"There's a line in 'Ordinary Man' where I sing, 'I don't want to die an ordinary man,' which I don't think I will," Ozzy Osbourne says of the title cut of his forthcoming new solo album. The Prince of Darkness released the single today, and in an out-of-the-ordinary pairing, it sees Ozzy team with Elton John for an emotive duet. The collaboration was previously teased by the heavy-metal godfather's wife and manager Sharon on her daytime talk show The Talk.
Ozzy has also revealed more details for Ordinary Man, including the release date — Friday, February 21st — and the full slate of guests — John, Post Malone, Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello and Guns N' Roses' Slash, the last of whom plays on the album's second single "Straight to Hell." Recorded in L.A., the LP — Ozzy's first solo outing in nearly 10 years — features the core band of producer Andrew Watt on guitars, GN'R's Duff McKagan on bass and Red Hot Chili Peppers' Chad Smith on drums.
"It all just came together," Ozzy explained of the guest stars. "Slash is a dear friend of mine, as is Elton. When I was writing 'Ordinary Man,' it reminded me of an old Elton song and I said to Sharon, 'I wonder if he would sing on it?' We asked and lo and behold, he agreed and sings and play piano on the song."
Ordinary Man is available for pre-order now, with the album's title track coming as an instant gratis download. The LP will come as a standard CD, deluxe CD, black vinyl, deluxe gatefold swirl color vinyl, picture disc and digital album. In addition, all physical copies of the album will include a unique code that will allow the purchaser to enter a sweepstakes for a chance to win one of over 300 Ozzy prizes (including an official laminate to get into any show on the 2020 "No More Tours 2," meet and greets, a gift certificate for merch and much more!). All details on the sweepstakes can be found at Ozzy.com.
"It was a lot of fun to do though it's a lot different from my other albums," the singer says of the album. "We recorded it quickly, which I haven't done since the first Black Sabbath album. This made it a different process, which I actually enjoyed."
