Posted on 06/18/2002 11:42:37 AM PDT by wallcrawlr
LONDON (Reuters) - Rock rebel Ozzy Osbourne tried to hang himself from a clothes-line during a wild childhood, but was stopped in the nick of time by his angry father, according to a book excerpt released Monday.
"The 14-year-old made a noose out of his mother's clothes-line, put it over his head, fixed the other end securely to a high gate and jumped from a chair," said the excerpt from the new book "Ozzy Unauthorized" by Sue Crawford.
"The teen-ager who was to become one of rock's most outrageous men may have died right there except that he was caught in the act by his father -- who then gave him a sound beating," added the excerpt, published in Britain's The Sun newspaper.
Crawford's book paints a picture of chaos and poverty during Osbourne's upbringing in the central English city of Birmingham.
The British heavy metal rocker, famed for biting off a bat's head on stage, has lately acquired a new cult following due a hit U.S. docu-soap, "At Home With The Osbournes," charting daily life at his Beverly Hills mansion.
Rich and famous at 58 -- he recently sang for Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace in London -- Osbourne was so poor as a child he only owned one pair of shoes and socks at a time.
"My mother was an amateur singer, my father was an amateur drunk," he was quoted as saying of his parents.
Having witnessed his father beating his mother, he became violent, at age seven organizing "hanging squads" that terrified other children by stringing them up in the toilets.
He later joined in gang fights with dustbin lids, iron pokers and even once a set of meat cleavers. "I can remember one pitched battle where I deliberately tried to drown some kid. Where I came from it was kill or be killed," he said.
Not surprisingly, Osbourne drank hard. At 17 he ended up in jail for six weeks for breaking into a shop. In prison, to escape a murderer's unwelcome attention, he smashed him over the head with a metal chamber pot, the excerpt said.
Osbourne's love of music came from his mother, who encouraged him to take part in school musicals. But it was the Beatles who were his first direct inspiration.
"If he did not have the money he would simply hide the records under his coat and do a runner," Crawford's book said of Osbourne's desperation to acquire the band's material.
The rocker left school early and worked as a slaughterman, killing 250 cattle a day and cutting the guts out of sheep, the book added. "It fostered his weird reputation for a fascination with animals and death," it said.
I wasn't the one who had a problem with it. He didn't mean to do it. He apologized and made it right. As far as I'm concerned, it should be forgotten.
I actually like some of Ozzy's music. I think people should cut the guy some slack. I find it admirable that he is still married to his wife (who he seems to love) and he obviously loves his kids. He is more patriotic (for the U.S.) than any lefty fruity band. Finds environmentalists crazy ("f-ng Tree People" he calls them).
The guy is a little wierd, but so what.
Thank the Lord I am mature enough not to be so legalistic.
A joke made in his youth.
If he hadn't changed his ways, I would be more inclined to take it seriously. As it is, he's making an effort to be a good husband and father. He appreciates the freedom this country and the constitution gives us (He's trying to become a citizen)
You don't have to like him, he still is pretty crazy. But stop looking for reasons to be offended cut the guy some slack.
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