On This Day in Metal: April 27th 1979 Ozzy Was Fired by Black Sabbath

On April 27, 1979, after various attempts to get Ozzy back on the team, Black Sabbath fired their lead singer.

“We just couldn’t continue with Ozzy,” guitarist Tony Iommi said. “As much as everyone wanted us to, we just couldn’t do it. Nothing was happening and it would have meant the end of the band. We didn’t want to fire him but we had to if we wanted to continue.”

It was a stunning decision, one that hit Osbourne like a ton of bricks. “We were doing some rehearsals in L.A., and I was loaded, but then I was loaded all the time,” Osbourne recalled in his book, I Am Ozzy. “It was obvious that Bill [Ward] had been sent by the others, because he wasn’t exactly the firing type. I can’t remember exactly what he said to me … but the gist was that Tony [Iommi] thought I was a pissed, coked-up loser and a waste of time for everyone concerned."

Though as sad as it was the band did end up getting Ronnie James Dio and recorded one of the best Black Sabbath albums with Heaven and Hell