Farewell, PRINCE of DARKNESS

After a five-year battle with Parkinson's, the larger-than-life rocker and reality star died at 76

- by CARLA SOSENKO With reporting by Lanae Brody

My biggest fear is losing a member of my family,” Kelly Osbourne told Us in October. “We're nothing without the other.” On July 22, that fear became reality: Her dear dad, who was battling Parkin 2, a rare variant of Parkinson's disease, died.

“It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning,” his family said in a statement. “He was with his family and surrounded by love.” A cause of death was not disclosed.

To many, he was the godfather of heavy metal — a bat-biting, headbanging wildman who defined a genre. Others got to know Ozzy and his close-knit crew through the groundbreaking MTV reality series The Osbournes, where he appeared as a sort of beleaguered sitcom patriarch muttering expletives and dodging wayward pets in a Beverly Hills mansion. Somehow, he was both the Prince of Darkness and the heart of one of TV’s most endearing families. Here we take a look back at his extraordinary life.

Ozzy's Wild Ride on a Crazy Train

The godfather of heavy metal contained multitudes

The Early Years

Ozzy was born John Michael Osbourne in Birmingham, England, on Dec. 3, 1948, and grew up in this modest house at 14 Lodge Road with his parents and five siblings.