What keeps Ozzy Osbourne going? It could be in the genes

[Nimbostratus]

He is famous for many things. For his eerie scream. For his "Satan worship." For biting the head off a dove. And a bat.

But, mostly, Ozzy Osbourne, 61, has become famous for indulging in decades of near-legendary substance abuse — abuse that would vanquish most — and surviving.

Now scientists could find out why.

While the "Godfather of Heavy Metal" may not be heading to St. Louis during his current world tour, his genes are. Sometime next month, DNA extracted from a sample of Osborne's blood will be sent to St. Louis-based Cofactor Genomics, where researchers will sequence Osbourne's genome — or map his genetic blueprint.


What keeps Ozzy Osbourne going? It could be in the genes

For those who wonder why Ozzy outlived Dio.

[Dylar]

I figured he "outlived" Dio largely because he's some half dozen years younger, but hey, what do I know?

[hoodwink]

I figured he "outlived" Dio largely because he's some half dozen years younger, but hey, what do I know?

does that mean we can count on the end of Ozzy Osbourne Inc. in six years time?

his new album is an utter embarrassment of epic proportions, which is saying something for a guy who's produced nothing but a string of embarrassments for the last two decades.  the man was part of the most important band in the history of heavy metal and released a few great solo records, but he (and his wife) have relentlessly sullied his legacy.  Dio, for my money, is superior in every way, including allowing Ozzy to outlive him, thereby guaranteeing a bevy of horrid records in the years ahead.

[nekromantas]

Dio rules Ozzy drools.

[Arctic Sun]

Seems like Lemmy would have been a better candidate for this brand of research.  He's even expressed amazement at the fact that his physicals (required by tour insurance) have always come up clean.

[Arctic Sun]

Update:

He claims his ‘superhuman’ genes have kept him healthy despite a lifetime of rock ’n’ roll excess.

And now it seems science may back up Ozzy Osbourne’s theory that he has a particularly hardy family tree.

Researchers studying his DNA have found that the singer is the descendant of a Neanderthal man.

He is also a distant relative of outlaw Jesse James, the last Russian tsar Nicholas II and King George I – and shares some genes with the ancient Romans.

The 61-year-old hellraiser, who has survived years of drug abuse and alcohol addiction, joked that news of his Neanderthal heritage would not come ‘as much of a surprise’ to his wife Sharon or to police departments around the world.

He famously bit the head off a bat while drunk on stage, broke his neck in a quad bike accident in 2003 and has admitted there’s ‘no plausible reason’ why he is still alive.

Scientists made the discovery by taking a sample of the singer’s blood at his home in Buckinghamshire and sending it to a lab in New Jersey in the U.S.. Using a state-of-the-art £12,000 test, they were able to unlock his genetic code, or genome.

The researchers discovered that the star shares some DNA with the ancient Romans who were killed in Pompeii when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD.

Osbourne said: ‘That means I’m also probably related to some of the survivors, which makes a lot of sense.

‘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.’

The researchers also examined the gene the body uses to break down alcohol and discovered an ‘unusual variant’ which could have helped Osbourne survive 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.

But although the genetic results gave Osbourne some clues about his good health, ­scientists also told him that he had his long-suffering wife to thank for still being alive for doing her best to curb the worst of his excesses.

Link

[scourge]

Hardiness? Luck as a naturally selected trait:

The Puppeteer recruits a Kzin, a five-hundred pound feline alien named Speaker-to-Animals, by insulting it. Teela Brown, another human but bred genetically lucky...

http://www.sfsite.com/07b/rw204.htm

[rapidshare]

God Bless Ozzy Osbourne, a documentary about the life and times of the Prince of Darkness, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival this Sunday.

What could have been a glossy, fawning tribute to the most visible face in heavy metal music history—especially considering it was co-produced by his son, Jack—actually turned out to be a remarkably evenhanded look at Ozzy’s monumental musical influence as well as his less exemplary life as an addict and often-absent father.

The rock doc starts with Osbourne’s poor childhood in the cramped quarters of inner-city Birmingham, England, and goes up to his long-sought sobriety following the end of the water-cooler fodder reality series The Osbournes.

http://music-mix.ew.com/2011/04/25/god-bless-ozzy-osbourne-documentary/

Could be interesting, if they include subtitles so we can understand him.