Ozzy Osbourne’s son, Jack Osbourne, reflected on how his father’s working-class background paved the way for his success as a rock star.
The 75-year-old musician, who was the son of two factory workers, grew up in an impoverished neighborhood in Birmingham, England, before rising to fame as the lead singer of Black Sabbath.
During an interview with Fox News Digital, Osbourne, 38, who recently launched the new platform Osbourne Media House with his family, shared how Ozzy had instilled the value of hard work in his children.
“It’s funny. It’s something that — I think my dad kind of gave to me without realizing is work ethic. My dad is such a hard-working guy. He’s always been. You don’t get more blue-collar than like the family he grew up in,” Osbourne said.
Ozzy Osbourne’s son, Jack Osbourne, right, shared how the rock star’s blue collar background paved the way for his success. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for EJAF)
He continued, “Everyone was factory workers. And he was for a while. And so he kind of has that work ethic that as I was growing up, he always impressed upon me. He was like, ‘You got to do your job. You got to show up when you say you’re going to show up. You got to give everything you can.’ And his classic line is, ‘If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.'”
“I can remember him saying that to me my whole life,'” Osbourne recalled.
Osbourne, who is a father of four, explained that he is passing down the values that Ozzy taught him to his own children.
“I try and impress that upon my kids like, ‘Hey, listen, you don’t have to be amazing at your job,'” Osbourne said. “You just have to always strive to be better.”
WATCH: Ozzy Osbourne’s son Jack says rock star’s ‘blue-collar’ work ethic led to his success
VideoOzzy’s father, John, worked night shifts as a toolmaker at the General Electric Company, while his mother, Lilian, worked day shifts at a car components factory.
After Ozzy dropped out of high school at 15, he initially tried following in his parents’ footsteps. He attempted to learn his father’s trade by working as an apprentice toolmaker and took on a job as a car horn tuner at the factory where his mother was employed.
Ozzy also held jobs as an apprentice plumber, construction laborer and slaughterhouse worker before pursuing music. In 1968, Ozzy formed Black Sabbath with his bandmates, Tony Iommi, Bill Ward and Geezer Butler, who also hailed from Birmingham and dreamed of careers in music rather than the factory work that dominated their hometown.
By the 1970s, Black Sabbath had become one of the biggest rock bands in the world and has been credited with pioneering the heavy metal genre.
Ozzy Osbourne formed Black Sabbath with Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi and Bill Ward in 1968. (Getty Images)
After he was fired from the band in 1979, Ozzy launched a successful career as a solo artist and has released 13 studio albums, seven of which have been certified multi-platinum.
During his interview with Fox News Digital, Osbourne reflected on his experience growing up as the son of a famous rock star.
“For me, it was relatively normal. But because it was just my life,” he said. “But when you compare it to, like, all the other kids that I was going to school with, you know, it was different.”
He continued, “There was a lot of travel, there was a lot of kind of craziness. It was very loud everywhere we went. But it was cool. I got to do some really amazing things.”
“There wasn’t a lot of structure,” Osbourne explained. “Knowing me, I do really well in structure.”
“And when I don’t have it, I have kind of ‘self-will run riot,'” he admitted. “But, yeah, it was fun.”
Ozzy, who has reunited with Black Sabbath several times since his departure, was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with the band in 2007 and received his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2002.
Last month, it was announced that the Grammy Award winner would be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist later this year.
Over the past few years, Ozzy has battled a number of health issues, including Parkinson’s disease, major surgeries and COVID-19.
Following a fall in 2023, Ozzy announced he was retiring from touring, citing ongoing physical ailments, including three operations, stem cell treatments, physical therapy and hybrid assistive limb treatment, which uses a robotic exoskeleton to help improve movement.
Jack Osbourne, right, said that he learned the value of having a strong work ethic from his father. (Getty Images)
Despite his health struggles, Osbourne told Fox News Digital that his father is working hard toward the goal of performing at his induction ceremony.
“He’s certainly gunning for it,” Osbourne said. “Since the nomination came in, he’s been like ramping up his PT [physical therapy] and he’s really, really hoping to perform.”
“I’m really happy for him,” he continued. “He’s been in [the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame] with Black Sabbath for a long time, and he’s been wanting to get in as a solo artist, and it’s finally here. And he’s added to that, you know, relatively short list of 29 people who are in it twice.”
WATCH: Ozzy Osbourne’s son Jack Osbourne on whether his father will perform at his Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction
VideoOsbourne explained that his father has been “doing a lot of PT [physical therapy]” to prepare for the ceremony since “it’s the physicality of performing which is tough on him.”
However, Osbourne noted that the “Crazy Train” singer’s vocal skills have been unaffected by his ailments.
“He’s never stopped doing vocal practice,” Osbourne said. “Even for the last five years, even though he’s been still kind of recovering.”
“So his voice is like spot on,” he continued. “I think people would be really blown away. Like, I walked into the house the other day, and he was doing his voice lesson, and I was like, ‘Holy s—.’ I was like, ‘Is that a track or is that him singing?’ And no, he was singing.”
Ozzy Osbourne will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist later this year. (Harry How)
Ozzy shares Jack, along with daughters Aimee, 40, and Kelly, 39, with his wife Sharon Osbourne, whom he married in 1982.
Sharon, 71, first gained prominence when she became Ozzy’s manager after he left Black Sabbath. She has also enjoyed a successful career as a talk show host and judge on reality competition shows, including “The X-Factor” and “America’s Got Talent.”
Jack and Kelly became household names after starring alongside their parents on their hit MTV reality series “The Osbournes,” which debuted March 5, 2002.
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The show’s first season became MTV’s most-viewed series ever at the time and won an Emmy Award for outstanding reality program in 2002. “The Osbournes” ran for four seasons before airing its final episode in March 2005.
Since “The Osbournes” concluded, Osbourne has worked as a producer and TV host of travel, fitness and paranormal investigation shows, including “Jack Osbourne: Adrenaline Junkie,” “Ozzy & Jack’s World Detour” and “Portals to Hell.”
“The Osbournes” premiered in 2002 and ran for four seasons, with a final curtain call in 2005. (Dave Hogan)
Last September, Jack, Ozzy, Sharon and Kelly relaunched their family podcast “The Osbournes Podcast” after a five-year hiatus. In April, the Osbournes debuted their new platform, Osbourne Media House, which is described as a “one-stop shop for all Osbourne family entertainment.”
During his interview with Fox News Digital, Jack shared the inspiration behind Osbourne Media House.
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“We rely so much on networks and people to hire us for jobs,” he said. “And I was like, ‘But we have our own platform. We have our own reach. Why aren’t we unifying and utilizing that?'”
WATCH: Jack Osbourne explains how new Osbourne Media House platform is ‘the place to go for all things Osbournes’
VideoHe continued, “And I just kind of hit the ground running and wrote this kind of long breakdown of kind of a three-year plan for the company. And about a year ago, we just really switched gears and started developing the site and figuring out – how are we going to do this? – and dove fully into the podcasting stuff.”
From left to right, Kelly Osbourne, Ozzy Osbourne, Sharon Osbourne and Jack Osbourne are launching their new Osbourne Media House platform. (Zak Hussein/Corbis via Getty Images)
In addition to “The Osbournes Family Podcast,” the platform also features Osbourne’s latest paranormal podcast “Ghosts & Grit” and Ozzy and Billy Morrison’s new podcast “The Madhouse Chronicles.”
Osbourne Media House will also be the exclusive home of all episodes of the original MTV series, which fans can watch in 4K by subscribing to the platform. This month, the Osbourne family is premiering a new show titled “The Basement Tapes,” in which they will rewatch and provide commentary on each episode of “The Osbournes.”
WATCH: Ozzy Osbourne’s son Jack Osbourne says rock star’s voice is still ‘spot on’ despite his health struggles
Video“With Osborne Media House, we kind of see it as a way for us to directly engage our fan base,” Osbourne explained. “People who are fans of my dad, people who are fans of ‘The Osbournes,’ people who are fans of my paranormal stuff, and we’re cutting out the networks. We’re cutting out the middleman here. We were using it as a place to go for kind of all things Osbournes.”
“There’s a bunch of other stuff that we own as well that over time we’re going to be populating on there as well,” he continued. “We’re just trying to put everything in one place.”
“This is something that we’re building,” Osbourne added. “This isn’t something that’s going to go away anytime soon. If at all. Ever.”
Ashley Hume is an entertainment writer for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter: @ashleyhume
