The singer Ozzy Osbourne said was too good to be true: “It was unbelievable”
No one in their right mind was claiming that Ozzy Osbourne was the greatest vocalist that the world had ever seen.
He was an absolutely brilliant musician with a microphone in his hand, but a lot of it came from his tone of voice whenever he sang, rather than worrying about reaching for the same high notes that people like Freddie Mercury and Rob Halford were whenever they sang. What you saw was what you got a lot of the time with him, but there were a few occasional vocalists that he thought were miles above everyone else when he actually saw them live.
But Osbourne’s vocal approach wasn’t exactly metal from the get-go. From the way he bends the notes when he sings to making ‘Oh Lord’ ad-libs every now and again, a lot of what he was doing came from listening to the best blues singers at the time. That was always what Black Sabbath was intended to be, and it was only after a few more years that the band started to get more of a sinister edge to them.
At the same time, it’s not like ‘The Prince of Darkness’ couldn’t stretch his voice whenever he made a new record. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and Sabotage have some of the most impressive high notes that he ever recorded, but none of those acrobatics mattered to Osbourne. It was all about serving the song, but even some of the greatest vocalists of his time were going well beyond what was expected out of a rock and roll singer.
People like John Lennon and Paul McCartney had been the architects for what a rock and roll singer was supposed to sound like, but Robert Plant and Steven Tyler were kicking down the doors for what true wild men could sound like. They were ready for war whenever they went out on that stage, but no one seemed to have as much taste for what they did as Steve Winwood whenever he sang.
Compared to all the blues belters, Marriott was practically a forefather to people like Robert Plant, but when came out onstage with bands like Humble Pie, he could level any audience that would have him. Rod Stewart certainly had a place in history for that signature rasp, but what impressed Osbourne the most was how easy Winwood could launch into a song at every opportunity.
These guys partied as hard as Sabbath did, but Osbourne marvelled at how Marriott could be effortlessly flawless whenever he got onstage, saying, “It was unbelievable, Humble Pie were shovelling coke up their noses like it was going out of style. They must have done 20 grams before they went on stage. But Marriott was incredible. Somehow, he was better than ever. I remember looking for the fucking Revox; Marriott was so good I thought he was lip-synching.” Then again, that’s the kind of blessing that some artists have even if they don’t have any training.
Whereas us mere mortals would have to go through a lot of prep time trying to preserve our voices when performing, Marriott was the kind of guy that could go out there and manage to sing versions of Humble Pie tunes that could be better than the album versions. It may have been mortifying for any other singer, but Osbourne was never looking to compete with what he could do.
Marriott was a much different breed of frontman that he was, and even if he could belt to the rafters every single time he played, Osbourne was more interested in scaring the life out of people whenever he took to the stage. It wasn’t going to be easy to follow bands like Humble Pie, but there’s a good chance that they didn’t have a song like ‘Iron Man’ or ‘Children of the Grave’ under their belt either.
