I Am Ozzy

In this obscene, entertaining memoir, U.K. heavy metal legend Osbourne provides a surprisingly honest account of his over-the-top career. A working-class kid from the Midlands industrial town of Aston, Osbourne was a class clown-turned-petty thief who spent time in prison and worked in a slaughterhouse. Osbourne escaped this dreary life as the lead singer of heavy metal group Black Sabbath. A successful solo career followed, along with even greater fame with the eponymous MTV show, The Osbournes. Wealth and celebrity encouraged Ozzy's natural tendency toward inebriated excess, exemplified in antics like biting the heads off bats and doves on-stage, and urinating on the Alamo while wearing his wife's dress. Osbourne has proved extremely resilient, having survived a number of addictions; the portrait that emerges is of a man little changed from his days as a class cut-up and small-time lawbreaker. Fortunately, the star is neither ashamed nor overly proud of his misadventures, and his irreverence and wit keep the crisply edited pages turning.