Ozzy Osbourne (31,646 views)

[Henny Macc]

John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (December 3, 1948 - )
Years active: 1967-present
Country of origin: England
Recorded vocal range: D2-G5 - 3.4 octaves

Band history:

• 1967-1968 - Music Machine (lead vocals)

• 1968 - Approach (lead vocals)
• 1968 - Rare Breed (lead vocals)
• 1968-1977 - Black Sabbath (lead vocals)
• 1978-1979 - Black Sabbath (lead vocals)
• 1980-present - Ozzy Osbourne (lead vocals)
• 1997-2006 - Black Sabbath (lead vocals)
• 2011-2017 - Black Sabbath (lead vocals)

Recorded high notes:
G5: "Too Far Gone"
F♯5/G♭5: "Fire"
F5: "Bark at the Moon", "Degradation Rules", "Fairies Wear Boots" live US Festival 1983, "I Just Want You"
E5: "Electric Funeral", "Fire", "Megalomania", "Oh No the Bitch Won't Go", "Shock Wave", "Vertical Man"
D♯5/E♭5: "Flying High Again", "God Only Knows", "I Don't Want to Change the World" live 1992, "Iron Man" live Providence 1975, "Mr. Tinkertrain", "My Jekyll Doesn't Hyde", "My New Rock and Roll", "Sabbra Cadabra", "Spiral Architect", "Walk on Water" demo
D5: "A Thousand Shades", "Black Sabbath" live Chicago 1974, "Bombers (Can Open Bomb Bays)", "Dream for Tomorrow", "Feels So Good to Be Bad", "Frustrated Yes I'm Hated", "Immortal", "Killing Yourself to Live", "My New Rock and Roll", "Patient Number 9", "Snowblind" live at the Hammersmith Odeon 1978, "The Thrill of It All", "Walk on Water", "The Writ"
C♯5/D♭5: "A National Acrobat", "Black Sabbath" live Chicago 1974, "Crazy Train", "Evil Shuffle", "Flying High Again", "Fool Like You", "Frustrated Yes I'm Hated", "Hellraiser", "Hole in the Sky", "I Don't Want to Change the World" demo, "I Just Want You", "Killing Yourself to Live", "Megalomania", "Mr. Darkness", "Mr. Tinkertrain", "My Jekyll Doesn't Hide", "Oh No the Bitch Won't Go", "Rock 'n' Roll Doctor", "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath", "Sabbra Cadabra", "See You on the Other Side", "Shot in the Dark", "Sometimes I'm Happy" live New Jersey 1975, "So Tired", "Stayin' Alive", "Symptom of the Universe", "Today Is the End", "Tomorrow", "Under the Graveyard", "Walk on Water", "You Lookin' at Me Lookin' at You"
C5: "Air Dance", "All Moving Parts (Stay Still)", "All My Life", "Breakin' All the Rules", "Close My Eyes Forever", "Cornucopia", "Demon Alcohol", "Desire", "Dream for Tomorrow", "Feels So Good to Be Bad", "Ghost Behind My Eyes", "I Don't Want to Change the World" demo, "I Just Want You", "Jack's Land", "Johnny Blade", "Lightning Strikes", "Living with the Enemy", "Little Dolls", "Miracle Man", "My Little Man", "My New Rock and Roll", "Never Say Die", "Now You See It (Now You Don't)", "Old L.A. Tonight", "Over the Mountain", "Perry Mason" demo, "Shock Wave", "Sometimes I'm Happy" live New Jersey 1975, "Spiders", "Sweet Leaf", "Therapy", "Tomorrow's Dream", "Tonight", "Vertical Man", "Voodoo Dancer", "Won't Be Coming Home", "You Said It All" live Gaumont Theatre 1980, "Zombie Stomp"
B4: "A Hard Road", "A National Acrobat", "Alive", "All Moving Parts (Stay Still)", "A Thousand Shades", "Back Street Kids", "Believer", "Bombers (Can Open Bomb Bays)", "Centre of Eternity", "Children of the Grave", "Crucify the Dead", "Dead and Gone", "Denial" demo, "Devil's Daughter (Holy War)", "Diary of a Madman", "Dirty Women", "Don't Blame Me", "Dream for Tomorrow", "Eat Me", "Electric Funeral", "Feels So Good to Be Bad", "Flying High Again", "Frustrated Yes I'm Hated", "Goodbye", "Goodbye to Romance", "Gypsy", "Hellraiser", "Hole in the Sky", "I Don't Want to Change the World", "Johnny Blade", "Junior's Eyes", "Killing Yourself to Live", "Led Clones", "Looking for Today", "Lord of This World", "Mama I'm Coming Home" demo, "Megalomania", "My Jekyll Doesn't Hide", "Never", "Never Know Why", "N.I.B.", "No Escape from Now", "No More Tears", "No Place for Angels", "Now You See It (Now You Don't)", "One of Those Days", "Over to You", "Parasite", "Perry Mason", "Pictures of Matchstick Men", "Revelation (Mother Earth)", "Rock 'n' Roll Doctor", "Rock 'n' Roll Rebel", "Sabbra Cadabra", "Say Yeah Yeah", "Secret Loser", "See You on the Other Side", "Shock Wave", "Slow Down", "Snowblind", "So Tired", "Spiral Architect", "Stayin' Alive", "Steal Away (The Night)", "Supernaut", "The Liar", "The Thrill of It All", "Thunder Underground", "Time", "Tomorrow", "Under the Graveyard", "Under the Sun/Every Day Comes and Goes", "Walk on Water", "Who Are You", "Whole World's Fallin' Down", "Wicked World", "Winter Wonderland", "The Writ", "You're No Different" demo
A♯4/B♭4: "A.V.H.", "Believer", "Black Sabbath" music video version, "Can You Hear Them?", "Cornucopia", "Crazy Babies", "Crazy Train", "Denial", "Diggin' Me Down", "End of the Beginning", "Evil Woman", "Fairies Wear Boots", "Feels So Good to Be Bad", "Fire in the Sky", "Flying High Again", "Fool Like You", "Ghost Behind My Eyes", "God Only Knows", "Hand of Doom", "Hero", "I Ain't No Nice Guy", "I Just Want You", "Immortal", "It's a Raid", "Junkie", "Killer of Giants", "Led Clones", "Lightning Strikes", "Little Dolls", "Mama, I'm Coming Home", "Mr. Darkness", "Mr. Tinkertrain", "My New Rock and Roll", "No Escape from Now", "One Up the 'B' Side", "Over the Mountain", "Paranoid", "Party with the Animals", "Patient Number 9", "Perry Mason" demo, "Psycho Man", "Purple Haze", "Road to Nowhere", "Running Out of Time", "S.A.T.O.", "Say Yeah Yeah", "Scary Little Green Men", "Secret Loser", "See You on the Other Side", "Secret Loser", "Selling My Soul", "Shock Wave", "St. Vitus Dance", "Sympathy for the Devil", "Symptom of the Universe", "Thunder Underground", "Time After Time", "Tonight", "Too Far Gone", "Voodoo Dancer", "Walk on Water", "When I Came Down", "Whole World's Fallin' Down", "Who's Fooling Who", "Wicked World", "You Can't Kill Rock and Roll", "You Said It All" live Gaumont Theatre 1980, "You Won't Change Me", "You're No Different"
A4: "Air Dance", "Alive", "All the Young Dudes", "A Thousand Shades", "Back on Earth", "Bark at the Moon", "Behind the Wall of Sleep", "Black Rain", "Black Sabbath" music video version, "Blue Suede Shoes" live Beat Club 1970, "Bombers ( Can Open Bomb Bays)", "Breakin' All the Rules", "Buried Alive", "Centre of Eternity", "Changes", "Close My Eyes Forever", "Cornucopia", "Countdown's Begun", "Crazy Train", "Demon Alcohol", "Denial" demo, "Dirty Women", "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", "Frustrated Yes I'm Hated", "Gets Me Through", "Ghost Behind My Eyes", "Goodbye to Romance", "Gypsy", "I Don't Know", "I Just Want You", "Immortal", "I Want It More", "Isolated Man", "Jack's Land", "Johnny Blade", "Junior's Eyes", "Junkie", "Let Me Hear You Scream", "Looking for Today", "Masters of War", "Megalomania", "Mississippi Queen", "Mr. Crowley", "Never Say Die", "N.I.B.", "No Bone Movies", "No Easy Way Out", "Not Going Away", "Oh No the Bitch Won't Go", "One Up the 'B' Side", "Over to You", "Parasite", "Patient Number 9", "Perry Mason", "Rock 'n' Roll Doctor", "Rock 'n' Roll Rebel", "Rocky Mountain Way", "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath", "S.A.T.O.", "She's Gone", "Shock the Monkey", "Shock Wave", "Slow Down", "So Tired", "Speak for Yourself", "Spiders", "Spiral Architect", "Stayin' Alive", "Steal Away (the Night)", "Straight to Hell", "St. Vitus Dance", "Suicide Solution", "Sunshine of Your Love", "Sympathy for the Devil", "Symptom of the Universe", "Therapy", "The Thrill of It All", "The Ultimate Sin", "Tomorrow", "Tomorrow's Dream", "Tonight", "Vertical Man", "Voodoo Dancer", "Waiting for Darkness", "War Pigs", "Who Are You", "Wheels of Confusion/The Straightener", "When I Came Down", "Winter Wonderland", "You Lookin' at Me Lookin' at You", "You're No Different"
G♯4/A♭4: "Age of Reason", "Am I Going Insane (Radio)", "A.V.H.", "Believer", "Black Illusion", "Bloodbath in Paradise", "Children of Grave", "Crucify the Dead", "Cry All Night", "Damaged Soul", "Dead and Gone", "Desire", "Devil's Daughter (Holy War)", "Diary of a Madman", "Dreamer", "Eat Me", "End of the Beginning", "Evil Woman", "Evil Shuffle", "Facing Hell", "Fire in the Sky", "Ghost Behind My Eyes", "God Is Dead?", "God Only Knows", "Goodbye", "Gypsy", "I Ain't No Nice Guy", "I Just Want You", "Into the Void", "It's a Raid", "Led Clones", "Life Won't Wait", "Living with the Enemy", "Lord of This World", "Mama I'm Coming Home" demo, "Mr. Darkness", "Never", "Never Know Why", "No Escape from Now", "No Easy Way Out", "Not Going Away", "One of Those Days", "Ordinary Man", "Pariah", "Party with the Animals", "Peace of Mind", "Perry Mason", "Psycho Man", "Purple Haze", "Revelation (Mother Earth)", "Road to Nowhere", "Scary Dreams" live Ozzfest 2001, "Scary Little Green Men", "Selling My Soul", "Shot in the Dark", "S.I.N.", "Slow Down", "Steal Away (the Night)", "Stillborn", "Straight to Hell", "Sympathy for the Devil", "Take Me Home", "Take What You Want", "Tattooed Dancer", "Thank God for the Bomb", "That I Never Had", "The Almighty Dollar", "The Ultimate Sin", "Time After Time", "Today Is the End", "Tomorrow's Dream", "Under the Graveyard", "Walk on Water", "Winter Wonderland", "Won't Be Coming Home", "You Lookin' at Me Lookin' at You"
G4: "After Forever", "Aimee", "Alive", "All Moving Parts (Stand Still)", "Back on Earth", "Black Rain", "Black Sabbath", "Blue Blooded Man" live Dumfries 1969, "Born to Be Wild", "Buried Alive", "Can You Hear Them?", "Changes", "Crack Cocaine", "Crucify", "Darkside Blues", "Degradation Rules", "Denial" demo, "Diggin' Me Down", "Dog, the Bounty Hunter", "Dream for Tomorrow", "Early One Morning Blues" live Dumfries 1969, "Eat Me", "11 Silver", "Evil Woman", "Fairies Wear Boots", "Fearless", "Feels So Good to Be Bad", "Fire", "Frustrated Yes I'm Hated", "Go Now", "Gypsy", "Hand of the Enemy", "How?", "I Don't Wanna Stop", "I Just Want You", "Immortal", "Into the Void", "Iron Man", "I Want It More", "Jack's Land", "Junkie", "Killer of Giants", "Lay Your World on Me", "Let It Die", "Let Me Hear You Scream", "Let Me Love You, Baby" live Dumfries 1969, "Mr. Crowley", "My Little Man", "My New Rock and Roll", "N.I.B.", "Nightmare", "Oh No the Bitch Won't Go", "One More Time", "Paranoid", "Patient Number 9", "Revelation (Mother Earth)", "Rock 'n' Roll Rebel", "S.A.T.O.", "Shake Your Head (Let's Go to Bed)", "Shock the Monkey", "Shock Wave", "Spiders", "Sunshine of Your Love", "Sympathy for the Devil", "The Wizard", "Time", "Too Far Gone", "Trap Door", "21st Century Schizoid Man", "Voodoo Dancer", "Waiting for Darkness", "Warning", "Who Are You", "Who's Fooling Who", "Woman", "You Said It All" live Gaumont Theatre 1980, "You Won't Change Me"

Recorded low notes:
E3: "All the Young Dudes", "Am I Going Insane (Radio)", "Black Rain", "Black Sabbath" live Chicago 1974, "Bombers (Can Open Bomb Bays)", "Born to Be Wild", "Can You Hear Them?", "Countdown's Begun", "Dream for Tomorrow", "Electric Funeral", "11 Silver", "Fairies Wear Boots" live Tinley Park 2018, "Fearless", "Feels So Good to Be Bad", "Fire", "For What It's Worth", "Goodbye to Romance" live Sauna Open Air Metal Festival 2011, "Go Now", "How?", "Jack's Land", "Lay Your World on Me", "Megalomania", "My New Rock and Roll", "Oh No the Bitch Won't Go", "Old L.A. Tonight", "Planet Caravan", "Road to Nowhere" live Tinley Park 2018, "So Tired", "Sleeping Village", "Suicide Solution" live Tinley Park 2018, "The Almighty Dollar", "The Rebel", "The Writ", "Tomorrow", "Voodoo Dancer", "War Pigs", "Wicked World", "Woman", "Working Class Hero" 
D♯3/E♭3: "Age of Reason", "Black Illusion", "Cry All Night", "Damaged Soul", "Dead and Gone", "Dear Father", "Electric Funeral" live Birmingham 1997, "End of the Beginning", "Flying High Again", "God Is Dead?", "Holy for Tonight", "I Ain't No Nice Guy", "I Can't Save You", "Isolated Man", "It's a Raid", "Johnny Blade", "Jump the Moon", "Loner", "Mama, I'm Coming Home", "Methademic", "Mr. Tinkertrain", "No Escape from Now", "Nowhere to Run (Vapor Trail)", "Pariah", "Peace of Mind",  "Pictures of Matchstick Men", "Season of the Dead", "See You on the Other Side", "Shot in the Dark" live Tinley Park 2018, "That I Never Had", "The Almighty Dollar", "Today Is the End", "War Pigs" live Birmingham 1997, "Whole World's Fallin' Down", "Zeitgeist"
D3: "All the Young Dudes", "A Thousand Shades", "Bombers (Can Open Bomb Bays)", "Breakin' All the Rules", "Civilize the Universe", "Demon Alcohol", "Dream for Tomorrow", "Electric Funeral" live at O2 Academy 2012, "Fire", "For What It's Worth", "Good Times", "Hand of Doom", "How?", "Immortal", "Let It Die", "Mama, I'm Coming Home" live Moonstock 2017, "Not Going Away", "Old L.A. Tonight", "Parasite", "Pariah", "Planet Caravan", "Sleeping Village", "Solitude", "Sunshine of Your Love", "That I Never Had" live at Budokan Hall 2002, "Too Far Gone", "Warning", "War Pigs" live Australia 2014, "Wicked World" live in the studio 2017, "You Know... Pt.1"
C♯3/D♭3: "Demon Alcohol" live 1991, "Dream for Tomorrow", "Eat Me", "Electric Funeral" live Malasaka 2005, "Facing Hell", "Flying High Again" live Argentina 2018, "For What It's Worth", "In My Life", "Jump the Moon", "Life Won't Wait", "Mr. Tinkertrain", "One of Those Days", "Ordinary Man", "Psycho Man", "Scary Dreams" live Ozzfest 2001, "Season of the Dead", "Sleeping Village" live Malakasa 2005, "Straight to Hell", "That I Never Had", "Under the Sun" alternate take, "War Pigs" live California Jam 1974
C3: "Degradation Rules", "Fire", "Flying High Again", "Gets Me Through", "Hand of Doom", "Lay Your World On Me", "Let It Die", "Mississippi Queen", "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" live Boston 2003,  "That I Never Had" live at Budokan Hall 2002, "Warning", "Who's Fooling Who"
B2: "Bombers (Can Open Bomb Bays)", "Facing Hell", "Feels So Good to Be Bad", "Hand of Doom" live Olympia Theatre 1970, "Iron Head", "Jack's Land", "Latimer's Mercy", "Parasite", "Rocky Mountain Way", "Sleeping Village" live Malasaka 2005, "Soul Sucker"
A♯2/B♭2: "God Is Dead?", "Hand of Doom" live Birmingham 2017, "Isolated Man", "Methademic", "Mr. Tinkertrain", "21st Century Schizoid Man", "Who's Fooling Who", "You Can't Kill Rock and Roll"
A2: "A Hard Road", "Jack's Land", "Latimer's Mercy", "Let It Die", "Rocky Mountain Way", "Shake Your Head (Let's Go to Bed)", vocal exercises, "Working Class Hero"
G♯2/A♭2: "Demon Alcohol", "Nowhere to Run (Vapor Trail)", "Psycho Man", "Whole World's Fallin' Down", "You Can't Kill Rock and Roll"
G2: "Say Yeah Yeah", "21st Century Schizoid Man"
E2: "Iron Man '94"

D♯2/E♭2: "Mr. Tinkertrain"

D2: "Voodoo Dancer"

SPOILER: Click to show

{Questionable notes}
G♯5/A♭5: "Perry Mason" live Ozzfest 1996, "Sympathy for the Devil" - brief yelps without much control
E5: "You're No Different" - possibly someone else's voice
D♯5/E♭5: "Devil's Daughter (Holy War)", "Hero" - possibly someone else's voice
D5: "Circles" - Note listed in the previous version of the thread. Ozzy is credited for backing vocals on this song, but I can't recognize his voice at any point during it
C♯5/D♭5: "Hero" - possibly someone else's voice
C5: "Hero" - possibly someone else's voice

G2: "Dog, the Bounty Hunter" - implied backing vocal note that gets drowned out in the mix
F2: "Sympathy for the Devil" - possibly an unnatural note created by an effect on his voice
D♯2/E♭2: "Nowhere to Run (Vapor Trail)" - implied backing vocal note that gets drowned out in the mix

.......................................................
*Blue marks falsetto notes.
*Italics mark non-melodic notes.
*Underlines mark notes in backing vocals or otherwise muffled/obscured in the song mix.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Detailed bio}
The Prince of Darkness himself, and the Godfather of heavy metal, we all know Ozzy Osbourne's voice for delivering classics with Black Sabbath such as "Paranoid", "War Pigs", and "Iron Man", and later on some timeless solo tunes like "Crazy Train", "Mr. Crowley", and "No More Tears". He's also been a figure well known for his rock 'n' roll antics over the years, between doing things like allegedly biting the head off a live bat onstage, snorting a trail of ants mixed with cocaine with Nikki Sixx, and publicly urinating on The Alamo while on tour in the 80s. What he does not get acknowledged for as often, however, (and frankly actually deserves more credit for) is that he's demonstrated some pretty impressive vocal abilities over the years.

Ozzy first began his career as a singer in the late 60s, and initially bounced around between a string of short-lived local bands, none of whom he ever had any recorded output with. One of these bands, Rare Breed, served as his first time working with bassist Geezer Butler, with whom he would later be recruited to form Black Sabbath (initially called Earth) in 1968, by guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward. This lineup created the classic "Ozzy era" of Black Sabbath, and over the next decade put out some of the most influential albums in the history of metal, starting with a self-titled in 1970. At the time when this album was recorded, Ozzy was was audibly still finding his voice, as you can hear how his delivery was a bit on the shaky side on certain songs, and he overall seemed to have less control over his tone and delivery. However, he seemed to adapt quickly, because later that same year when Sabbath released Paranoid as their second album, he had already grown into his voice quite a bit more - now sounding much more sharp and clear with his tone, and more capable of effectively expressing a range of emotions.

Black Sabbath received widespread success from these first two releases, and continued rapidly writing and recording more music over the next few years. This included Master of Reality in 1971 and Vol. 4 in 1972, both of which started to show more development for Ozzy's voice and range, as upper fourth octave singing began to grow more common and comfortable for him; even singing up to C5 in the songs "Sweet Leaf", "Tomorrow's Dream", and "Cornucopia". I would say that he truly began to hit his vocal peak in 1973, however, on the band's fifth album - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. On this album, Ozzy not only demonstrated an expanded high range, but also sang through it with a new sense of ease and flexibility, hitting some pretty impressive C♯5s and D5s on songs like "Killing Yourself to Live", "Sabbra Cadabra", and the song "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath". Sabbath's next album after this, 1975's Sabotage, only further continued this gold streak for Ozzy's vocals - on this one he featured a wealth of impressive vocal performances such as "Hole in the Sky", "The Writ", "Symptom of the Universe", and perhaps his most admirable vocal performance of them all - "Megalomania".

Unfortunately, during this time, Ozzy was rapidly becoming addicted to drugs and alcohol, and his abuse of such substances began to affect his voice in live settings to the the point that he was struggling greatly when attempting to recreate some of the aforementioned songs. In particular, performances of "Megalomania" and "Sabbra Cabadra" almost never resulted in him successfully hitting the top notes, and constantly had him straining his way through other high passages as well. During this time, tensions began to arise between him and the rest of the Black Sabbath, which were particularly persistent throughout the recording of their seventh album - 1977's Technical Ecstasy. Following this album, these tensions erupted to the point that Ozzy abruptly quit the band for a period in 1977, during which he was temporarily replaced by Dave Walker, formerly of Fleetwood Mac. However, he was eventually convinced to rejoin the band in 1978, at which point he came back and recorded Never Say Die! with them. Unfortunately, tensions arose once again during the recording of this album, and before long, the band decided to fire Ozzy in 1979, at which point he was replaced by Ronnie James Dio of Rainbow.

From there, Ozzy went on to pursue a successful solo career, which became his primary focus for the next 18 years. During these years, Ozzy's addictions continued to spiral out of control, which resulted in some of his most infamous misadventures and antics while under the influence, as well as him having heavy and constant turnover rate in his solo band members over the years. He did, however, put out some of his most highly acclaimed solo albums during this time, including 1980's Blizzard of Ozz, 1981's Diary of a Madman, and 1991's No More Tears. For most of these albums, Ozzy's vocal abilities stayed fairly consistent - though he was not quite as daring with some of his vocal melodies as he had been on some of his mid 70s Black Sabbath albums, he was frequently singing through the upper fourth octave and at times into the fifth octave (usually topping out around C♯5) on many of these albums. Unfortunately, his heavy substance abuse frequently continued to jeopardize his voice in live settings, and at times rendered him unable to faithfully perform even some of his easier numbers, much to the frustration of his bandmates.

In late 1997, Ozzy reunited with the original Black Sabbath lineup to play two shows that would be recorded and released as a live album the next year, entitled Reunion. This marked the first new release with all four original Sabbath members since Never Say Die!, and also included two new studio tracks that they had recorded together - "Psycho Man" and "Selling My Soul", the former of which features perhaps the best low singing I've ever heard by Ozzy, with some dark, controlled melody singing down to G♯2! Black Sabbath continued to tour on and off with this reformed lineup through 2006, but were somewhat limited from writing or recording more new music due to Ozzy also being busy solo material during this time - such as his 2001 studio album Down to Earth and his 2005 covers album, Under Cover. Eventually in 2006, Sabbath reunited with Ronnie James Dio and former drummer Vinny Appice, but could not continue using the name Black Sabbath due to legal reasons related to Ozzy's involvement. As a result, Black Sabbath temporarily disbanded during this period, and the active members (Dio, Iommi, Butler and Ward) instead began touring and recording under the moniker Heaven & Hell instead.

Ozzy went on to record two more solo albums during this period of disbandment for Sabbath, 2007's Black Rain and 2010's Scream, but rejoined the band once again when their founding lineup reformed in 2011. They began playing shows once more in 2012, though at this point Bill Ward was excluded due to contract disputes, and was replaced by Tommy Clufetos, who had played drums in Ozzy's solo band as well. Later that year, this lineup began recording a new album, which was revealed to be titled 13 and was released in 2013. On this album, Ozzy is quoted as saying that the band deliberately made a point to write vocal parts that didn't demand too much of him, as they wanted to make sure he would be able to consistently recreate them live. Since the late 90s, Ozzy's tessitura had begun to lower, and he was beginning to shy away from singing fifth octave notes and sometimes struggling in the fourth octave. As a result, the songs on 13 only spanned B♭2-B♭4, with the song "End of the Beginning" being the only song that went above A♭4 at all.

Black Sabbath toured for the next four years promoting 13, and released one more EP entitled The End in 2016, which featured four unused songs from the 13 sessions. At the conclusion of their tour in 2017, the band permanently broke up after almost a 50 year career. Ozzy, however, has continued to stay active as a solo artist since then - he actively toured throughout 2018, and in early 2020 released his first solo album in ten years, entitled Ordinary Man. Though this album audibly employs a heavy use of autotune, I was surprised by how much it saw him going back to singing almost as high as he used to on his old solo albums, with several songs getting up to strong melody A♯4s and B4s, and even a few backing vocal C5s and C♯5s. We'll have to see how he handles these songs live, though, as his recent live performances from 2018 had him singing older songs tuned as low as a minor third down from the original. 

Aside from his extensive musical career, Ozzy has also been a reality TV star, and had his own show from 2002-2005 entitled The Osbournes (also featuring his wife Sharon and their children). He has also co-starred with his son Jack in the series Ozzy & Jack's World Detour, which was launched in 2016 and ran through 2018. After his decades of heavy substance abuse, Ozzy finally managed to get clean sometime in the 2000s, though he apparently had a temporary relapse in 2013. The fact that he has managed to stay alive for as long as he has and continue releasing music has come as a surprise to many who have witnessed his self-destructive behavior over the years, and that in its own right has made him something of an "immortal" rock legend. However, in recent years, health issues have unfortunately begun to catch up with the Prince of Darkness after all this time - perhaps the most prominent one being his diagnosis with Parkinson's Disease in early 2019. As of now, the future looks somewhat uncertain for how he will fare with some of these complications, and what sort of quality of life he can expect, but if nothing else, he is no doubt renowned as an unmatched figure in rock history for the mark he has made.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Album ranges}
Black Sabbath:

• Black Sabbath (1970) - C3-B4
• Paranoid (1970) - C3-B4-E5
• Master of Reality (1971) - D3-C5
• Vol. 4 (1972) - G3-C5
• Live at Last (recorded 1973; released 1980) - C♯3-D5
• Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973) - F♯3-D5-D♯5
• Sabotage (1975) - E3-E5
• Past Lives (recorded 1970-1975; released 2002) - B2-C♯5
• Technical Ecstasy (1976) - G3-C♯5
• Never Say Die! (1978) - A2-E♭3-C5
• Reunion (1998) - G♯2-C5
• 13 (2013) - B♭2-B♭4
• Live: Gathered in Their Masses (2013) - 
• The End (2016) - B♭2-A♭4-A4
• The End: Live in Birmingham (2017) - 

Ozzy Osbourne:

• Blizzard of Ozz (1980) - F♯3-C♯5
• Mr. Crowley Live EP (1980) - G3-C5
• Diary of a Madman (1981) - G♯2-D♯3-C♯5-D♯5
• Tribute (recorded 1980-1981; released 1987) - E♭3-B4
• Speak of the Devil (1982) - E3-C5
• Bark at the Moon (1983) - E3-B4-F5
• The Ultimate Sin (1986) - F3-B4-C♯5
• No Rest for the Wicked (1989) - G♯2-D3-C5
• No More Tears (1991) - E♭2-E♭3-D♭5-E♭5
• Live & Loud (1993) - E♭3-B4-E♭5
• Ozzmosis (1995) - G♯2-D♯5-F5
• Down to Earth (2001) - B2-C♯3-B4
• Live at Budokan (2002) - C3-B♭4
• Under Cover (2005) - G2-A2-B♭4-G♭5
• Black Rain (2007) - C3-A4
• Scream (2010) - A2-B♭4
• Ordinary Man (2020) - C♯3-B4-C♯5
  
• Patient Number 9 (2022) - B2-C♯3-B4-F5

SPOILER: Click to show

{Best displays of vocal range}
"Mr. Tinkertrain" (E♭2-D♭5-E♭5)
"Fire" (C3-G4-F♯5)
"Feels So Good to Be Bad" (B2-D5)
"Say Yeah Yeah" (G2-B4)
"Demon Alcohol (G♯2-D3-C5)
"Say Yeah Yeah" (G2-B4)
"Whole World's Falling Down" (G♯2-B4)
"Feels So Good to Be Bad" (B2-D5)
"Bombers (Can Open Bomb Bays)" (B2-D5)
"Iron Man '94" (E2-G4)

Previous version of the thread and additional research by Platypus  on TRP3.

[Vels]

Hello, cool threadson! But this indecision's bugging me, it's only my opinion but that sharp/flat naming of the pitch in the title of a section with either doesn't look good at all, get certain, either ♯ or ♭. Well written info too!

[Henny Macc]

That's how I prefer to have it laid out (you can see that I have it that way in my other threads as well), just because not everyone counts those notes as the particular sharps and flats that we traditionally do; so in case anybody ends up wondering why we don't have any A♭s or D♯s listed, we can have all bases covered.

I do have a possible questionable note that I could use more opinions on though. I'm hearing a backing vocal F2 here that we wrote off a long time ago (like, way back on TRP1) as being processed or some kind of vocal effect, but listening back to it now, I could potentially believe it being a legit note with just distortion effects on the backing vocal. I'm not completely sure though, so I'd like to hear what other people think:

On "what's MY name"

[1999]

I think the note sounds legit, not sure about being an F tbh

[Henny Macc]

I hear the lead vocal part going "What's(C4) my(F3) name(C4)", and the lower part seems to follow that directly.

Though on second thought, it could be an octavizer effect creating an artificial second track of his voice in a lower octave. From what I understand, that's what's going on with the backing vocal during this passage from a Nothing More song, which sounds pretty similar:

[1999]

This passage here, yes, that is definitely sounds like some sort of Plug-in Double-voice effect.

May 17, 2020 22:15:40 GMT Henny Macc said:

The Ozzy one, though, I think it sounds legitimately recorded, if I have to be fair lowest I hear is the C. I think what is confusing is that the lead only sings the word "MY" which is the F you're hearing.
I think he's going:

Lead voice: "What's(//) my(F3) name(//)"
Low voice: "What's(C3) my(D3) name(C3)"

Does It makes any sense?

[Henny Macc]

Not exactly lol

[1999]

Basically I think there's one voice which is singing the whole "What's(C3) my(D3) name(C3)" line, and an overdub as well which is only singing the word "My"(F3).
I don't hear any 4th octave at all lol

Try to hear the D harmonising with the F on the word My, i think they're both 3rd octave, the only difference is that the effect on the voice is making the note sounds lower than it is.
Hope i did explain myself better

[Henny Macc]

Okay yeah, I don't know where you're getting some of that at all. "WHAT" and "NAME" are both very clear C4s in the lead vocal to my ears, with just a dip down to F3 on "MY" in between. The backing vocal (or whatever it is) just follows it exactly in a different octave. And I don't hear a D at any point in that line whatsoever lol

[1999]

I guess you're right on the octave, I'm getting confused because of the effect on the voice lol
It just doesn't sound as an octave unison to my ears when he says "MY".

Truly the lowest thing I hear in the clip is a C3

[Henny Macc]

I'm just gonna go ahead and put the F2 in questionable notes. I'm not convinced enough about it being natural to list it normally.

Also, for the sake of asking - Platypus, I saw you had this song listed for D5s in the previous version of the thread, but I've listened to it several times now and can't hear Ozzy's voice in it for the life of me. I know it's just supposed to be a backing vocal note, but none of the backing D5s sound like him to me. Any pointers?

[surferrosa]

May 18, 2020 17:09:08 GMT Henny Macc said:

I'm just gonna go ahead and put the F2 in questionable notes. I'm not convinced enough about it being natural to list it normally.

Also, for the sake of asking - Platypus , I saw you had this song listed for D5s in the previous version of the thread, but I've listened to it several times now and can't hear Ozzy's voice in it for the life of me. I know it's just supposed to be a backing vocal note, but none of the backing D5s sound like him to me. Any pointers?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hq7OunRMKM&t=1m51s
Sounds like him to me.

Compare the voice of the D5 to the D5 here: m.youtube.com/watch?v=jCehccEZzX4&feature=youtu.be&t=1m41s

The timestamp I made was late.
Here: youtu.be/6hq7OunRMKM&t=1m50s

People runnin' 'round in circles
'Round in circles, yeah

[Henny Macc]

Thanks for the help. I can't really hear that clearly enough to judge whether it's him or not though, so I'm going to leave it in questionable notes for now. I kinda figured that whoever it is singing that part is also the one singing the G5s a few lines later... O_o

[surferrosa]

I think I hear the G5 (On the words round in, right? - but before the line with 'yeah' in it).

An octave jump from the lead vocal.
If not the G5, I can see the D5 probably counting.

[Henny Macc]

The G5s start at 2:03, but I'm super skeptical about them as well.

[surferrosa]

Yeah, there so light, but I think if it did count, it would be blue.

[Henny Macc]

Oh yeah, no question about that much.

[surferrosa]

Btw, the thread is missing Black Sabbath's cover of Blue Suede Shoes (A4), the Black Sabbath song Sometimes I'm Happy (?), and a cover of Please Dont Let Me Be Misunderstood, in which Ozzy sings the chorus (G4).

m.youtube.com/watch?v=nmZT0IaCN_0&feature=youtu.be&t=4 (A4)
m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=ASHuUC3DJAc&t=46s (G4)
m.youtube.com/watch?v=chVO_46iENY&feature=youtu.be&t=36s (C#5)
m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=lPdhHI_DrsY&t=36s
(D5, same song as C#5, but the tape may be sped up so it might not count)

[Henny Macc]

Ah, thanks for the help! I went ahead and added all three. The "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" chorus actually tops at A4, though.

[surferrosa]

Thanks!

[Henny Macc]

puu.sh/FMGLd/13c5ef9337.mp3?fbclid=IwAR2WIucIma1gOcLb-fX2sqDOa-nmGQQsVSuqlyjNrq9FI5LybfKmdvx19J0
So apparently there actually ARE E5s in "Electric Funeral"...

[surferrosa]

And I thought that was just an implied harmony. I didn't really doubt it. It sounded like Ozzy was harmonizing.

[Henny Macc]

Yeah, I thought I could faintly hear a voice pronouncing words at that pitch in the regular version, but it was impossible to distinguish it from the guitar with the way it was mixed. In that clip I'd say it's still pretty blended with the guitar, but it's hard to deny that there's a voice hitting that pitch as well.

[Rodney Blazershorts]

The final syllable (“RAH”) is what sells it for me

[surferrosa]

Yeah, I agree.