P.O.D., who openly proclaimed Christ on massive stages, thanks in part to the Osbournes.
Millions saw them at Ozzfest, and that visibility matters for the Gospel of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Ozzy and Sharon helped break down the barriers that kept many Christian bands out of mainstream exposure. They championed artists they believed in, regardless of industry hype, and gave them a global stage through Ozzfest.
P.O.D.’s Sonny Sandoval said, “P.O.D. had the honor (sic) of playing Ozzfest twice in the early 2000s. Ozzy and Sharon were always so kind to us, and I pray his legacy is remembered with the same love and generosity he showed to young bands coming up. Metal, rock and roll, nu metal, and countless other genres were shaped by the work he poured into every project.”
For many believers, Ozzy was never that scary. Millennials didn’t grow up with the bat or the protests- we grew up with MTV’s The Osbournes. A reality show dad, surrounded by family chaos and bleeped-out conversations, yelling at the sky and confused by the operation of a microwave. He was ridiculous, real, and somehow he felt like dads.
The energy and black t-shirts at Sabbath, and Izzy gigs, were undeniable. On the day after Ozzy’s final gig Nashville was filled with artists who had taken part in the tribute. They looked drained and exhausted, but were obviously floating.
They knew they had been part of something very special. That night now carries even more weight. The celebration was a genuine and heartfelt farewell to Oz for the artists who took the stage. Musos across the rock world are reflecting on what Ozzy meant- not just as a singer, and musician, but as a presence.
Brian “Head” Welch of Korn recalled the early days of their career, and both the Osbournes’ unexpected kindness behind the scenes. He labelled the memories sacred, praying, “Lord thank you for all the experiences we had with Ozzy and for the absolute kindness he and Sharon displayed to Korn over the years, especially the first few months after our debut album came out.”
He asked for “waves and waves of Your love, mercy, and forgiveness” to wash over Ozzy as he reunites in eternity with late guitarist Randy Rhoads. Joseph Rojas of Seventh Day Slumber offered a similar heartfelt reflection, admitting honestly, “I didn’t know where Ozzy stood with the Lord, and I’m not here to pretend I do…
(But) he had a massive impact on music and inspired a ton of musicians, both Christian and non-Christian. Whether directly or indirectly, what he brought to the table creatively has shaped a lot of what we hear today.”
Today, we extend our prayers and love to the entire Osbourne family.
Ozzy didn’t clean up well, but he gave the world music that dared to wrestle with fear, mortality, God, and grace. He helped build the world Christian rock grew up in— not even realising that he was.
So today, we praise Jesus for dying for this fellow, we remember the dear chap, and give the God of music thanks for his legacy.
Prayer:
Dearest Father,
Thank You that the lessons we learn from You through Ozzy are helpfully blunt – that what we have to do in the Christian life is to know Christ, and know Him well. Please help that be our focus, and help us not to be distracted by those who would deny Him, or offer a watered-down version of Him.
In His name,
Amen.
Gracious and forgiving Father,
praise You that You revealed Yourself to Ozzy, and to us- in Christ, the LORD of Light, but mild saviour, who comes to us in flesh like ours. Please keep me exclusively focused on Him, not distracted, and protect me from those who teach falsehood.
For Jesus’ shining sake,
Amen.
Loving Father,
thank you for this day, and all the tasks You have given Sharon, the kids, and Ozzy’s band mates to do. And for my friends and family (…); please show us all Your mercy and protection today.
In praise of Jesus’ name,
Amen
God almighty,
please show your loving presence in all places of violence, suffering, and pain in the world, especially for Sharon, the kids, and the band.
Lord of all nations, please be with persecuted Christians, including musos, throughout the world. In (…). May they stand strong in their faith and continue to witness boldly to Christ.
In His shining name,
Amen.