Why is Ozzy = Ossie with Black Sabbath?

October 17, 2012 8:47 PM

Why is Ozzy Osbournes name spelled as Ossie Osbourne on Black Sabbath's debut album?

I have tried a lot of sources but to no avail.

posted by Kilovolt to Media & Arts (4 answers total)

According to this Black Sabbath fan site, it was only spelled that way in the original printing. Same thing here ("Spelled Ossie Osbourne on the original version of the album"). Same here. Apparently just a misspelling, though it also appears on Live at Last.
posted by John Cohen at 9:07 PM on October 17, 2012

According to this Black Sabbath fan site, it was only spelled that way in the original printing

Not true - my mid-80's German reissue has the Ossie spelling.
posted by anagrama at 2:11 AM on October 18, 2012

This is just pure speculation, but I wonder if that particular misspelling might have been easy to make due to the popularity of Ossie Clark, a British fashion designer who was at the height of his fame at that time.
posted by scody at 8:12 AM on October 18, 2012

I was also about to speculate, but on Ossie Davis, although it appears that it would have been pronounced "aw, see". But he was famous around that time, too.

Google ngrams shows "Ossie" as consistently more frequent than "Ozzy" in print at the time. Maybe it was just considered the default spelling? Maybe Z's were more metal?
posted by Wrinkled Stumpskin at 12:40 PM on October 18, 2012