Don Arden Dies

Rock entrepreneur Don Arden – a pop mogul of the ‘60s and ‘70s and father of Sharon Osbourne – has died in a Los Angeles nursing home according to Osbourne’s spokesman, Gary Farrow.

Arden managed the careers of the Electric Light Orchestra, The Small Faces and Gene Vincent but he was likely best known for managing Ozzy Osbourne, who became his son-in-law. Arden’s daughter Sharon was a receptionist for her father when she met Osbourne in 1979 and decided to manage the singer.

It caused a litigious fallout between the father and daughter that lasted 20 years.

Arden had a tough reputation – wearing gangster-style suits and was variously known as "the Al Capone of Pop," "Mr. Big" and "the English Godfather," according to the London Times.

Arden, 81, had been suffering from Alzheimer’s. He and Sharon reconciled in 2002 after the initial diagnosis.