sharon osbourne extreme

extreme: my autobiography, by sharon osbourne

anna got this from her book club, i think. i came across it when i was looking for something a bit lighter to read...

i suppose it's a bit of a "girl's book", but it's also a rather interesting insight on the music industry of the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s.

sharon osbourne is famous to most people for being the wife of ozzy osbourne, former lead singer of black sabbath. but apart from this significant accomplishment, she was also on the inner circle of the british music industry.

her father was an artist manager, and was responsible for bringing rock n roll to britain. he turned down management of a new band called "the beatles" because he thought the idea of british rock was a joke. instead he continued to focus on bringing american acts like chuck berry over to the uk. other famous artists he represented included ELO in the 70s (by then he had caught on to the idea of british music).

sharon became involved in the industry, and much of this book is about the corruption and criminal under-current of the music business. nothing girly about that! sharon herself was (is) a bit of a hard woman - not afraid (it transpires) to use her excrement (literally), her language and her fists to prove a point. before i leave off talking about the music industry bits of the book, i should also say - did you know that sharon once managed the smashing pumpkins? she ditched them because billy corgan was a royal pain in the arse.

the rest of the book is about her relationship with ozzy - enduring weekly beatings and his insane drug and alcohol addiction. she also talks about her kids and her fight with cancer.

so lots of aspects to this book - well worth reading for either the music industry stuff or for the human drama.

on the headphones: 'un bacio (ali n. baskin remix)' by ennio morricone, from the album 'morricone rmx'.