One of the first people in the world to have tests to unravel his DNA, Ozzy had his tested by scientists, who were able to unlock his genetic code, or genome.
According to London’s Daily Mail, scientists took samples of the singer’s blood at his home in Buckinghamshire earlier this year and had it processed at a New Jersey lab, using a state-of-the-art test.
The results confirmed that Ozzy is a descendant of a Neanderthal man. “That won’t come as much of a surprise to the missus, or various police departments around the world,” joked Osbourne. “This is big news for blokes everywhere, if the Neanderthals could get laid, there’s hope for us all.”
There’s more: Ozzy is also a distant relative of outlaw Jesse James, the last Russian tsar Nicholas II and King George I.
Researchers also discovered that Osbourne shares some DNA with the ancient Romans who were killed in Pompeii when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. "That means I’m also probably related to some of the survivors, which makes a lot of sense,” said Ozzy. "If any of the Roman Osbournes drank nearly as much as I used to, they wouldn’t have even felt the lava. They could have just walked it off."
Tests also showed an ‘unusual variant’ in the gene that the body uses to break down alcohol, which could help explain how Osbourne survived during the years when he drank up to four bottles of Cognac a day. “Given the swimming pools of booze I’d guzzled over the years – not to mention all the (drugs) – there’s really no plausible medical reason why I should be alive," he told The Sunday Times.
“Sequencing and analysing individuals with extreme medical histories provides the greatest potential scientific value,” said Nathan Pearson, director of research at Knome, the Massachusetts company that mapped the singer’s genome using a blood sample.
Rock on, Ozzy.
Ozzy Osbourne – Bark At The Moon (1983)
Black Sabbath – Iron Man (1970)
Black Sabbath – Never Say Die
BBC – Top Of The Pops – May 25, 1978