Sharon Osbourne (b. Sharon Rachel Arden in London October 9, 1952) is a Jewish British music promoter as well as the wife and manager of famous singer Ozzy Osbourne, and the mother of Aimee Osbourne, Jack Osbourne, and Kelly Osbourne. The daughter of rock and roll entrepreneur Don, and Hope Arden, she met Ozzy Osbourne at age 17 while working as a receptionist for her father, who was the manager of Ozzy's band Black Sabbath.

When Ozzy was fired from Black Sabbath, Sharon took over his management. They were married in Maui, Hawaii on July 4 1982. Sharon and Ozzy bought out Ozzy's contract from her father in that year for GBP 1.5 million, a move that tarnished her relationship with her father for nearly 20 years. Sharon was so estranged from her parents that when her mother died in 1998 she had not met her grandchildren, and Sharon did not attend the funeral. However, she and Don Arden were reconciled in 2001 after Sharon had glimpsed him on a Los Angeles Street.

As Ozzy's manager, she guided him through a wildly successful solo career after he was kicked out of Black Sabbath in 1979. In 1996 she created the successful Ozzfest summer touring festival. She has also managed such bands as The Smashing Pumpkins and Coal Chamber. In 2000 she made news by severing her relationship with The Smashing Pumpkins and then announcing in a statement: "...I must resign due to medical reasons... Billy Corgan was making me sick!"

Osbourne gained celebrity herself as one of the stars of MTV's reality show, The Osbournes, about her family's daily life. As the person who negotiated with MTV to tape the show, she is often credited with her husband's resurgence in pop culture. The show began airing in early 2002, and when, in July 2002 Osbourne was diagnosed with colon cancer, she insisted filming continue. Later, she announced her cancer has spread to her lymph nodes and was more serious than originally thought. She overcame her battle with cancer against a 33% survival prognosis. Since then, she has founded the Sharon Osbourne Colon Cancer Program at Cedars Sinai Hospital. The final episode of the show aired in the US on March 21, 2005. MTV's British affiliate , has been airing the show since 2003.

In 2003 Osbourne became the host of her own television talk show, The Sharon Osbourne Show . The show was meant to be a reflection of Sharon's personality and her home life, much like what one sees when watching her reality show, but with the inclusion of guest interviews and performances. However, it was never very successful in ratings and critics panned her inability to do very basic talk show host tasks like read cue cards or conduct interesting interviews. Eventually the show's format changed to one that was extremely standard and not at all what Osbourne had wanted for her show. A sequence on her reality show found her struggling to book any noteworthy celebrity guests because their agents did not feel an appearance on the show would be of any use. The show was cancelled in early 2004.

In October of 2004, Osbourne announced that she and husband Ozzy would be teaming up for yet another MTV show entitled "Battle for Ozzfest", in which a group of unsigned bands battle it out for a spot on the 2005 Ozzfest tour. In December of 2004 Osbourne made the public announcement that she is battling bulemia. In January 2005 she was selected to feature in advertising for the United Kingdom supermarket chain ASDA. She is also one of the judges on the British TV talent show The X-Factor.

Reference

• Interview with Sharon Osbourne in The Daily Mail UK, 02/12/03 (cached on Google)

External links

• Sharon Osbourne bio on MTV.com
• The Official Sharon Osbourne Website
• Sharon Osbourne Colon Cancer Program at Cedars Sinai