"I'm like Vincent Price. He was really a regular guy in private, into cookery as a hobby and all that."

To be sure, for much of his career, particularly when he was lead singer for Black Sabbath from 1968 to 1979, Ozzy was known more for his hell-raising than for his marginal musical talents. But two years ago, well into his solo career, he said, he quit drinking and taking drugs and started an exercise regimen that, along with a mostly vegetarian diet, has helped him melt the flab off his formerly cherubic face and chubby body. His 5-foot-10-inch frame now weighs a fit 156 pounds, down from 193.

Evidence of Ozzy's new life can be found throughout his $695-a-night suite. Instead of half-empty bottles of Courvoisier, there are containers of Diet Pepsi. And the contraption most resembling drug paraphernalia is a Japanese vaporizer in the kitchen that he says he uses, along with frequent squirts of Entertainer's Secret, to soothe his sore throat.

Sharon Osbourne, who has been married to Ozzy for 10 years and works as his manager, is just as trim as Oz. Unlike his casual rock star duds, though, her get-up is a conservative blue designer suit (Tyler of L.A.). And unlike her mumbling husband's diction, hers is quick, precise. "He's a working-class hero," she said. "That's why the kids love him."

Ozzy, whose actual given name is John, was born in Birmingham, the Gary, Ind., of England; his father was a factory worker. Sharon, 37, was born to an upper-class family near London; her father was Ozzy's previous manager. "People expect my wife to be like Elvira or something," Ozzy said.

Scattered on the couch are battalions of toy soldiers that were ordered into battle by one of Ozzy's five children, blond-haired, 6-year-old Jack, who is launching a simultaneous raid on the pastries on the tea setting. Ozzy's other children are Kelly, 7, Aimee, 9, and from a previous marriage, Louis, 16, and Jessica, 18.

"I consider myself a pretty good parent," he said. "I don't beat my kids around the house. My kids haven't turned out like Eddie Munster."