Ozzy Osbourne’s favourite hard rock singers
The Prince of Darkness will forever be Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath. His approach to singing, shouting and screaming and his ultra-gothic aesthetic will always put him at the front of the pile when we consider who should wear the crown of the most significant metalheads to ever grace the stage.
Ozzy is simply considered one of the greatest hard rock and heavy metal singers of all time, but how about those that he admires from afar? Well, fortunately for us, Ozzy once selected some of the greatest singers of all time for Rolling Stone, and there were four hard rock vocalists among his choices.
Ozzy looks to be a massive fan of AC/DC, particularly the era with Bon Scott at the microphone. “I love Brian Johnson,” he once admitted. “But to me, my good friend, the late Bon Scott, was the best singer AC/DC ever had. Bon Scott was a great singer. I mean, Brian is good. But I prefer Bon.” No surprise, then, that Ozzy added Scott to his list.
Continuing to give his praise to the band, Ozzy added: “They are a really great bunch of guys. They are my friends, real people. I love them all; God bless them. There is no other band in the world like them. [They] are a meat and potatoes band. There is no bollocks; there is no fucking around. Whether you like them or you don’t, and I’m proud to say I love them.”
Ozzy also looks to have a profound respect for Steve Marriott, who came up in Small Faces before going on to play with Humble Pie. It was the latter band that served as Black Sabbath’s opening act during their tour of 1972. Ozzy said of the experience: “I loved playing with Humble Pie. I’m a big Steve Marriott fan. When he died, a part of me died, too. But Marriott was incredible. Marriott was so good I thought he was lip-synching.”
Up next for Ozzy in his favourite hard rock singers list, he picks out Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler. The two met many times over the years, but even though Ozzy admires his singing, he is unsure about his switch to a country rock style. Asked whether Ozzy would consider going country like Tyler, he said, “Not me, thank you. Personally, I think you should stick to what you know best. If Steven’s having a good time with it, who am I to complain? But it would be absurd for me to do that.”
Ozzy Osbourne’s favourite hard rock singers:
- Bon Scott
- Steve Marriott
- Steven Tyler
- Ozzy Osbourne
Finally, Ozzy rounds off his list of greatest hard rock singers with the man himself, Ozzy Osbourne. It’s a bit of a tongue-in-cheek move to add oneself to consider the greatest of all time, but given the fact that Ozzy has had such an amazing career over the last 60 years or so, we won’t deny him his choice.
