The Sun reports:
It comes just weeks after the Black Sabbath star took to the stage one final time with his band mates at Villa Park in Birmingham.
He died “surrounded by love”, a statement from his family said on Tuesday night.
The family said, “It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning.
He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time.
Sharon, Jack, Kelly, Aimee and Louis.”
Ozzy, who became known as the Prince of Darkness thanks to his on-stage antics that attracted a legion of heavy rock fans, played a short five-song set reuniting with his bandmates Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi and Bill Ward earlier this month.
The gig was touted as “the greatest heavy metal show ever,” with Ozzy grinning to chanting fans and even watching on after as his daughter Kelly was proposed to by her boyfriend Sid Wilson.
The rocker vowed, however, that it would be his final performance due to his deteriorating health, having opened up about his battle with Parkinson’s in 2020.
Born John Michael Osbourne in Birmingham in 1948, the star had a string of jobs including labourer, plumber and abattoir worker after dropping out of school aged 15.
Ozzy, who became known as the Prince of Darkness thanks to his on-stage antics that attracted a legion of heavy rock fans, played a short five-song set reuniting with his bandmates Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi and Bill Ward earlier this month.
The gig was touted as “the greatest heavy metal show ever,” with Ozzy grinning to chanting fans and even watching on after as his daughter Kelly was proposed to by her boyfriend Sid Wilson.
The rocker vowed, however, that it would be his final performance due to his deteriorating health, having opened up about his battle with Parkinson’s in 2020.
Born John Michael Osbourne in Birmingham in 1948, the star had a string of jobs including labourer, plumber and abattoir worker after dropping out of school aged 15.
Ozzy, who became known as the Prince of Darkness thanks to his on-stage antics that attracted a legion of heavy rock fans, played a short five-song set reuniting with his bandmates Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi and Bill Ward earlier this month.
The gig was touted as “the greatest heavy metal show ever,” with Ozzy grinning to chanting fans and even watching on after as his daughter Kelly was proposed to by her boyfriend Sid Wilson.
The rocker vowed, however, that it would be his final performance due to his deteriorating health, having opened up about his battle with Parkinson’s in 2020.
Born John Michael Osbourne in Birmingham in 1948, the star had a string of jobs including laborer, plumber and abattoir worker after dropping out of school aged 15.
But Ozzy became entangled with petty crime and served two months in prison for burglary.
The singer then pursued his love of music after hearing The Beatles hit She Loves You in 1963.
After appearing in a handful of school plays, Ozzy joined Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler in their first group Rare Breed in 1967.
When that band split, the pair reunited in Polka Tulk Blues alongside Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward.
The group later became known as Black Sabbath and went onto shatter the music world with their whining guitar solos, Occult-based lyrics and Ozzy‘s screeching vocals.
In 1970, the group gained a cult following in both the US and UK after releasing their eponymous first album.
Black Sabbath saw incredible success with hit tracks such as Paranoid but discord in the group saw most of the original line-up leave.
Ozzy himself quit the band in 1978, with a spiral into drug abuse leading to a divorce from first wife Thelma Mayfair, who he had two children with.
It was then he first met a young Sharon Arden, who Ozzy at first wrote off as he believed she would think he was a “lunatic”.
But the singer could not be more wrong and the pair married in Hawaii in July 1982 before going on to have three children together, Aimee, Kelly and Jack.
With Sharon’s encouragement and help from her music manager dad Don, he began to carve out a successful solo career.
His seminal first album Blizzard of Ozz in 1980 became a multi-platinum success thanks to Ozzy’s howling vocals and macabre laugh on hit Crazy Train.
Coupled with the Prince of Darkness’ insane tour that saw him bite the head off a live bat, a string of successful tracks followed – cementing Ozzy as a rock legend around the world.
In 1992, the singer announced his retirement but four years later created the beloved annual music festival Ozzfest with Sharon, which featured heavy metal acts touring the US and some of Europe.
Ozzy returned to Black Sabbath in 1999, with the band winning a Grammy for best metal performance for the song Iron Man.
They later earned the same award in 2013 after releasing single God Is Dead? from album 13.
In 2001, Ozzy appealed to a whole new audience after appearing in reality TV show The Osbournes with his family.
Its first series was the most-watched show ever on MTV and propelled Jack and Kelly into stardom, with the latter enjoying a music career of her own.
Matriarch Sharon also carved out a successful showbiz career for herself – first as an X Factor judge, then host of her own show in the US.
With the family’s success growing, they hosted the 30th Annual American Music Awards and later the BRIT Awards in London.
The hugely popular show ran until 2005 and portrayed heartbreaking moments for the family – including Sharon‘s battle with cancer and the quad bike accident that nearly killed Ozzy.
The family later starred in the reality series The Osbournes Want to Believe and special The Osbournes: Night of Terror, which both focused on paranormal investigations.
In 2006, Ozzy and the rest of Black Sabbath were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
A year later, the star released his first solo studio album in six years, Black Rain followed by Scream in 2010 and Ordinary Man in 2020.
Ozzy won another Grammy for Patient Number 9 in 2022 and single Degradation Rules, which featured Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi.
But following a spate of nasty injuries, Ozzy was forced to cancel his upcoming tour after revealing he was “not physically capable” of the travel required.
He was later pictured looking frail as he walked in New York with the aid of a stick.
Ozzy suffered a spinal injury after an accident at his LA home in 2019 that required him to undergo surgery on his neck.
He was sadly diagnosed with Parkinson’s the same year and revealed the sad news a year later in an emotional joint interview with Sharon.
The singer told Good Morning America at the time that he couldn’t hide his health struggles any longer.
Explaining the condition, Sharon said, “It’s Parkin 2 which is a form of Parkinson’s. There are so many different types of Parkinson’s.
It’s not a death sentence by any stretch of the imagination but it does affect the nerves in your body.
It’s like you’ll have a good day, then a good day and then a really bad day.”
Ozzy added, “A year ago I was in a terrible state. I’m on a host of medication, mainly for the surgery.
I’ve got numbness down this arm and my legs are going cold. I don’t know if it’s the Parkinson’s or what. That’s the problem.”
Parkin 2 cannot be cured, but treatments are available to minimise symptoms — although it is steadily degenerative.
Experts say the variety Ozzy had is one of the slowest developing types — but the long-term prognosis varies significantly between cases.
Not content with being laid up in bed, Ozzy wowed fans with a surprise performance of Paranoid in his hometown Birmingham at the Commonwealth Games in 2022.
And this year, he took to the stage for Black Sabbath’s final-ever concert on July 5th.
Ozzy arrived on stage at Villa Park in Birmingham dressed in his trademark black, sitting on a bat throne for the historic gig.
The crowd were delighted to see the iconic rocker back on stage, and kept chanting his name.
Ozzy was equally thrilled to be performing, and repeatedly broke out into a massive grin.
It was the first time in 20 years that the original Black Sabbath line-up have performed together.
The Sun was there to witness the final show-stopping spectacular.
Meanwhile his daughter Kelly revealed that she is engaged to her boyfriend Sid Wilson.
She shared a video of the moment Sid popped the question backstage at her father’s final ever Black Sabbath gig.
It came after Ozzy told how much he misses being on tour and insisted he has not given up yet.
Reflecting on how supportive his fans have been since the announcement, he said in February: “My fans. That’s the thing that I really miss about not doing gigs.
“I’m a hands-on guy. I like talking to my fans. I miss them terribly. My goal is to get back on stage as soon as possible.”
25 Responses
Simply the best that ever was. Watching all those tremendous bands on July 5th cover various Sabbath & Ozzy solo tunes was amazing. But as great as most of those performances were, it also showed just how great Ozzy was as not one vocalist was able to sing it better than the man himself. And it really wasn’t close despite some amazing performances. Between Sabbath and his solo material, there is not a better music catalog from top to bottom in my opinion. Anyone can find something to enjoy from Sabbath or Ozzy. You can’t really say that about many artists and that is testimonial to his greatness. I’m in tears but I’m so grateful for what Ozzy has given me for all these years. And it doesn’t end today. His music will live on forever until the end of time. And I wouldn’t be surprised if God himself has Ozzy performing his material in heaven! Condolences to his family, friends and fans worldwide. There will never be another Ozzy.
So sad, I can’t even put into words. Got the news from my cousin soon as I got to work. Just feel like going home. This is going to be a long day. Listening to all his solo stuff today, and just feel like crying. I don’t normally get emotional when celebrities pass away. Last one that got me was Lemmy and before him, Dio. Up to now Dio was the hardest one. Ozzy was such a huge part of my life. I am so grateful I got to see him live as many times as I did, both solo and with Sabbath. Even more grateful I purchased a ticket for the streaming Back to the Beginning event a couple weeks ago. That show had me crying, but they were happy tears. Today is a different story.
RIP Ozzy, you will be missed.
I agree, I think what is even worse, is who can replace these icons? No one. There will never be another Ozzy, Eddie Van Halen, Randy Rhoads, etc. I would place, all of them, in the same category as McCartney and Starr, anyone from The Stones, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Prince, etc.
When I think, of some of these younger musicians (from the aughts on), most will be lucky, if they will be remembered in five years, let alone decades. The days of true music icons, especially in the rock genre, are looong gone. So, when the originals pass on, it is even more devastating.
Yeah I agree Dana, the greats are leaving us and I don’t see them ever being replaced or outdone. Even my cousin today called me just now telling me how bad she feels now that she didn’t let me take her son to see Ozzy years ago. It would have been his first show. She thought Ozzy was too “evil” and scary for her young 12 year old. So she ends up taking him to lady fkin Gaga as his first concert. I told her as my argument, that years from now when her son is sitting with his grandchildren telling stories, he could be telling them about the time he saw Ozzy Osbourne perform. Guarantee his grandchildren will know that name. But now, he’s going to tell them about his first concert and they’re going to say “who and wtf is a Lady Gaga?!?”
As sad as it is they are leaving us, I’m happy that they left us so many great songs to listen to. Best concert memories are from Ozzy and Ozzfest and Sabbath. What a great time to have lived, I’m forever grateful for him and his music.
The sick joke is, Ozzy‘s music wasn’t evil, if one took the time to actually research (Daisely‘s) lyrics. They were profound, amusing, philosophical, trippy, inquisitive, comical, rebellious and sometimes sad.
I suppose, an argument could be made for Black Sabbath, who had a far darker image. Again, mainly for shtick, although Geezer Butler, did briefly, dabble in the black arts, and then warned against it, (hence the song Black Sabbath)).
If anything, despite her poppy image, there were rumors swirling about Lady Gaga, being involved with the occult, due to her close relationship, with weirdo “artist” Marina Abramović Although, Abramović denied accusations of being a Satanist (Marina Abramović: ‘I’m an artist, not a satanist!’: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/oct/07/marina-abramovic-im-an-artist-not-a-satanist), like all art, that is up for individual interpretation. I feel sorry for your cousin.
Thankfully, most of us here, have been blessed to have seen Ozzy, at least once, in our lifetimes.
I was kind of prepared. When a music great passes it hits me like family. I just pulled a wish bone with my kid last week and won. I wished secretly Ozzy would be around for awhile. I know he was in pain. He will be missed and I will be jamming Ozzy the rest of the year!! He gave more happiness than most people and in his words it meant the world to him to make someone smile!!!
Icon. Legend. Hero.
On the 3rd December 1948, a little boy was born to parents John (AKA Jack) and Lillian Osbourne in the town of Aston in the industrial city of Birmingham, England.
The little boy, later named John Michael Osbourne, one of six children, along with his three older sisters—Jean, Iris, and Gillian—and two younger brothers, Paul and Tony, was to live at 14 Lodge Road and have to face many hardships.
As time went on, young John, known to others as Ozzy, went to school and struggled because, unknowingly, he was Dyslexic. With the condition not very well known at the time, the first thing that the teachers did was dismiss him as being stupid; one teacher even wrote him off in a school report; saying that the young John Osbourne would never amount to much.
Such things being said made him start daydreaming. He would sit and and think about being anything other than what he was and was expected to be. As Ozzy himself said in his episode of Behind The Music on VH1 circa 1998:
“I used to sit on my doorstep in the middle of the night, because I couldn’t sleep; and just fantasise about doing something great.”
What that something was, he didn’t know – that was until he saw The Beatles and saw what they were doing and how people reacted to them. That lit the fuse – Ozzy was going to be a music star.
The story of what eventually happened, after trying and failing in local bands such as The Rare Breed, and a short stint in jail for burglary, is the sort of thing that fairytales come from. Four working class guys, all living within a mile or so from each other, all wanting to get out of the place where they lived and not follow what had come before them, got together and started a band, that, not only would help them achieve their dreams; but also invent and pioneer a whole new genre of music: The wonderfully loud Heavy Metal.
If you asked the four guys that made up the band that became known universally as Black Sabbath at the very beginning, that they were going to not only create a genre of music, one which would splinter off into various different sub-genres, but would be the main source and influence for countless others – whether they be professional or simply just kids in their bedrooms needing something to take them away from all of their problems, they would have probably all laughed at the thought.
But do that they did; and for Ozzy in particular, the kid that everybody dismissed and wrote off without any hope whatsoever – those dreams that he had had about doing something great and ultimately, prove every single one of those people wrong – had come true.
Still, however, not everything was perfect. Whether it be legal wrangles with band management, or the highly documented addictions to drugs and alcohol, for all the success, there was excess – and with that came problems.
All the members of Black Sabbath, but Ozzy in particular, should have, in Ozzy’s words “Been dead a thousand times”. Yet as the years have rolled past, the thought of there ever being a day where Ozzy, or any of the original band members, were no longer with us on this earth-plain, just didn’t seem possible. These almost immortal creators of Heavy Metal were never going to die.
Musically, that will, I’m totally sure, be the case. To quote Saxon frontman Biff Byford:
“Music doesn’t get old – it’s just the people who make it.”
As of the day Tuesday 22nd July 2025, we face the reality: Ozzy Osbourne is no longer with us.
On a personal note, I am of the belief that none of us actually die. I know that that thought isn’t something that everybody believes and that is fine. Speaking for myself (and please don’t think that I’m pushing my beliefs on anyone of you) but I believe that when we ‘die’, we move to another, how can I put this? “We move to another frequency range.”
Think of it as a TV station. You watch one programme on channel 1; that finishes and you change the channel and go to say channel 5. Channel 5 sits on another frequency to channel 1; but channel 1 hasn’t gone anywhere.
On Tuesday 22nd July 2025, John Michael ‘Ozzy’ Osbourne has simply left our channel. He is physically gone; but his spirit and the memories of what he leaves behind will live on forever.
At the start of this tribute, I wrote “Icon. Legend. Hero.” If you had told Ozzy that he was going to be all of those things, I think he would have turned around and said, quite clearly: “F**K OFF!!”
“To all of Ozzy’s family: Sharon, Jessica, Louis, Aimee, Kelly and Jack – To all his bandmates: Tony Iommi, Terrence ‘Geezer’ Butler and Bill Ward; as well as Zakk Wylde and all members of Ozzy’s solo band past and present – you have mine and the world of Heavy Metal’s most sincere of condolences. Ozzy was a hero and a continued influence to me; showing that no matter how many times people knock you down, if you keep getting up you will succeed – and he also showed me what not to do.
Ozzy Osbourne: YOU ARE THE F**KING GREATEST!!!!”
Go and be with Randy; and make some killer tunes.
“I’ll see you on the other side”
God bless you all
John Michael ‘Ozzy’ Osbourne: 3rd December 1948 – 22nd July 2025.
GREAT POST!
Hello Dana
Thank you for your kind words. Although I’ve not really shown it, this has hit me quite hard. I feel that a part of me has gone. When a work colleague arrived at work this morning he came and asked me if I was alright? Everybody who knows me knows the impact and influence both Ozzy and Sabbath have on me, so I guess that people were assuming that I would be really cut up about losing Oz.
I said that I was fine, and I pointed out that over the last 11 years, I’ve lost three of my heroes: British comedy actor Rik Mayall, Dutch football (soccer) legend Johan Cruyff and now Ozzy. However, on a few occasions whilst working on my own, I did have to fight the tears a little.
However, with my beliefs that I have, which I touched on a little in the post, as the great Ozzmeister once said himself:
“I’ll guess that we’ll meet – we’ll meet in the end.”
No, I completely understand,
When Sykes passed, one would have thought I was his widow, with all of the kind words, people were sending to me-LOL!!
Ozzy is definitely a HUGE LOSS, for most of us. We not only lost a music icon, but a personality. While his music will always live on, it was his public persona, that I will miss, the most. He always made me laugh, harder than most professional comics.
Someone created, a split four image meme of Ozzy, that showed him stating different thing, in each picture box of the grid. All images were taken from The Osbournes TV show. One image says, “What the F am I talking about?”. Another reads, “I don’t know what planet I am on.” The next one says,”What’s going on here? Who? What? Who’s this? What?” With the final image stating, “[Phone ringing] What the F is that?” The main saying is, “Ozzy is my spirit animal.” For me, that meme is spot on, and typifies why I loved Ozzy so much. He is indeed my f-ing spirit animal.
All Hail The Prince of Darkness!
The greatest tribute fans can pay to Ozzy (or any music legend) is to play their music, appreciate their brilliance, and remember the magic. Shine on, Ozzy!