Ozzy Osbourne
2 min read
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (December 3, 1948, Birmingham, England - July 22, 2025) was an English singer and songwriter widely regarded as one of the founding figures of heavy metal music. As the lead vocalist of Black Sabbath from 1968, he helped define the genre across landmark albums including Black Sabbath (1970), Paranoid (1970), and Master of Reality (1971). His subsequent solo career, launched in 1979, produced internationally recognized songs such as "Crazy Train" and "Mr. Crowley." His wife and manager Sharon Osbourne was a central figure in his personal and professional life for decades.
In Ghostbusters: Answer the Call (2016), Osbourne appeared as himself, billed as Famous Rock Star, in a concert scene set at the fictional Rock Revenge Fest New York City XIV, a twelve-hour marathon of metal at which he was headlining and was scheduled to follow the fictional band Beasts of Mayhem. Filming took place at Boston's Citi Wang Theatre and was reported on August 6, 2015. After the Ghostbusters trap the entity Mayhem during the Beasts' performance, Osbourne watches the aftermath from backstage. His reaction when the bust occurred differed between the theatrical and extended cuts: in the theatrical version he calls out to Sharon believing he is experiencing another flashback, while the extended cut has him call the Ghostbusters wankers for copying a trick Black Sabbath had already performed at California Jam, a rock festival held in Ontario, California, on April 6, 1974. He described agreeing to the cameo simply because someone called and asked, and recalled spending only a few hours on set. Osbourne was not included on the film's soundtrack release despite his on-screen presence.
