Ozzy Osbourne died: the Black Sabbath frontman was 76 years old and was sick of Parkinson’s. His last concert in Birmingham less than three weeks ago.
Ozzy Osbourne died: he was 76 years old, a voice like the apocalypse and a soul full of demons. The family press release arrived at dawn on July 22: “He was surrounded by love”. With him, he goes away A piece of history, delirium, pure fire. The man who gave a face to metal leaves, but who, as in a horror film shot badly, continued to exist beyond all predictions.
The last farewell: a farewell to his home
It was only July 5th When Ozzy Osbourne went up for the last time on a stage. The Villa Park of Birmingham, the stadium of his childhood, was transformed into a black cathedral to welcome the swan song of the Black Sabbath. He, sitting on a throne, fragile as never but titanic as alwaysgave a “paranoid” that seemed spit from hell.
“You have no idea how I feel. Thanks from the deep of my heart ».
A phrase called with a broken voice, which today seems the perfect epitaph of an existence impossible to contain in the borders of reality.
The birth of the most loved devil of rock
John Michael Osbourne was born in 1948 In a poor suburb of England. Dyslexic, stutterer, worker, butcher, small criminal from jail and large hungry for meaning, Ozzy has never sought normal. He snorted it.
Then Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward arrive. The Polka Tulk Blues Band become Black Sabbath. Heavy metal was born on 13 February 1970. Point. And Ozzy is the voice, the mask, the priest.
“War Pigs”, “Iron Man”, “Paranoid”: sounds as curses, riffs like earthquakes, texts that seem visions of an apocalypse drug addict.
Rock, madness, reality show
Ozzy has never made mystery of his demons. He ridden them.
Alcohol, lsd, cocaine, bats beheaded on stage (yes, it was true), teased ants on the street, Toxic challenges with the Mötley Crüe worthy of a film prohibited to minors and healthy healthy.
It was a horror cartoon. And for this it has become pop.
The Osbournesthe reality show on MTV, consecrates it in the new millennium as King of the garbage TV and father of the most messed family of America. Between Rehab, blasphemies and laughter from Satom Satanic.
From Black Sabbath to rebirth with Sharon
In 1979 he was hunted by the Sabbath. And he dies for the first time.
Then comes Sharon Ardenhis manager and future wife. He pulls him out of a hotel room where he was slowly self -destructing and puts him back into the world.
Born “Blizzard of Ozz”he arrives Randy Rhodsyoung guitar genius, e Ozzy is reborn in a solo version.
Even after Rhods’ tragic death, he continues to make records that are classic, from “No More Tears” to “Ozzmosis”.
At his side another legendary guitarist: Zakk Wylde.
Metal does not die, until Ozzy sings
In 2011 the Black Sabbath gathered. In 2013 “13” came out, the first album with Ozzy under the voice after thirty -five years. The circle tightens.
In the meantime, Ozzy gets sick. Parkinson’s bends it, but does not break it.
He continues to affect, write, to tell himself.
“Ordinary Man” and “Patient Number 9” are sound testaments, Love letters and whispered goodbyes between a flame and a roca laugh.
Last act: the concert of fate
Birmingham, 5 July 2025.
Back to the Beginning.
Black Sabbath gathered, ozzy on the throne, the world in streaming. Metallica, tool, gojira on stage for him. A funeral in life. A hymn at the end.
Ozzy sings again, with broken breath but The voice that seems the echo of an ancient thunder. The last “Iron Man”, the last “Paranoid”, then the silence. Which today makes a deafening noise.
A legacy that has no words
With Ozzy Osbourne it goes away The most seductive nightmare in the history of rock.
A man who loved and destroyed, who cried and vomited, who laughed in death and challenged God, goes away.
But above all, He said the dirtiest and most authentic truth of music: “You can’t kill rock and roll.”
And not even him, in the end, made it.
