Saturday 5 May 2012

Sharon Osbourne Biography

Sharon Osbourne Biography
Sharon Osbourne Biography
Sharon Osbourne Biography: Sharon Rachel Osbourne (born 9 October 1952) is an English television host, author, music manager, businesswoman and promoter as well as the wife of heavy metal singer-songwriter Ozzy Osbourne.

She came into public prominence after appearing in The Osbournes, a reality television show that followed her family's daily routine. Osbourne later became a judge on the talent shows The X Factor and America's Got Talent. Her autobiography, Extreme, has sold in excess of two million copies.

After the success of The Osbournes and The X Factor, hosting her own chat shows and securing advertising contracts, Osbourne was ranked as the 25th richest woman in Britain on the 2009 Sunday Times Rich List. Sharon and husband, Ozzy Osbourne, are currently ranked as the 724th richest people in Britain with an estimated joint wealth of £110 million. Sharon Osbourne is credited with reviving her husband's heavy metal career by founding the summer Ozzfest tour. She currently lives in California and is one of five co-hosts of the daytime series, The Talk, where she discusses controversial topics and contemporary issues. The Talk premiered on 18 October 2010. BBC announced she's expected to host a syndicated daytime version Who Wants To Be A Millionaire in 2012.

Early life

Osbourne was born Sharon Rachel Levy in Brixton, London, the daughter of music promoter and rock and roll entrepreneur Don Arden (born Harry Levy), and his wife Hope Shaw, an Irish Catholic. Osbourne is the wife and manager of Black Sabbath vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, and together they have three children, Aimee, Kelly, and Jack Osbourne. After colon cancer claimed Osbourne's friend, Reagan Erin Marcato, in July 2002, she told the BBC that she had adopted Marcato's 18-year-old son Robert, but she denied legally adopting him five years later when he was sent to live with his father after a nervous breakdown. Robert had been a school friend of Aimee and Kelly for six years.

Sharon Osbourne Biography
Sharon Osbourne Biography
Television career

The Osbournes

Osbourne gained celebrity status as one of the stars of MTV's reality show, The Osbournes, which followed her family's daily life and had a national audience. As the person who negotiated with MTV to screen the show, she is often credited with bringing about her husband's emergence from heavy metal icon into mainstream celebrity. The show began airing in early 2002, and when, in July 2002, Osbourne was diagnosed with cancer, she insisted that filming should continue. The final episode of the show aired in the US on 21 March 2005. MTV's British affiliate has been airing the show since 2003. The show brought MTV its highest ratings ever in both America and Britain.

The Osbournes' Beverly Hills home (made famous on the show) has since been sold and the Osbournes have taken up residence in another home in Beverly Hills. Her Beverly Hills home was later seen in The X Factor during series two. The show saw that Osbourne was responsible for the livelihood of 12 dogs and employs a dog walker named Cherie. From the mid 1990s until the end of The Osbournes in 2005, she was primarily based in Los Angeles with the rest of her family. Osbourne earned an estimated £11.5 million from The Osbournes.

The Sharon Osbourne Show (US version)

In 2003 Osbourne became the host of her own television talk show, The Sharon Osbourne Show, which was syndicated to various US channels and also shown in the UK on Sky One. The show was meant to be a reflection of her personality and home life – similar to her reality show but with the inclusion of guest interviews and performances. During the episodes, she conducted some of her interviews on a giant bed.

However, the ratings were never successful and critics panned her inability to perform the basic tasks required of a talk show host, such as reading cue cards and conducting interviews. The show was cancelled in early 2004 after one season.

The X Factor

Osbourne was a judge and mentor on the UK's The X Factor every year, from 2004 through to 2007. In the first series she mentored the 16–24s and chose Roberta Howett, Cassie Compton and Tabby Callaghan to represent her in the live rounds of the show. The best placed of these was Tabby, who finished third overall. The final was contested between Simon Cowell's act Steve Brookstein and Louis Walsh's act G4, with Steve winning. Osbourne's outburst against Steve on the night of the final is widely credited with helping him to win, although according to her autobiography he was well ahead at all stages of the voting.

In the second series she mentored the 25-and-overs, and selected Andy Abraham, Brenda Edwards, Chico Slimani and Maria Lawson to contest the final rounds. Andy Abraham finished in second place to Louis Walsh's act Shayne Ward. During this series, the judges were again required to bring the selected candidates to their homes. Osbourne chose her Beverly Hills home as a suitable location, which saw Osbourne inviting her neighbours and husband Ozzy Osbourne to attend live performances by the candidates. During Chico's performance, he jumped into her functioning fountain with a live microphone, and proceeded to splash water.

Osbourne also appeared in the spin-off show The X Factor: Battle of the Stars. She was not required to choose her celebrity singing contestants but was selected to manage the 16–24s which were made up of Nikki Sanderson, Matt Stevens and Michelle Marsh. During the show, with Osbourne being a close friend of Victoria Beckham, she engaged in a feud with contestant Rebecca Loos, due to her recent claim of having an affair with David Beckham. Osbourne insulted Loos after one of her performances saying, "You should try doing tomorrow's performance with your knickers on because it will help warm up your voice. You have a very bad vibe that comes from you." After the incident, it took a lot of persuading to convince Loos to stay in the competition after being publicly humiliated.

In series three of The X Factor in 2006, she was mentoring the 25-and-overs, and selected Ben Mills, Dionne Mitchell, Robert Allen and Kerry McGregor. Kerry and Dionne were voted out in a double elimination on 28 October, Robert was voted out on 18 November and Ben was voted out on 9 December, sending Osbourne out of the competition. During the filming of the third series, Osbourne lived at the Dorchester Hotel in central London.

Osbourne was criticised for her outbursts on the show, where before a live show in series three she reportedly spoke out against Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? presenter Chris Tarrant, who was in the show's audience prior to filming. Tarrant had made a joke about Ozzy Osbourne to which Sharon Osbourne took offence, but most of her outburst focused on criticising Tarrant's recent infidelity to his wife Ingrid from whom he was in the process of separating. It was rumoured that Simon Cowell, fellow judge and creator of the show, was displeased with her performance in series three, and was thinking of replacing her and Louis Walsh for the next series. However, it was confirmed that Osbourne had been contracted to return for the fourth series of the show.

She then appeared in the fourth series as of 18 August 2007 along with judges Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh and the new judge, Dannii Minogue. She mentored the girls category during the show and subsequently chose Alisha Bennett, Emily Nakanda and Kimberley Southwick to represent her in the live rounds of the competition. In the first week of the live finals on 20 October, two of Osbourne's acts were in the bottom two. Osbourne responded by saying "What I did was no good - and I think I'm going home now." and she refused to play a role in the decision about which act should be eliminated. Kimberley Southwick was then voted out by a majority of the other three judges, while Osbourne claimed that she was quitting the show. However on The Paul O'Grady Show aired on 23 October 2007 Osbourne confirmed she would return on the next episode and stated that it is part of her personality to say things in the heat of the moment and not to contrive anything that she says. Two weeks into the live shows, a number of happy slapping videos of Emily Nakanda appeared in the media, apparently showing her beating another teenage girl. This led to Nakanda being withdrawn from The X Factor due to the media attention the videos brought. On 17 November Alisha Bennett was voted out of the competition, leaving Osbourne with no acts half way through the competition.

On 6 June 2008 it was announced in a statement on behalf of Osbourne that she has decided to step down as an X Factor judge after four series on the show. The statement read "Sharon would like to thank the wonderful British public for their enormous support during what's been an exciting ride. She would also like to take this opportunity to thank Simon Cowell and ITV while wishing them all the best for the next series." A spokesman from ITV commented "She has been a tremendous judge and mentor on the programme, but we respect her wish to leave and wish her the very best." Osbourne was replaced by Cheryl Cole.

During an interview on Piers Morgan's Life Stories, broadcast on 22 February 2009, Osbourne admitted that the reason for her departure from The X Factor was her relationship with Dannii Minogue. She stated "I didn't enjoy working with her at all and didn't fancy the prospect of spending six months sitting next to her."

In September 2010 Osbourne made a return to The X Factor at the Judges' Houses round of series 7 where she assisted Louis Walsh pick the 3 contestants that will continue to the live rounds in the Over 28s category.


Sharon Osbourne Biography
Sharon Osbourne Biography

The Sharon Osbourne Show (ITV)

In 2006, UK TV network ITV commissioned a new Sharon Osbourne chat show, initially to be called Mrs Osbourne Presents, but eventually just named The Sharon Osbourne Show. Osbourne signed a deal with ITV for a reputed £2 million.

The show began on Tuesday 29 August 2006, and was scheduled to run for six weeks in the 5 pm weekday timeslot. The premiere episode proved a close competition as the show received 1.9 million viewers with 17% share – 400,000 viewers (and 3% share) ahead of Richard & Judy on Channel 4. Her second show attracted 2.1 million viewers.

However, ratings appeared to decrease after Channel 4 moved its game show Deal Or No Deal, hosted by Noel Edmonds, into the timeslot, with Sharon managing 1.2m viewers compared to Deal Or No Deal's 2.9m. Channel 4's The New Paul O'Grady Show returned on Monday 25 September 2006 with 2.3 million viewers compared to Osbourne's 1.6 million.

America's Got Talent

Osbourne joined the judging panel on the second season of America's Got Talent, along with Piers Morgan and David Hasselhoff, replacing the singer Brandy.

The season premiered in the United States on 5 June 2007. In her first episode, Osbourne came into a conflict with Piers Morgan when she felt he judged a child contestant too harshly. She threatened to leave the show in the middle of filming, saying "I didn’t sign up for this", but was talked out of it. The incident was shown on air. Osbourne has since stayed with the show for its third, fourth, fifth, and sixth seasons, and is now the show's second longest serving judge.

Rock of Love: Charm School

Osbourne hosted the second season of Rock of Love: Charm School with co-hosts Riki Rachtman and Daniella Clarke on VH1. Sharon had a physical altercation on 13 December 2008 with contestant Megan Hauserman on the reunion special for the show after Megan made derogatory statements about Sharon's husband, Ozzy. Hauserman reportedly filed a report with the Los Angeles Police Department and has since filed a lawsuit against Osbourne, claiming battery, negligence and infliction of emotional distress. In 2011 Osbourne reached an settlement with Hauserman.

Osbournes: Reloaded

In July 2008 Fox announced that the Osbourne family would be hosting a new variety show titled Osbournes: Reloaded (working title was Osbournes: Loud and Dangerous). The show started filming at CBS Studios in Hollywood in December 2008 before a live audience. The show premiered in March 2009. Fremantle Media North America is producing the show. The show was cancelled after its premiere episode.

The Talk

Sharon Osbourne cohosts The Talk, which is a talk show that premiered 18 October 2010. This decision came after CBS cancelled the soap opera As The World Turns. The show is similar to The View and seeks to address motherhood and other contemporary issues.

In July 2011 Osbourne and some of her fellow "The Talk" panelists were criticised for their conduct when discussing the story of Catherine Kieu. Osbourne described Kieu's cutting off of her husband's penis and then throwing it in the garbage disposal as "quite fabulous", also laughing about the crime along with a number of other panelists. She was widely criticised for this particularly by antifeminist who resorted to boycotting the program. On 19 July Osbourne discussed her behavior, stating "she was sorry she offended people" and that she "did not condone genital mutilation". However, the sincerity of this apology is debatable, as she was laughing during it.

In December of 2011, Osbourne explained the untold story on the dismissals of her former co-hosts, Leah Remini and Holly Robinson Peete, from The Talk on an episode of The Howard Stern Show, stating: "Some people dont really know who they are. And you have to know who you are when you're in something like this. You can't pretend to be something you're not. You have to know your brand. You can't be all things to everyone." Additionally, Osbourne commented on the failure to let Remini and Peete know why they were let go, stating "Why should we call them to discuss?"  In March of 2012, a heavily publicized Twitter dispute ignited between Remini and Osbourne when Remini fired back at Osbourne for her comments on The Howard Stern Show. In response to questions from her Twitter followers, Remini tweeted: "Ask Sharon. She had us fired," and "Sharon made it happen and i guess ppl who still watch her make it happen? Sharon thought me and Holly were "Ghetto", (her words) we were not funny, awkward and didn't know ourselves… Haters Gon' Hate. True. But, Haters have the balls to say they "Hate"...not call themselves your friend. she had us fired all the while calling me and holly her friend. heartbreaking. Yes. she had us fired she told howard stern. explains why she never called us back." In response, Osbourne tweeted: "I had absolutely nothing to do with her departure from the show & have no idea why she continues to take to Twitter to spread this false gossip. Leah knows that I have never been in the position to hire or fire anyone on the show. That being said, my only wish is that Leah would just stop all this negative, unprofessional and childish behavior. It's been seven months. . .it's time to move on. Leah is a very talented actress and I only wish her happiness and success. I know that better things are to come if she can just get beyond this negativity." Remini tweeted back that she had no intention of keeping quiet and that Osbourne: "just wants publicity out of this. If someone wants me to stop, they should call a lawyer and tell them what I am NOT telling the truth about. We can go from there." In an additional tweet on the matter, Remini wrote: "I will not respond to Sharon BUT only to say this, IF she wanted to clear it up she has my number & has had ALL this time and didnt use it. Not even to say she was sorry. So to Sharon I say... Well done Sharon, you won. I will move on now as you suggested. And so should u. Be at Peace."

Original Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharon_Osbourne

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