»Ozzy writes musical on Rasputin«

Osbourne, the former frontman of Black Sabbath and reality TV hero, has been writing a musical. It is based on the life of a historical figure who could be considered Osbourne's spiritual ancestor: Grigory Yefimovich Rasputin, the Russian mystic and favourite of Tsar Nicholas II's court.

Osbourne and his co-writer Mark Hudson have amassed a double album's worth of songs, in styles that vary from rock to cossack folk music.

"I always wanted to do a musical for the West End or Broadway," Osbourne said. "If it gets picked up it gets picked up, but it was a lot of fun to do anyway ... being Ozzy Osbourne is great, but if I don't sing about the funking devil or bats or whatever, people don't really want to know."

Osbourne was inspired to write the show after watching a BBC documentary about Rasputin. Though he came from humble beginnings, the so-called "Mad Monk" became a leading figure in the Romanov dynasty during the early 20th century. Rasputin, said Osbourne, lived the rock'n'roll lifestyle before it was invented. He drank heavily, was a womaniser, disregarded personal hygiene and was linked with witchcraft and the occult. He was also famously hard to kill - his assassins had to poison, shoot and drown him.

Having recorded the songs, Osbourne's team are looking for financial backers and a scriptwriter. "I want it to be authentic," he said. "My wife's putting it in a classy kind of presentation box with a film of Rasputin, and a synopsis and some of the music, so we're hoping someone will pick it up."