Dec 9, 2003: Ozzy Crashes in ATV Accident

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Horseback was likely safer for Ozzy

The best way to figure it is that Ozzy Osbourne, rock’s “Prince of Darkness,” must have not just a cat’s nine lives but a good 99 or more. For all his tales of drunken debauchery as well as biting the head off small-winged animals, he’s remained surprisingly unscathed. Though Ozzy is known for his copious ingestion of illicit substances, just days after celebrating his birthday he suffered his most serious injuries on December 9, 2003, while consuming “absolutely no drugs, absolutely no alcohol. It was just a terrible, a terrible accident,” he later said.

His intent was a pleasant scoot around the grounds of his 150-acre estate in Buckinghamshire, England on one of the All Terrain Vehicles the family keeps there. The then-55-year-old was in the U.K. on a promotional tour with his daughter Kelly plugging their duet on the Black Sabbath song “Changes.”

But the sometimes rough terrain of the land would up causing Osbourne to flip over his ATV’s handlebars. The vehicle landed on his back, shoulders and neck. He wound up with eight broken ribs, a fractured vertebrae, a badly broken collarbone and a pierced lung. His bodyguard reportedly had to give Osbourne mouth-to-mouth twice before he arrived at the hospital under intensive care. The injuries were so severe that Osbourne was put on a ventilator.

“The bloody thing nearly killed me,” Ozzy says of the ATV accident. ‘I am lucky to be here today and not paralyzed. “I’ll never go near one of those damn bikes again. I’ve finally grown up.”

Watch footage of Ozzy on the ATV and the aftermath of the accident