Kelly Osbourne Joins London Stage Production of ‘Chicago’

Monday, July 30, 2007

Kelly Osbourne, 22, will join the cast of the stage musical “Chicago” during a seven-week run at London’s Cambridge Theater from September 10 to October 27.  She will play the role of the prison supervisor Mama Morton, which was played by Queen Latifah in the Oscar-winning film version, as well as by Alison Moyet in previous stage productions.  Osbourne is the youngest actress to play Mama and this has caused some slight controversy - Queen Latifah was 32 when she played the role. 

Osbourne rose to fame on the Emmy-winning reality show “The Osbournes” which also starred her famous heavy metal star father, Ozzy; her mother, Sharon; and her brother, Jack.  After “The Osbournes”, she launched a music career, topping the charts with a duet with her father on the Black Sabbath song “Changes.” She released her debut album, Shut Up!, in 2002, which featured a cover version of Madonna’s hit song “Papa Don’t Preach.” It received bad critical reviews and poor sales and in May 2003, Epic dropped Osbourne from its label.  She was picked up by Sanctuary, where “Changes” was recorded, and Shut Up! was repackaged with “Changes” and a few live songs and re-released as “Changes” but this did not improve sales.  Her second album, “Sleeping in the Nothing” was released in 2005 and the single “One Word” peaked at #1 on three Billboard dance charts, earning Osbourne the honor of being the first artist in the history of the Billboard charts to top all three dance surveys in the same week.

Osbourne also replaced Elizabeth Hurley as host of the British show “Project Catwalk’’ , co-hosted the 2006 edition of I’m a Celebrity, Get Me out of Here! Now with Jeff Brazier in Australia and Mark Durden-Smith in London, and had a guest-starring role on the hit ABC high school teen drama “Life As We Know It” playing the supporting role of Deborah Tynan.