Blizzard of Ozz is the debut studio album by English heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne, released on 12 September 1980 in the UK and on 27 March 1981 in the US.

[12] The band recorded demos of the songs "I Don't Know", "Crazy Train", "Goodbye to Romance", and "You Looking at Me Looking at You" in Birmingham in early 1980 with ex-Lone Star drummer Dixie Lee.

The completed lineup retreated to Clearwell Castle in Gloucestershire for six days to rehearse and give Kerslake an opportunity to learn the new songs.

[14] Keyboardist Don Airey claims that parts of "Revelation (Mother Earth)" as well as the intro to "Mr. Crowley" were written by him in the studio, though he never received writing credit for these contributions.

Osbourne and the band were very unhappy with Tsangarides' production and he was fired and replaced with Norman, who stepped in to complete producing and engineering.

[16] Norman's production work on Blizzard of Ozz is uncredited, though he did go on to produce all of Osbourne's albums prior to 1986's The Ultimate Sin.

The back cover of the first pressing of the "Crazy Train" single stated that the track came from a forthcoming Jet Records album entitled Ozzy Osbourne/ Blizzard of Ozz Vol.

He knew he was in a situation which was a good opportunity for him being relatively unknown, so when Lee [Kerslake] and I were ousted, Randy had no allies and the act became 'Ozzy Osbourne' and no longer a band.

[21] Entertainment attorney Steven Machat, who was involved in the deal Osbourne signed with Jet Records, said in his 2011 book Gods, Gangsters and Honour: A Rock 'n' Roll Odyssey that Osbourne's soon-to-be manager and wife Sharon Levy was not happy with the level of creative input that Rhoads, Daisley, and Kerslake had in the Blizzard of Ozz album and did not want them to share the credit.

[22] Album producer Max Norman concurs that Daisley and Kerslake made considerable songwriting contributions during their time in the band, while also noting that the Osbourne camp "might want to dispute that now.

[26] In the UK, it was the first of four Osbourne albums to attain Silver certification (60,000 units shipped) by the British Phonographic Industry, achieving this in August 1981.

[28][deprecated source] In his autobiography, Osbourne readily admitted that at the time the album was being recorded, he felt he was in direct competition with his former band, Black Sabbath.

In 1986, Daisley and Kerslake sued Osbourne for unpaid royalties, eventually winning songwriting credits on Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman.

[35] With regard to the reissue, Ozzy stated to The Pulse of Radio, reiterating a conversation with Sharon,[36] "You know what, whatever the circumstances were, I want the original thing back."