‘He humanized metal’: Canadian producer Kevin Churko, Rush remember Ozzy Osbourne

Ozzy Osbourne, left, and Canadian music producer Kevin Churko are seen in this undated handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout - Kevin Churko (Mandatory Credit)

The first time Kevin Churko recorded Ozzy Osbourne’s vocals, he says it felt less like a studio session and more like a spiritual experience.

The Moose Jaw, Sask.-born producer, who was tapped to co-produce the English heavy metal legend’s 2007 album “Black Rain,” remembers being awestruck.

“I just couldn’t believe it. Here was Ozzy Osbourne — the ‘Bark at the Moon’ guy, the ‘Crazy Train’ guy — singing in front of me. It was just too surreal to be even true,” Churko says.

“The funniest thing was that because he’s singing and giving his all, I’m close enough to him that I feel the spray of saliva on his S’s and T’s as he’s singing, and my face is getting wet. And we stop and I go, ‘Man, do I wipe this off? Do I leave it on and just take it all in and feel the joy of this moment?’”

Osbourne died Tuesday at age 76.

A towering figure in rock history, Osbourne first rose to fame in the 1970s as the frontman of Black Sabbath, helping to pioneer heavy metal with his haunting vocals, theatrical flair and outrageous antics. He later launched a successful solo career with hits including “Crazy Train,” and in the 2000s, reached a new generation of fans through the hit MTV reality series “The Osbournes.”

Churko remembers Osbourne as a born performer who lived every moment to the fullest.

“He was a true entertainer. He liked to tell jokes, he liked to hang with the boys. I can only imagine what those early years in Black Sabbath were like, just a bunch of dudes out there having fun,” says Churko, who also co-produced Osbourne’s 2010 album “Scream.”

Churko first joined Osbourne’s team as an engineer on the 2005 album “Under Cover,” and after gradually earning the trust of the singer and his camp, he was promoted to co-producer and co-writer on subsequent records.

While Osbourne was notorious for his decades-long struggles with drug and alcohol abuse — which often fuelled his unpredictable behaviour on-and-off stage — Churko says the singer had found sobriety by the time they began collaborating together in the mid-2000s.

“He had sowed his wild oats by that time but I don’t think he ever lost that roguish childhood spirit in him,” says Churko, reached by phone in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

He recalls a time Osbourne visited Churko’s home studio in Las Vegas to record a few extra vocal takes for “Black Rain.” After singing a couple of lines, Osbourne snuck out of the room.

“About 15 minutes later, I could just hear him howling with laughter and all of a sudden there’s a party in the other room. I poked my head out and there he was, sitting down on the couch with my son Kane and his friend, and they were watching ‘Superbad,’” chuckles Churko.

“It was such a wonderful, happy moment amongst many of them. We almost never had any bad times making albums.”

“Black Rain” landed Churko the Juno Award for recording engineer of the year in 2008.

Looking back, Churko says he was grateful to be part of Osbourne’s creative resurgence during a more grounded chapter of his life.

“I was really privileged to be there at that time. It’s always nice to be part of the craziness, but it’s also nice to be part of the peace,” he says.

“At that stage in his life, he was winding the crazies down.”

Osbourne’s reality TV fame was still fresh when the two first began working together, and Churko says the singer was relieved to be back in the studio, away from the constant cameras.

“He was just happy it was done,” Churko says.

“Nobody likes somebody following them around all day in their house trying to get some crazy moment on film. He was ready to get back to the music, to something more private and meaningful.”

Still, Churko believes “The Osbournes” wasn’t in vain — it helped reveal a more human side of the so-called Prince of Darkness.

“The music will always be the legacy — it’ll outlive everything else. But I also think when he had ‘The Osbournes,’ he humanized metal in a way. Before that, he was the guy who bit off bats’ heads and was in a Satan-worshipping band. Then all of a sudden, you see the Prince of Darkness is really this awesome human being who takes care of his family and who wants to make great music and have a good life,” he says.

“That was cool because rock and metal gets a certain kind of a slant, but really, we’re all just people. He was just a human being with his own issues, just trying to put one foot in front of the other like the rest of us.”

Canada’s music community poured tributes onto social media, among them Montreal band Voivod, who opened for Osbourne’s tour in 2003, and “saddened” guitarist Liona Boyd, who said she lived across the street from him in Beverly Hills and recalled attending his “crazy parties.” Rush frontman Geddy Lee remembered being blown away by the first Sabbath album.

“Ozzy and his bandmates were at the forefront of that genre, that brand of metal, and Ozzy was an intensely loved, one of a kind performer,” Lee said in a statement posted Tuesday.

Randy Bachman said he was “sending peace to his friends and family.”

“One of the original architects of Heavy Metal has gone to music heaven,” Bachman wrote on X.

“He and Sharon will forever be known as THE fantastic power couple of the industry.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 23, 2025.

Alex Nino Gheciu, The Canadian Press