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 and also went on to see over 2 Million copies alone in the UK making it the most successful female biography of all time. Not to mention possibly the most successful female businesswoman the entertainment world has ever fostered.

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, X Factor, America's Got Talent 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 and Ozzy were married on July 4, 1982. The tour bus was often a nursery for their three children, Aimee, Kelly and Jack. She always believed in Ozzy's talent and over the next quarter-century, would mould and mastermind the truly unique solo career of a rock icon.

But it wasn't easy. 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, it celebrated its 13th Anniversary this summer.

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 Academy of Television Arts and Sciences at the 2002 Emmy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles.

Suddenly, viewers who may never have heard of Sharon Osbourne before had a new friend and inspiration. Soon she was on the cover of Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, TV Guide and People, among many others, and became a new favourite on America's chat-show couches.

Then came the most serious of pit stops, when she was diagnosed with colon cancer in July 2002, Sharon spent the rest of the year coming to grips with her own mortality, ravaged by chemotherapy and the attendant sickness. Her brave move to let the MTV cameras document her illness during the filming of the second season of 'The Osbournes' was all about seizing the chance to promote public awareness of the disease.

Fully recovered, she started the Sharon Osbourne Colon Cancer Program with the mission of providing free screenings and healthcare to those who can't afford it. Sharon has also lent her support of other charities as well including the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (on which she is an honorary board member), the Elton John AIDS Foundation (on which she is an honorary chairperson along with her husband, Ozzy) and she recently appeared on the unprecedented television event, Stand Up 2 Cancer. NBC, ABC, and CBS simultaneously devoted 1 hour of commercial-free prime time to raise funds for the fight against cancer.

In 2004, Sharon joined forces with Simon Cowell to be a judge on the #1 British talent show "X Factor" and overnight she became one of the most sought after celebrities in the UK. "X Factor" won "Most Popular Entertainment Programme" at the National Television Awards in 2005 and 2006.

Other awards followed including Biography of the Year at 2006's "British Book Awards" and in late in 2004, she was at the Woman of the Year awards in London to collect that trophy, which she'd won at the 2002 event but had been too ill to receive. In 2005 Sharon co-hosted the "Royal Variety Performance" with Michael Parkinson for the Queen of England, who was in attendance.

In the summer of 2007, Sharon was asked to be a judge on the American television show 'America's Got Talent,' NBC's summer reality #1 competition series. "America's Got Talent" has been successful at bringing the variety format back to the forefront of American culture.

However, the travel back and forth from America to England and the overlapping filming schedules on two mega-successful television shows became very constricting. So after four highly successful years on "X Factor" Sharon chose to leave the #1 hit show this year to pursue other opportunities.

And there were no shortage of opportunities...

Earlier this year Sharon reclaimed her seat as a judge on the third season "America's Got Talent." "AGT" is the crowning glory of NBC's summer schedule and has consistently been the #1 show on television week after week.

In February 2008, The Osbournes hosted the Brit Awards to a massive 7 million viewers - and rave reviews. And to the delight of their fans, the family will be back together on our TV screens when they host a brand new variety show, "The Osbournes: Reloaded," for Fox Television premiering in 2009.

Between "America's Got Talent" and "The Osbournes: Reloaded" television viewers were able to see Sharon on VH-1's "Rock of Love: Charm School" where she tackled the role of headmistress trying to groom a group of 14 Bachelorettes taken from the network's "Rock of Love reality dating show". If she was able to survive that, then there's definitely no stopping her.