Sharon Goes Lights Out for Ozzy

Sharon Osbourne has just added to her multihyphenate--wife of Ozzy, organizer of Ozzfest, Emmy-winning matriarch of The Osbournes, ex-talk show host, cancer survivor and now Iron Maiden basher.

The missus has admitted in a statement that she cut power to British metal icons Iron Maiden during an Ozzfest concert this summer. She says she pulled the plug after the band's lead singer, Bruce Dickinson, let loose a litany of anti-Osbourne sentiments from the stage.

In a press release written as an open letter to Maiden manager Rod Smallwood, Sharon Osbourne explained why she unplugged his band during its set Aug. 20 near San Bernardino, California.

"For 20 shows we were forced to hear Dickinson's nightly outbursts from the stage," she writes.

She then recounted some of what Dickinson said of her husband, including an alleged dig at Ozzy requiring a TelePrompTer to perform live.

"Dickinson got what he deserved," she added.

In a posting on Iron Maiden's Website, Smallwood had claimed the band deserved an apology "from a number of people, and you know who you are."

And Dickinson told Britain's Sun, "We could tell there were a lot of disgusted fans who had paid good money to see us."

But Osbourne was unrelenting.

"Was Dickinson so naive to think that I was going to let him get away with talking s--t about my family night after night? I don't think he realizes who he's dealing with."

She signed her letter: "the real Iron Maiden."

Indeed, long before Sharon Osbourne became a household name in America thanks to MTV's hugely successful Osbournes, she was known in music industry circles as one of the fiercest managers in the business.

She conceived the massive Ozzfest tour as a vehicle to introduce younger fans to her number one client, and the tour has become possibly her most successful business venture.

The traveling summer show, which rakes in upwards of $25 million and attracts nearly 500,000 fans, is built around Ozzy as the headliner, with typically younger metal bands warming up.

Iron Maiden found itself badmouthing the wrong clan when he spoke ill of Ozzy's brood--fans reportedly pelted Maiden with eggs and other projectiles on Aug. 20, roundly booing the band before Sharon went lights-out.

Fans appeared particularly offended at Dickinson's remarks about Ozzy's declining health following a lifetime of hard living.

Earlier this month, the Osbournes released a statement saying this would be the 56-year-old Ozzy's final Ozzfest as the headliner.

Some fans who were at the Aug. 20 show posted messages to blabbermouth.net that Sharon may have been behind the anti-Maiden episode. "There is NO WAY any fan could have snuck in 36 f---ing eggs," one concertgoer vented. "They patted us down so good, I felt like asking for a cigarette afterwards."

If Osbourne did egg on fans, she is uncharacteristically staying mum.

Regardless, Maiden is off the tour--their last gig on the currently-touring festival was Aug. 20. Velvet Revolver will fill out the remaing Ozzfest dates.

Ozzfest touches down next at the Starwood Amphitheater in Antioch, Tennessee, on Wednesday.

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Sharon Goes lights Out for Ozzy, Viewed at 31st August 2005