Before They Were Rock Stars: Ozzy Osbourne

Ex-Black Sabbath frontman and prominent foul-mouthed madman Ozzy Osbourne recently decided to dedicate his body to science when he dies because, in his words, "It's amazing I'm still alive." Before the dark prince bit the heads off doves, bats, and whatever else he could get his hands on, the man was known as John Michael Osbourne. Ozzy received his nickname in primary school and refused to go by John for the rest of his days. He suffered some learning problems early on, which he claimed were based on dyslexia, and often said that he was molested by older classmates. He attended Prince Albert Road Junior School and Birchfield Road Secondary Modern School during this time period. He would meet Tony Iommi at Birchfield, and would many years later go on to put together Black Sabbath with the future guitarist. Ozzy always loved music, however, and starred in many school plays. At 14, he became obsessed with the Beatles, which would lead him to leave school at 15 to break out on his own. He was quoted as saying, ""When I left school I wanted to become a plumber. When I heard the Beatles I wanted to become a Beatle." He'd take on many odd jobs, such as construction site laborer, apprentice toolmaker, car factory worker trainee plumber, and slaughterhouse worker. He also spent six weeks in jail after not being able to pay a fine for a burglary charge at a local clothing store. Later he would be back again for punching a cop in the face. It was in Winson Green Prison where he tattooed the now famous letters O-Z-Z-Y across his left knuckles, which he did with a sewing needle and graphite. Soon, after playing in various bands that would go nowhere, Ozzy found success with Iommi by forming Black Sabbath. The rest, as they say, is history.