She's brought new meaning to the phrase "housewife superstar" for the 21st century, but that phrase is only a foreword to the book of Sharon Osbourne's life.

Here's a woman who's all about empowerment, without any of the tokenistic acknowledgement of females that usually lurks behind that phrase. That's human empowerment, as in not taking no for answer, never taking any of life's mess lying down, and recognising tall brick walls but simply driving around them.

Sharon's autobiography, released in September 2005, was the voice of one of the most resilient and multi-faceted figureheads in the public consciousness. Not to mention possibly the most successful female businesswoman the entertainment world has ever fostered.

She's currently back on our television screens in Season 3 of America's Got Talent. Well, we say back - she's hardly been away, because - why mince words? - Sharon's become the most visible representation of balls in the business.

She's brought new meaning to the phrase "housewife superstar" for the 21st century, but that phrase is only a foreword to the book of Sharon Osbourne's life.

Here's a woman who's all about empowerment, without any of the tokenistic acknowledgement of females that usually lurks behind that phrase. That's human empowerment, as in not taking no for answer, never taking any of life's mess lying down, and recognising tall brick walls but simply driving around them.

We're several paragraphs in and we haven't even mentioned 'The Osbournes', or Ozzy, or Ozzfest, or the Sharon Osbourne Colon Cancer Foundation, or her talk show, or the years of honing a reputation as the definitive straight-talking artist manager of her generation. Sharon likes to say she's "lived 50 lives in 50 years" and it sounds a fairly conservative estimate.

The Sharon Osbourne the world now knows is the one made famous by TV, but it's also the sum of many other parts, parts that were constructed on the shop floor of a music business that was in her very blood. Sharon was a mere 15 when she began her career, as a receptionist for her father Don Arden's management company. It was while working for her father that she first met seminal rockers Black Sabbath and a lead singer called John Michael Osbourne, already known to one and all as Ozzy.

Sharon was 17 then, and their paths crossed off and on over the ensuing years, until she began managing Ozzy's career in 1979, after he'd been fired from Black Sabbath. Sharon kept believing in his talent and over the next quarter-century, would mould and mastermind the truly unique solo career of a rock icon.

That bit about coming up against a brick wall and simply going around it? How about answering the "no" of other music festivals to her requests to add Ozzy to their line-up by creating a summer festival in his name? Ozzfest, formed in 1996, went on to become the essential occasion of any summer of rock, and it celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2006.

Sharon and Ozzy were married on July 4, 1982. The tour bus was often a nursery for their three children, Aimee, Kelly and Jack. During a management career three and a half decades strong, Sharon has also worked with Gary Moore, Motorhead and ELO.

She's as proud of her work ethic now as when she formed her own international company, Sharon Osbourne Management, created two record labels, became a concert tour producer, film producer, five-days-a-week talk show host and started a charity, all at the same time as nurturing her family.

And then, 'The Osbournes'. The idea of a reality TV series about her family was Sharon's too, but it was the viewing public who spontaneously created the reaction that turned the series into a pivotal moment in modern television history. Starring Ozzy, Sharon, Kelly and Jack, it won MTV the highest ratings they'd ever known and won an Emmy for Best Reality Show, presented by the Extreme, has sold in excess of two million copies and is the most successful female autobiography ever. With the continued success of Ozzfest and then America's Got Talent, if anybody's got that, it's Sharon Osbourne.