Throughout his musical career, Ozzy Osbourne released more than 25 studio albums both as a solo artist and with the band Black Sabbath. After a lengthy battle with Parkinson’s disease, the singer has died at the age of 76.

Osbourne achieved many huge successes in his lifetime, including winning an Ivor Novello award, selling more than 100 million albums worldwide, and being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame both as a solo artist and with Black Sabbath.

But one of Osbourne’s albums has been named the “most influential metal album of all time” by BBC Radio One presenter Jack Saunders, who broke the news of the star’s death on air last night.

Saunders said: “Ozzy Osbourne has sadly passed away at the age of 76.

“The Prince of Darkness himself, the front man of one of the most important heavy metal bands, Black Sabbath, whose second album, Paranoid, without doubt, is the most influential metal album of all time.”

He added: “You’ll know when I say this, but if not, the riffs were cutthroat and raw. I mean, there really wasn’t a consideratio to be like something or play a certain way; there was only concern to be heard.

“And this track that I wanna play you from Black Sabbath tonight was the opener to the album. And it was emblematic, set the tone and completely ambitious in its time, which was 1970.

“Fresh off the back of the chokehold of the Beatles, this felt like something fresh and different and exciting and … Ozzy’s voice felt timelessly evil, filled with temptation and snare.”

Saunders continued: “There was no way once you heard Ozzy do his thing that you were going anywhere but listening to Black Sabbath. Riding the rhythm and blues that had so far shaped the sound of rock and roll, Ozzy Osbourne, on this track and beyond, shaped himself as the Prince of Darkness. Rest in peace to a legend.”

The presenter then went on to play War Pigs, which was the opener of the 1970 Black Sabbath album, Paranoid. The album’s title track reached number four in the UK singles chart and is widely considered as one of the band’s signature songs.