It seems appropriate to lead with Ozzy Osbourne's wild persona because he did, after all, bite off the head of a bat. He also played kind of a regular family man on the reality TV hit "The Osbournes."

Co-founder of the influential heavy metal band Black Sabbath, Osbourne enjoyed a lot of success in his career. He also abused some heavy-duty substances.

You'll hear more about him in this short story. And you can find various versions of "Crazy Train," the highlighted song in this episode, on YouTube. Here's an official version.

The photograph in the thumbnail shows Osbourne in 1970 and is credited to Warner Bros. Records. Published in Billboard magazine as a trade ad for the "Black Sabbath" album, the photo is an excerpt from a shot of Osbourne with fellow band members. It's available on Wikimedia Commons.

In the chapters, you can see the full photo, also available on Wikimedia Commons.

Also in the chapters, there's a 1975 shot of Osbourne on the cover of Circus Magazine (attribution: Circus Magazine, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons). That file is available here.

The art that frames two sides of the thumbnail photo was created by Bob Jones.

Song of the Day creator Sheldon Zoldan researched, wrote and narrated this story, one of 35 tributes to music stars who passed away in 2025. Song of the Day used to be a daily feature delivered to an email list of subscribers. Sheldon ended it in early 2026 which, I suppose, means that Song of the Day deserves a tribute of its own someday. The good thing is that the tributes to music makers live on. Each is a snapshot of the life of one music maker whose work made an impact on the lives of many.

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This is Kate Jones. Thank you for listening to Everyday Creation®, available on YouTube and in podcast directories including Apple, Spotify, iHeart and Audible.

As a musical 10-year-old, future Grammy winner Chuck Mangione took up the trumpet after seeing the 1950 movie "Young Man With a Horn." Directed by Michael Curtiz, the film had an all-star cast: Lauren Bacall, Kirk Douglas, Hoagy Carmichael and Doris Day. It's available on Prime Video. The picture that accompanies the Amazon listing also appears in the chapters.

Along with that movie, Mangione's mom and dad had an influence on their son's career too. Find out how in this short story about the jazz star.

Mangione's biggest hit was "Feels So Good," the title track of one of his more than 30 albums. It reached No. 2 on Billboard's Album 200 list. The song itself was No. 1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart and No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart.

If you search YouTube for "Feels So Good," you'll find plenty to choose from. Here's a link to the full version, which was cut down considerably for the single.

In this episode, you'll hear, interestingly enough, that Mangione credited a bit of that song's success to the Bee Gees. You'll also hear about his 13-year stint as a TV actor in an animated series.

The photo in the thumbnail shows Mangione in Washington, D.C., in 1998. It's credited to John Mathew Smith and celebrity-photos.com from Laurel, Maryland, and is available on Wikimedia Commons under the license CC BY-SA 2.0. You can access the photo file here. This photo is in the chapters too.

According to the free encyclopedia, the correct pronunciation of Mangione's name is man-JOH-nee.

The art that frames two sides of the photo was created by Bob Jones.

Song of the Day creator Sheldon Zoldan researched, wrote and narrated this short story, one of 35 tributes to music stars who passed away in 2025. Song of the Day used to be a daily feature delivered to an email list of subscribers. Sheldon ended it in early 2026 which, I suppose, means that Song of the Day deserves a tribute of its own. The good thing is that the tributes to music makers live on. Each is a snapshot of the life of one music maker whose work made an impact on the lives of many.

Send us Fan Mail

This is Kate Jones. Thank you for listening to Everyday Creation®, available on YouTube and in podcast directories including Apple, Spotify, iHeart and Audible.

Marilyn Bergman "wasn't a singer, but she was one heck of a lyricist." That's how Song of the Day creator Sheldon Zoldan describes Marilyn, who was half of the successful and dynamic duo who collaborated on the lyrics to such popular songs as "The Way We Were" and "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?"

The other half was Alan Bergman, who died in 2025, just short of his 100th birthday. You can listen to Sheldon's story about Alan in the previous episode, which is #154.

Marilyn Bergman died in 2022. She was the first woman president of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. You can learn more about this talented woman in this short yet info-packed episode researched, written and recorded by Sheldon, and edited and published under the auspices of Everyday Creation. Sheldon and I have done a series of these stories to significant figures in the music industry who passed away in recent years.

You can go here to hear Barbra Streisand sing "The Way We Were."

The thumbnail photo for this episode is from 2002. It's credited to John Mathew Smith and is available on Wikipedia under the license CC BY-SA 2.0.

The art that frames two sides of the photo was created by Bob Jones.

This episode is one of 35 stories that Sheldon wrote about music stars who passed away in 2025. His daily feature Song of the Day used to be delivered to an email list of subscribers. Sheldon ended it in early 2026, and one of these days we'll do an episode about Song of the Day too. The good thing is that he plans to continue his tributes to music makers. Each one is a snapshot of the life of someone whose work made an impact on the lives of many.

Send us Fan Mail

This is Kate Jones. Thank you for listening to Everyday Creation®, available on YouTube and in podcast directories including Apple, Spotify, iHeart and Audible.