Before Ozzy Osbourne became the voice of Black Sabbath, the “Prince of Darkness” had a very different job.
At just 16 years old, Osbourne worked for 18 months at a slaughterhouse in Digbeth, Birmingham, England. The then-future five-time Grammy Award winner was tasked with some of the hardest and messiest work inside the facility, long before his music career made him one of the biggest names in heavy metal.
According to his autobiography ‘I Am Ozzy,’ Osbourne first struggled with the job but eventually became used to the work. He started by removing material from sheep’s stomachs before being promoted to work with cattle.
“I grew to like the slaughterhouse. I got used to the smell, and once I’d proved myself as puke remover they promoted me to cow killer,” he wrote, per Songfacts.
The job was one of several Osbourne held before music changed his life. He had also worked as a construction laborer, trainee plumber, apprentice toolmaker and car factory horn-tuner.
Photo by Gus Stewart/Redferns
Osbourne was born John Michael Osbourne in 1948 and grew up in Aston, Birmingham, in a working-class family. He left school at 15 and entered the workforce, taking on different jobs as he tried to make his way.
The slaughterhouse job came in 1964, when he was still a teenager. The work was difficult, but Osbourne recalled becoming surprisingly comfortable with it.
His duties eventually included cutting open cow carcasses, removing stomachs for overnight soaking, pulling off hoofs and killing pigs.
Osbourne also described the dangers of working with cattle. In I Am Ozzy, he recalled one encounter in which he had to shoot a bull several times before it went down.
“I can’t tell you how many man-on-cow death matches I had in the Digbeth slaughterhouse,” Osbourne recounted. “I had to shoot one bull five or six times before it went down. Fuck me, he was pissed off.”
The slaughterhouse job ended after a fight with a coworker. Osbourne said another worker repeatedly played a prank by secretly cutting his apron strings, causing blood and other material to get onto his clothes.
After becoming angry over the prank, Osbourne attacked the coworker with a pole used to move materials around the meat vats. The man was hospitalized, and Osbourne lost his job.
The episode became one of the troubled chapters of his youth, which also included a short period of crime and a six-week stay in prison after he was convicted of stealing from a clothing shop.
But his life was changed.
Osbourne found his path in music after becoming inspired by The Beatles as a teenager. He later joined forces with Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi and Bill Ward, forming the group that became Black Sabbath.
The band emerged in the late 1960s and released its self-titled debut album in 1970. Its dark sound, heavy guitar riffs and Osbourne’s distinctive voice helped establish a new style of rock that would become known as heavy metal.
Black Sabbath quickly gained attention with albums such as Black Sabbath, Paranoid, Master of Reality, Black Sabbath Vol. 4, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and Sabotage.
Paranoid became one of the band’s best-known records, while songs such as “Iron Man” and “War Pigs” became lasting rock classics. Master of Reality also became highly influential, particularly among later heavy metal and doom metal musicians.
Osbourne remained with Black Sabbath through the band’s first major run of success before he was dismissed in 1979 because of problems with alcohol and drugs.
But leaving the band did not end his career. Instead, Osbourne launched a successful solo career in the early 1980s. His first solo album, Blizzard of Ozz, was released in 1980 and became a major commercial success. The album featured guitarist Randy Rhoads and produced songs that became central to Osbourne’s solo catalog.
He followed it with Diary of a Madman in 1981 and continued releasing successful albums throughout the following decades.
His solo records included Bark at the Moon, The Ultimate Sin, No Rest for the Wicked, No More Tears, Ozzmosis, Down to Earth, Black Rain, Scream, Ordinary Man and Patient Number 9.
Osbourne also earned major recognition from the music industry. He won five Grammy Awards during his career, including a 1994 Grammy for Best Metal Performance for “I Don’t Want to Change the World,” recorded on the live album Live & Loud.
His achievements extended beyond awards and record sales. Black Sabbath was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006, while Osbourne was inducted as a solo artist in 2024.
He also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was honored on the Birmingham Walk of Stars in his hometown.
In 1996, his wife and manager Sharon Osbourne launched Ozzfest, a major touring festival that helped bring heavy metal acts to large audiences for years.
Osbourne also became known to a much wider television audience through The Osbournes, the reality series that followed his family. The show ran from 2002 to 2005 and became a major television success.
Despite years of health problems, Osbourne continued making music and performing when he could. His final performance came on July 5, 2025, in Birmingham, when he reunited with the original Black Sabbath lineup for the Back to the Beginning concert at Villa Park.
Osbourne died on July 22, 2025, at age 76.
From an 18-month job inside a Birmingham slaughterhouse to international rock stardom, his life followed a path that few musicians could match.
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