Ozzy Osbourne had an unexpected “obsession” that was a far cry from his Prince of Darkness persona. The heavy metal icon, who died on July 22 aged 76, would have been celebrating his 77th birthday today (December 3).
Before his death, the Black Sabbath frontman made several revelations on the popular podcast, The Osbournes, in which he appeared alongside his wife Sharon and two of their children, Kelly and Jack. The podcast saw the family re-watching their original MTV reality series of the same name while sharing behind-the-scenes anecdotes and stories.
In an episode which aired last year, the topic of snacking was raised. Jack asked his father: “Dad, what’s your sneaky snack right now?” Some fans may have been expecting to hear a dark answer but this wasn’t the case.
Before the singer could respond, his daughter Kelly cut in and said: “He’ll pound like 30 apples a day.”
Ozzy confirmed this was the truth – his “sneaky snack” obsession is, in fact, the humble apple, with one brand in particular being his favourite. He said: “My favourite apple is Pink Lady.”
Reiterating this, Ozzy added: “I can’t stop eating Pink Lady.” To which, Jack quipped: “Your snack is way healthier than mine.”
When a snippet of this moment was shared on Instagram, fans were quick to share their thoughts. One person said: “OMG I love pink lady tooooooooo [red heart emojis] my snack is the same as Prince of Darkness. I mean, I don’t need anything else anymore.”
Another said: “I love this! They’re my favourite too!” A third commented: “Pink Lady apples are the ONLY apples I’ll eat.”
While a fourth said: “I love Pink Lady apples too! They are absolutely delicious!” Another fan added: “I’m with Ozzy, pink lady apples are the best.”
In fact, a petition to rename Pink Lady apples to ‘Ozzy apples’ was set up on Change.org and shared to Reddit by a fan.
Born John Michael Osbourne – but known consistently as Ozzy throughout his decades-long career as a pioneer of music – the legendary musician shot to fame as the lead vocalist of Black Sabbath.
Founded in Birmingham in 1968, the original line-up consisted of guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and Ozzy.
They’re consistently hailed as the pioneers of heavy metal music, helping redefine the rock genre. Their road to success wasn’t plain sailing among critics, though.
Black Sabbath’s eponymous debut album, released in 1970, received negative reviews but was a commercial success, leading to the release of their second album that same year, Paranoid. Their follow up, Masters of Reality, released in 1971, solidified their standing as a force to be reckoned with.
The three records, which spawned a medley of hits including The Wizard, Paranoid, Iron Man, War Pigs, Children of the Grave and more, played a significant role in defining the genre of metal.
The band’s later records – including Vol. 4, released in 1972; Sabotage, released in 1975; Technical Ecstasy, released in 1976; and Never Say Die! released in 1978 – saw them experiment with more progressive styles.
