Metal first couple the Osbournes to split: reports

LOS ANGELES | Ozzy Osbourne and Sharon Osbourne, one of the enduring couples in the hard-living world of heavy metal, have split, reports said Sunday.

Celebrity news outlets E! News and Entertainment Tonight quoted unnamed sources as saying that the Osbournes were ending their marriage of more than 33 years.

However, People magazine reported that, while the 67-year-old singer was moving out of their Los Angeles-area mansion, the separation may be temporary.

People said that the split was linked to Sharon’s suspicions he was having an affair. All three news outlets said that Ozzy, long notorious for his drug and alcohol use, had not had a relapse from his recent sobriety.

Sharon, 63, met Osbourne when her father was managing Black Sabbath, Ozzy’s original band that emerged from Birmingham, England and helped define heavy metal with thunderous blues-influenced guitar and a lyrical fascination with the occult.

Sharon not only married Ozzy but took charge of his solo career, recruiting a string of talented guitarists and songwriters who kept him at the forefront of metal — and controversy — for years.

She proved so successful that she branched out and became a manager for other hard rock acts.

Sharon stepped out of the shadows in the early 2000s when her life with Ozzy and two of their three children was turned into an MTV reality television show, “The Osbournes.”

source: interaksyon.com

Ozzy Osbourne says Black Sabbath to record new album

NEW YORK (AFP) | Some 45 years after pioneering heavy metal, Black Sabbath will return to the studio for a new album that could be the band’s last, frontman Ozzy Osbourne says.

Osbourne, in an interview published Monday, said Black Sabbath had a “great” experience with last year’s comeback album “13″ and a subsequent tour.

The heavy metal godfather, 65, said he told his wife and manager Sharon Osbourne that he wanted to return to his solo work unless Black Sabbath came together for another album.

“I said, ‘Sharon, I ain’t fucking 21 anymore. If we’re going to do it, I want to do it before I’m 70! Time isn’t on our side,’” he told Metal Hammer magazine.

“So she made the call and came back and said ‘Yeah, the record company wants another album,’” he said.

Osbourne said Black Sabbath has not yet written new music but plans to return to the studio in early 2015 for what would be the band’s 20th studio album. He said the band members had not decided whether to record in their native Britain or in Osbourne’s adopted Los Angeles.

But Tony Iommi, Black Sabbath’s lead guitarist and driving force behind the music, in a recent message on his website said he has “been in the studio writing and listening to some of my earlier ideas for songs.”

Osbourne acknowledged that Iommi’s health could affect the next album as the guitarist has been treated for cancer.

“Obviously a lot of it is coming down to Tony’s health,” Osbourne said.

He said that the band planned to work again with Rick Rubin, the influential producer whose work has spanned genres from hip-hop to metal. Rubin produced last year’s “13,” which was Black Sabbath’s first album in 18 years and reached number one on album charts in both the United States and Britain.

The band helped pioneer heavy metal, starting with its self-titled first album in 1970. Black Sabbath incorporated elements of the blues into a heavier guitar sound, accompanied by themes of the occult, which often alarmed religious groups.