Before he was a pioneering reality television star, he was a pioneering heavy metal singer. But Ozzy Osbourne’s music has always felt bigger than his celebrity.

Osbourne is known both as a pioneer of heavy metal and as a goofy and lovable father on a hit reality TV show of the early 2000s. He was born John Michael Osbourne on Dec. 3, 1948. 93.3 WMMR DJ Jacky BamBam said, "He started it all … Ozzy was your Prince of Darkness."

Over the course of his storied music career, rock icon Ozzy Osbourne faced health battles with substance abuse and Parkinson's disease.

With tears in his makeup-shadowed eyes, Osbourne, the ailing and retiring frontman for Black Sabbath, raged against the twilight of the metal gods.

Ozzy Osbourne's death has prompted musicians to react with messages of grief, with the Black Sabbath star dying at 76.

There may be no more fitting tribute to the beloved Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne, than his haunting ballad "Mama, I’m Coming Home," following his death Tuesday morning in Birmingham, England—the city where he was born 76 years ago. His death came just weeks after reuniting with his band Black Sabbath for a final farewell show in England.