Ozzy Osbourne dies two weeks after final Black Sabbath reunion concert
The heavy metal singer – who was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2019 – was reunited with fellow original Sabbath members Tony Iommi, Terence 'Geezer' Butler and Bill Ward on stage for a final performance on July 6.
Just over two weeks later Osbourne's family announced his death at the age of 76.
pic.twitter.com/JEsBQ0ynBR
— Ozzy Osbourne (@OzzyOsbourne) July 21, 2025
The heavy metal band were the last to appear on stage as part of a star-studded line-up for the Back to the Beginning concert at Villa Park, Birmingham, not far from the Crown pub where they played their first gig in 1968.
At the start of his solo performance, Osbourne entered the stage by rising on a large black throne through a trap door, wearing his signature black attire and thick eye make-up.
He started the set by saying: 'Let me hear you. Are you ready? Let the madness begin!'
Later, he told the crowd: 'It's so good to be on this f****** stage. You have no idea. I f****** love you all. Let me see your hands in the air. You are the best, each and every one of you. God bless you all.'
In an emotional moment, he added: 'I don't know what to say, man, I've been laid up for, like, six years. You have no idea how I feel – thank you from the bottom of my heart.
'You're all f****** special. Let's go crazy, come on.'
The rocker sang five songs in his own set, with fans waving torches from their phones during Mama, I'm Coming Home.
He finished his performance with Crazy Train, before confetti rained over a packed Villa Park.
After a short break, he re-entered the stage to join the rest of Black Sabbath for the first time in 20 years.
The band performed some of their greatest hits, ending with a rendition of Paranoid.
Fans chanted 'Ozzy, Ozzy, Ozzy' as the rock great thanked and blew kisses to those in attendance, before departing in an emotional ending to cap an illustrious career on stage.
In one of the messages displayed before his performance, Sir Elton John told Osbourne: 'You are one of the most remarkable singers of our time.
'You are the king, you are the legend. You've been through so much crap in the last few years – I hope this is the best day of your life so far.'
Personal videos from dozens of fans were also broadcast at the event, in which they credited Osbourne and Black Sabbath for inventing heavy metal and thanked them for their generational influence on music.
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Boston Globe
27 minutes ago
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How Ozzy Osbourne helped me navigate my grief
With my father's passing, our souls were shattered. When we returned too soon to the same cemetery where we had just buried him to lay my grandmother to rest next to my grandfather, we were almost too numb to cry. Hours after her funeral, I sat in her bedroom, which felt painfully empty, looking for something on TV to distract me. And that's when I stumbled onto what was then MTV's latest reality show — ' I knew who Ozzy Osbourne was: Black Sabbath's singer. Bit the heads off a bird and a bat. Made songs akin to a screwdriver twisting into an eardrum. I wasn't a fan. And since I grew up during Sabbath's 1970s heyday, I was just enough of a church kid to find what I saw as the band's evocation of devil stuff too creepy. Advertisement But something about the show's opening theme, with its '60s sitcom graphics, Ozzy's hit 'Crazy Train' fashioned into a Sinatra-style ring-a-ding-ding ditty, and Ozzy listed as 'The Dad,' drew me in. Eager for a respite from my grief, it didn't take much. Advertisement Of course, the Osbournes — including Sharon, Ozzy's wife and manager, and their two bickering teenagers, Jack and Kelly, were nothing like my family. (Aimee, Ozzy and Sharon's oldest daughter, opted out of the show.) I didn't grow up in a Beverly Hills mansion. Our kitchen wasn't bigger than my first apartment. My father wasn't a heavy metal legend. F-bombs weren't tossed around like confetti. We didn't have dogs — and if we did, they would not have been defecating all over the place. But there was a tenderness and humor that felt familiar. For all their profane squabbling, the Osbournes' love for each other was abundant. I found comfort in a family that felt intact, unlike what death had done to my own. Forget about the family's countless crucifixes, gaudy wealth that could buy everything but good taste, and the illuminated devil's head on the front door. It was moments with Ozzy watching 'The History Channel,' one of his favorite pastimes, on the couch with his arm slung over his son Jack's shoulders, or Sharon's motherly worries about her kids that genuinely made me smile for the first time in what felt like forever. Where my family's tragedies felt like a minefield, 'The Osbournes' provided a safe place to land. And I wasn't alone in my enjoyment of this chaotic family sitcom. Within a month, 'The Osbournes' was the highest-rated show in MTV history and would later win an Emmy for outstanding nonfiction program (reality). In those days, I was the Globe's pop culture columnist and wrote about this surprising hit that had introduced Ozzy to millions of new fans: Advertisement 'Unlike other family sitcoms, there's no lessons to be learned, no heavy-handed morals to be shared by episode's end — just a train wreck of a father trying to negotiate the foibles of his family.' (The toll of Ozzy's legendary substance use disorders were already apparent in his 50s; in retrospect, he was less 'a train wreck' than a battle-scarred survivor of his excesses.) Ozzy was a middle-aged dad befuddled by his kids, his wife, the passage of time and, mostly, himself — a lot like my father. I hadn't thought much about 'The Osbournes' in years until I saw a Bluesky post on Tuesday about Ozzy's death at 76. I knew that earlier this month and, despite failing health, he gave his farewell performance at Each person's mourning, unique and complicated, is theirs alone, so I won't pretend to know what the days, weeks, and years ahead will be like for the Osbournes without Ozzy. But for me this much remains true: During one of the most difficult periods of my life, the man known as 'The Prince of Darkness' unexpectedly became a life raft in my sea of unnavigable grief. This is an excerpt from , a Globe Opinion newsletter from columnist Renée Graham. . Advertisement Renée Graham is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at
Yahoo
an hour ago
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Legendary heavy metal band pays tribute to Ozzy Osbourne at North Yorkshire gig
A legendary heavy metal band paid tribute to rock icon Ozzy Osbourne at a North Yorkshire concert last night. Rob Halford, lead singer of Judas Priest, paid tribute to the Black Sabbath frontman as the rock band played a headlining show at Scarborough Open Air Theatre on Wednesday (July 23). The band dedicated their song Giants in the Sky to Osbourne, who died on Tuesday, alongside other fallen heroes of rock as has become practice at their live shows. Rob Halford (Image: CUFFE & TAYLOR/SCARBOROUGH OPEN AIR THEATRE) On stage, Halford said: 'It's been tough the last 24 hours right but he would want us to be doing this. "He would want us to be together, he would want us to be having a good time which is what we're doing right now. We love you Ozzy.' He then paused before fans joined in chants of the late singer's name. Click here for a review of the show (Image: CUFFE & TAYLOR/SCARBOROUGH OPEN AIR THEATRE) Halford added: 'This next song is all about him and all of the other greats that we've lost. Their music lives forever. "They used to be down here on the earth plain, now they're in the sky plain as we call it. This is Giants in the Sky.' The show in Scarborough was one of just two UK dates Judas Priest are playing this summer as they celebrate 35 years since the release of their iconic album Painkiller. Most read Durham MP Mary Kelly Foy 'saddened' over NHS trust's breast cancer failings County Durham man blamed needle fear for failing to provide blood sample to police How night out for group of friends ended in callous murder of dad by teen knifeman Halford said: 'It's good to be home, we've been all over Europe the last six weeks or so. "We started in Finland, we've been all over Europe, everywhere you could imagine. That's the power of metal, it's everywhere man but we've been looking forward to these two show back home here at Scarborough and a couple of days later at the 02 in London.' The near two hour set featured songs from Painkiller alongside other hits from their back catalogue including Breaking The Law, Freewheel Burning and Electric Eye.
New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
Ozzy Osbourne was ‘frustrated' during Black Sabbath's farewell concert: bandmate
In the wake of his death, Ozzy Osbourne's Black Sabbath bandmate is shedding light on the quiet struggle behind the rock group's final show. Tony Iommi, Black Sabbath guitarist and co-founder, told UK broadcaster ITV that Osbourne was 'frustrated' during the band's farewell concert on July 5. The heavy metal icon died less than three weeks later, on July 22, at age 76. 5 Iommi told UK broadcast ITV that Osbourne was 'frustrated' during Black Sabbath's farewell concert. ITV News/Youtube 'I think he was moved and frustrated as well, 'cause he wanted to stand up,' Iommi, 77, told the outlet on July 23. 'You could see he was trying to get up.' Advertisement The 'Crazy Train' singer, who had struggled with Parkinson's disease since his diagnosis in 2020, performed from a black leather chair during the show at Villa Park in Birmingham. Though the throne, decorated with a bat motif, was classic Ozzy, Iommi told BBC Radio 4's 'Today' on July 23 that sitting onstage wasn't quite what his bandmate wanted. 5 Osbourne performed from a black leather chair during the show. Greg Draven/X 'I think of him and the fun we had, really. That's what was weird about this show because Ozzy was seated in a throne, and that's the last thing that Ozzy would have ever wanted to be but it had to,' he said. 'Normally, he's bouncing around onstage and coming up to me and pulling faces. He'd always have a laugh.' Advertisement Iommi told ITV that Osbourne had texted him the day before he died, saying he was tired and had no energy. 'We could see it in rehearsal,' he explained. 'We didn't want him there every day at rehearsal because it's too much. He just wouldn't be able to stand it.' 5 Black Sabbath's final performance took place on July 5 at Villa Park in Birmingham. REUTERS He continued, 'They'd bring him in, and he'd sit down and sing a few songs. And then, we'd talk about some rubbish, old times, or whatever, have a laugh, and then he'd go.' Advertisement Still, Iommi said the final performance 'meant everything to [Osbourne].' 'This is what we built up for — for that big ending, where he could see all the people, and we could all see all the people and close it in that way,' he added. 'We didn't expect to close it so quick with us. We didn't expect him to go that quick, really. We didn't expect him to go, so it's been a shock.' 5 Osbourne's Black Sabbath bandmates paid tribute to him on social media. WireImage After news broke of the Prince of Darkness' passing, Iommi took to Instagram to pay tribute to his late bandmate. Advertisement Alongside a carousel of throwback photos of Osbourne and Black Sabbath, he wrote: 'I just can't believe it! My dear dear friend Ozzy has passed away only weeks after our show at Villa Park. It's just such heartbreaking news that I can't really find the words, there won't ever be another like him. Geezer, Bill and myself have lost our brother. My thoughts go out to Sharon and all the Osbourne family. Rest in peace Oz.' 5 Iommi and Osbourne performing onstage. Redferns Fellow Black Sabbath members bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward also shared heartfelt messages in the wake of Osbourne's death. Butler, 76, for his part, posted on Instagram: 'Goodbye dear friend- thanks for all those years- we had some great fun. 4 kids from Aston- who'd have thought, eh? So glad we got to do it one last time, back in Aston. Love you.' Ward, 77, wrote on X: 'Where will I find you now? In the memories, our unspoken embraces, our missed phone calls, no, you're forever in my heart. Deepest condolences to Sharon and all the family members. RIP Sincere regrets to all the fans. Never goodbye. Thank you forever.'
