Ozzy Osbourne with Black Sabbath: The Real Reasons Behind His 1979 Departure

Ozzy Osbourne's departure from Black Sabbath on April 27, 1979, sent shockwaves through the rock world. At that moment, fans could hardly see the band without its eclectic lead singer or Ozzy without the band that made him famous. "Why Ozzy Left Black Sabbath" tells the story of how his huge success and personal problems led to his sudden firing. It shows the drug misuse problems, lost trust, and band issues that ended an 11-year partnership.

By the mid-1970s, Black Sabbath had sold over 70 million records worldwide, including 15 million in the United States, and was hailed as the greatest metal band ever by MTV while earning second on VH1's hard rock list. Yet behind the acclaim, the band was crumbling. In late 1977 and into 1978, they holed up at a Toronto studio for five long months to record Never Say Die! Those sessions were mired in heavy drug use. Tony Iommi later admitted that endless rehearsals and dope-fueled haze made it impossible to get solid takes.

Tensions spiked as Iommi demanded endless vocal rewrites from Ozzy. The strain drove Ozzy to briefly quit and nearly cost him his spot to Dave Walker before the singer returned, only to later call the album “the worst piece of work.” Meanwhile, opening acts Van Halen consistently outshone Sabbath on tour, further bruising the band's confidence.

Black Sabbath's drug habit went beyond studio excess. During the 1972 Vol. 4 sessions, they spent about $75,000 on cocaine (more than the $65,000 it cost to record the album), with supplies even flown in by private plane.

Ozzy's own use spiraled to include alcohol, cocaine, heroin, LSD, Quaaludes, glue, cough syrup, Rohypnol, Klonopin, and Vicodin, creating a period spanning decades and capped by daily cases of beer and a candid admission of being “stoned” years later. Geezer Butler noted, “Everybody was totally out of their brains all the time,” and the band resented management for shortchanging them, adding to the distrust. In this chaos, Ozzy's reliability as a frontman plummeted, especially in Tony Iommi's eyes.

On November 9, 1978, before a concert in Nashville, Ozzy vanished after a cocaine-fueled “all-night session” with Van Halen's David Lee Roth. He ended up in the wrong hotel room, startling a maid, and slept through the night, only to reappear at dawn. The ensuing panic led to a canceled show and refunded tickets, though a makeup performance occurred three days later. This mix of farce and fear crystallized the band's frustration and eroded trust in Ozzy, laying another brick in the path to firing.

The decision to remove Ozzy was delivered abruptly by drummer Bill Ward without full band consensus — Ward handled most business talks. Tony Iommi later confirmed Ward acted alone, noting that the group had intended a collective sit-down. Manager Don Arden vehemently objected, preferring to keep Ozzy, which only deepened the rift. Ozzy felt betrayed, branding it hypocritical nonsense, convinced Tony sought revenge for earlier walkouts in his memoir. Thus ended an 11-year collaboration that began in 1968.

Ozzy insisted all members battled substance issues, yet only he was expelled. The band had precedent. In 1977, Bill Ward briefly fired Geezer Butler for “not seeming into it anymore,” only to reinstate him two weeks later via a casual call. Butler admitted relief at the break before returning without fanfare. This pattern suggests Ozzy's ouster was less about fairness and more about scapegoating.

Reeling from his firing, Ozzy locked himself away, spending three months consuming cocaine and alcohol, convinced he faced the dole back home. Don Arden then signed him to a new label, dispatching his daughter Sharon to Los Angeles to manage Ozzy's chaos and dreams. Ozzy received a substantial payout for his share of the Sabbath name, funding his next rise.

Black Sabbath rebounded with Ronnie James Dio on vocals, releasing Heaven and Hell on April 18, 1980. The album peaked at #7 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and #9 in the UK, achieved Platinum in the U.S. and Gold in the UK, and was later ranked among the greatest metal albums of all time.

Ozzy discovered Randy Rhoads, whose classical training birthed landmark solo techniques like two-handed tapping and dive bombs. Rhoads was posthumously honored by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and later ranked among the greatest guitarists ever.

Ozzy's solo career amassed 25 Gold and Platinum awards, with total sales surpassing 115 million units and over 51 million solo album equivalents. His top solo albums by sales include Blizzard of Ozz, No More Tears, Diary of a Madman, Bark at the Moon, and The Ultimate Sin. “Crazy Train” leads his streaming with hundreds of millions of plays. Meanwhile, Sabbath continued to thrive with new vocalists, proving both parties found fresh creative paths.

In the end, Ozzy's ouster from Black Sabbath was more than a messy break-up — it was a turning point that reshaped heavy metal forever. What began as creative clashes and bad choices grew into a series of events that no band could survive unscathed. Yet out of that chaos came two new paths: a solo star finding his voice and a band redefining itself with fresh fire. Both Ozzy and Black Sabbath proved that sometimes the hardest splits lead to the greatest triumphs.