Friends and fans alike salute the inimitable Ozzy Osbourne, and reflect on some of their fondest moments and memories of The Prince Of Darkness...
On July 22, 2025, the world lost Ozzy Osbourne, just over a fortnight after his incredible farewell show in his birthplace of Aston, Birmingham. There was no part of Kerrang!’s world, or yours, that The Prince Of Darkness didn’t help shape. In tribute, we hear from Mastodon, Halestorm, Neck Deep, YUNGBLUD and more about what the big man meant, as well as a touching goodbye from his Black Sabbath bandmate Geezer Butler. All different, but all agree: what a guy…
“My first real encounter with Ozzy was when he came to my door after I had answered his note ‘Ozzy Zig needs a gig’ in a local music shop. That was 57 years ago, in 1968. He was dressed in his dad’s brown work overall, a chimney brush over his shoulder, a shoe on a dog lead and bare feet. After I stopped laughing, I asked what he wanted and he told me he’d come about joining my band. I told him what kind of music we were doing, he said, ‘Let’s do it,’ and that was it. He kept me in fits of laughter ever since. We had the same warped sense of humour, which seemed to bring us closer as friends, as well as working together.
“I had seen him around Aston occasionally, but never thought I’d end up being friends with him as he was what we of long hair would call a ‘mohair’ – meaning a bloke with an almost-shaved head wearing mohair suits and into soul music. Whereas I was into Cream, Hendrix, Mayall and hard rock, and had hair down past my shoulders. But we became as close as any hetero blokes could be.
“When we joined up with fellow Aston inhabitants Tony Iommi and Bill Ward, the circle was formed. We all had similar backgrounds and we all knew about the rougher side of life, which helped shape our music. Ozzy was unique in knowing how to vocalise Sabbath’s heavy riffs, and making my lyrics sound like they were coming from his very soul. Such incredible talent. He was also a wizard at the slower ‘ballad’ songs, such as Changes and Planet Caravan. Nobody else could sound as menacing on heavier songs but then as gentle on the slower stuff.
“Through all the success both with Sabbath and solo, he always was down to earth. He never forgot his working class upbringing, never developed the ego common to many successful musicians, and in the ’70s he always kept a wad of cash in case everything went pear-shaped.
“He wasn’t aware of how great he was, and how much people loved him. The imposter syndrome weighed heavily on him, in spite of his wild man image – Ozzy was a very fragile person in the later days of ’70s Sabbath. But that changed when he met and married Sharon, who knew exactly what he needed for his self-esteem, and made him believe in himself, guiding him to massive solo success.
“When I was asked to take part in the Back To The Beginning gig at Villa Park, of course I said yes. I knew Ozzy was having health issues, but I wasn’t prepared to see how far his health had deteriorated when we got together for rehearsals. He was determined to finish where it all started: back in Aston. The rehearsals were quite gruelling for him, but he didn’t complain once. He was glad to be back with his old friends and colleagues, Tony, Bill and myself.
“The final gig went great. The incredible response from the greatest metal and rock bands and musicians was heartwarming – they had come to support Ozzy and his charities, to pay one last homage to the voice of metal. Ozzy gave his best; it took a lot of courage and balls to give his final performance, sitting in his throne. When he tried to stand, it brought a tear to my eye, but he gave his all. He loved his fans, and they certainly loved him. After the show, backstage was absolutely crammed with well wishers, relatives, friends and fellow musicians. I didn’t get to say goodbye to Ozzy or Bill, as it was chaotic back there. Little did I know the next time I’d see Ozzy would be at his house in Buckinghamshire, in his coffin.
“The outpouring of grief and love and tributes to Ozzy was incredible – a true send-off to the greatest frontman, singer and character in music. The Sabbath bench in Birmingham became a shrine, and thousands of people lined Broad Street to pay respects at his funeral procession.
“Of course, Ozzy may be physically gone, but his legacy will live forever. He brought so much happiness to his fans, he brought hope to many, and made our lives a little more joyful. The Prince Of Darkness, but to me The Prince Of Laughter And Friendship. Long live Ozzy!”
“Ozzy was untouchable. Throughout my life, he was there. I had ‘Ozzy rules’ written on every Trapper Keeper I ever had as a kid, it was on the brick wall at the end of my street, just everywhere. He’s my go-to music. Don’t know what to listen to? Put Ozzy on and I’m happy. It didn’t matter what he did, it was Ozzy, and he was his own thing, his own genre.
“I love Black Sabbath, but as a kid that was almost like my parents’ music. [Whereas] Ozzy felt like my own discovery. In the early ’80s when I was really young, I remember going to the record store and buying Blizzard Of Ozz and Diary Of A Madman and actually getting a little scared! But it was fun, and it was horror in that fun way of A Nightmare On Elm Street. That’s the thing that people who were protesting against him as The Prince Of Darkness didn’t understand – Ozzy was just having the time of his life!
“When we got asked to play Back To The Beginning, I was like, ‘Are you sure you’ve got the right band?!’ To be asked was probably the biggest honour of my whole life. I’ve played a million shows, but I’ve never had the feeling that I had running out to the drums that day. I spent the six months leading up to it trying to conjure up what it would be like, and I honestly couldn’t. People were asking me how I thought it was going to go, and I tried really hard to picture it, but I just couldn’t.
“The feeling from Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Tool and every other band there was: ‘We’re here for one reason, and that’s to honour our heroes and the giant oak tree that is Black Sabbath and Ozzy that all of us sprouted from.’ It still stands as prominent as ever, and will always stand as the main trunk of heavy metal. That was the assignment. Being the band to kick everything off, I thought there might be this tremendous amount of pressure, but it was more like an incredible honour. I was like, ‘Just don’t fuck up!’
“I watched the show from the front, because I wanted to have the best experience of that day I could. I knew I was going to be emotional when Ozzy played – duh, of course. As soon as his throne came up, everyone burst into tears, and the gravity of the situation started to come up. None of us thought that two weeks later he would pass. But you knew: this is the last time I’m going to hear any of these songs sung by him, it’s never going to happen again. This is the last time Mr. Crowley is going to happen. As soon as the organ started, it was goosebump city. I was in tears, man.
“There’s never going to be another Ozzy – he was our Elvis. Ozzy rules.”
“I feel honoured to have been at Back To The Beginning at all, let alone performing. It takes on greater significance because it’s now inextricably tied to Ozzy departing the Earthly plane. I’m so happy that he got that final moment, that he got to say farewell in his own way, on his own terms. In many ways it is poetic that he passed so soon after the event. It’s hard to imagine Ozzy retiring quietly to the countryside. We will all say farewell at some point, and Ozzy was able to do it in a way that was completely fitting.
“What really hit me about the day was seeing so many people openly moved to tears. They were so happy to be able to have this exchange with him one last time. At the same time, they were all so sad because they could see his struggle. His connection with his audience was so special, and it’s because of the love that he emanated. When he said, ‘We love you,’ he meant it, and we all could feel it. His career was defined by a pure honesty that he showed people, which manifested itself in this almost childlike enthusiasm for life. He wanted everyone to have a good time.
“He was a truly incredible frontman, too – so much so that I think part of the reason that it gets overlooked is because he made it seem so effortless and easy. Ozzy gave a melodic sense to his music; he truly gave it its voice. Every singer at that Back To The Beginning gig was rightfully daunted at the prospect of having to go out there and sing his songs, because they are hard songs. Yet Ozzy was so natural. He didn’t simply sing a lyric, he conveyed it. He was extraordinary right up to the very last, and he will set an example for all time.”
“I wouldn’t even spell my name ‘Lzzy’ without Ozzy. He reminded us why we do this: to have fun, to be ourselves and to never take it too seriously. We were just a bunch of kids chasing loud music, and Ozzy made that dream feel possible. We’re lucky to have lived in a time when Ozzy walked the Earth.
“I was lucky to grow up with parents who loved rock music, so Ozzy’s presence was always there. My first real inklings of Ozzy was with Black Sabbath, with War Pigs and Iron Man, but I really got into him in the ’90s, during his solo career with Ozzmosis. It was like piecing together a musical puzzle, realising, ‘Oh, this is all the same guy.’ And then there was The Osbournes TV show, where he became this hilarious, lovable mascot for heavy metal. He didn’t even have to try, he was just magic – completely unforgettable and absolutely one of a kind.
“We were honoured to be part of Back To The Beginning, and honestly, it felt like a religious experience. Everyone - the crew, artists, audience - was there for the same reason: to celebrate and honour this man who shaped all of us. There were no egos, no competition, just love. When Ozzy came out onstage, the whole place erupted. We all knew that we were witnessing something final, sacred and beautiful.
“What inspires me most about Ozzy isn’t just his music, it’s how he stayed relevant every decade. He showed us how to be a lifer in this business. He led with heart, with joy and without ego. Every time I saw him perform, it felt like he treated it as his last show, and he genuinely loved every second of it.”
“Back To The Beginning was such an incredible day. Every time I meet someone that was there, we all agree that it was a really special moment. It was heavy metal history. People will talk about it for decades. I think any musician, any band, would dream of being able to put on a concert to say, ‘Hey, I love you all. Thank you, goodbye,’ and drop the mic like that. It was an honour to even be thought of, never mind actually being asked to play.
“Discovering Ozzy and Sabbath, I was a little late to the party. When we discovered metal in the middle of nowhere in France, me and my brother [Mario, Gojira drummer] started with Metallica and more extreme bands. It took us a second to look back to whatever was happening pre-Metallica. So when I got into Black Sabbath a little later, I was like, ‘Holy shit, this is what this band really mean.’ How different they were is what strikes me the most, this intention to create something so original. That’s why those first few albums are so incredible from start to finish.
“Ozzy’s attitude was part of what made him so special. Everybody was baffled by his attitude; how simple he was, yet he was incredibly original. He was being dubbed The Prince Of Darkness, but he was super-generous, super-humble, super-disarming.
“The song that means the most to me is I Just Want You. It captures something about him – the format is slightly pop in the chord progression and rhythm, but it’s still so Ozzy. And it’s a love song. It’s a simple thing that we can all understand. Again, he managed to wrap something around the truth and deliver it in a beautiful way. That was one of his big talents.”
“Ozzy Osbourne was and always will be the godfather of everything raw, wild and beautifully unhinged about music. I lost my favourite uncle, who just so happened to be The Prince Of Darkness. Ozzy was a force of nature. Equal parts chaos and genius, and somehow always honest through it all. I loved his sense of humour the most. Rest easy, legend. All my aloha.”
“Ozzy’s passing was memorable in a weird way, because it was my birthday. We were having a BBQ when we heard, so we did what any self-respecting moshers would do: put on some Sabbath and cracked a beer for The Prince Of Darkness.
“My earliest exposure to Ozzy came through MTV and The Osbournes, which was a crazy period in the Ozzy story. My wife’s parents are huge Sabbath fans, so getting to watch both Ozzy and Sabbath play at Download with them was a special memory. The way they spoke about him and his music gave me a newfound appreciation for him.
“I feel there were two sides to Ozzy, and my favourite tracks come from each. First, there’s War Pigs, the original ‘get psyched’ track, way before Queen did We Will Rock You. There’s a very powerful message to the song, and the vocal is epic. That evil side of rock’n’roll that Sabbath tapped into is one side of him, and then you have something like Goodbye To Romance, which is another personal favourite and is a beautiful song. That to me sounds like The Beatles, and I think you have to put Ozzy in the same breath as Lennon and McCartney.
“He was such a pioneering figure. He was so unique and redefined himself so many times. There were so many reasons to love him. His character and persona transcended music. He was working class, relatable, came from a rough upbringing and was a petty criminal, and he liked a beer and a smoke. He went from zero to hero and lived a dream that so many of us wish we could. Everyone could see a part of themselves in him. And the music he wrote will last forever.”
William: “I have a very specific memory of Ozzy, because my first-ever show was Black Sabbath at Ozzfest when I was 13. My neighbour played me the song Black Sabbath, and I was terrified when I heard the rain and the bells and everything. I was obsessed straight away. I remember that feeling of being genuinely terrified about the show, like, ‘Oh my god, what’s this gonna be like? How crazy is it gonna be?’ He was really, really on form that day, it was amazing.
“I got Master Of Reality, and was blown away by Sweet Leaf. It’s one of my favourite songs of all time, and it and Ozzy have been this really big presence in my life ever since.
“I was really into The Osbournes as well. I loved the fact that Ozzy was who he was the whole way through. Sometimes you know rock stars are a different person at home, but he was always this same dude. There was no bullshit. That’s why people loved him.”
Ian: “He had that magical middle ground of being unhinged and on the fringes of things, but also being down-to-earth and approachable. He never lost his Birmingham accent, even when he was this massive star in America, which says a lot about the kind of guy he really was. When you get those two things combined, it’s perfect. You get the intrigue from people going, ‘Oh god, this guy’s unhinged. He does all this crazy stuff.’ But then you get the approachability of somebody who’s just like a guy from the pub.
“It always seems that there’s a spearhead at the front of a movement. With punk it was the Sex Pistols, and Johnny Rotten then became the poster boy for punk back then. Ozzy was that for metal: the spearhead at the beginning of metal. He was a pioneer. I know it wasn’t just him, it was the whole of Sabbath, but being the frontperson of a band like that also does something. It’s impossible to measure just how important he was. But he never gave off the impression he thought he was important.”
“Without sounding cheesy, Ozzy is everything, and it’s so true for so many people. Metal is the biggest thing in my life, and without Ozzy, there would be no metal. I’m also super, super-proud to be from Birmingham, because it’s the home of metal, and I love that Ozzy never lost his accent. He was a proud Brummie until the end!
“My dad got me into him. I have a really distinct memory of us going to Asda and me waiting in the car. He’d left on No More Tears, and I remember cranking it and going, ‘This is sick!’ I Don’t Wanna Stop has always been one of my favourite songs. I used to air guitar to it around the living room. So, from a young age, I’ve been into Ozzy.
“Musically, I always loved the harmonics in his solo stuff. My dad’s a huge fan of Sabbath and Metallica and Judas Priest. I love all that, but I think because the Ozzy stuff was a little bit lighter, there’s maybe a bit more of a modern metal tone to the guitars that I hadn’t really heard before. So when I heard all the squeals and all of that kind of shreddy solo stuff, I latched onto it hard. I love Sabbath, but Ozzy’s solo stuff has been the biggest influence on me.
“I went to Back To The Beginning, and it felt like a biblical experience. Getting to see Ozzy for the final time was so special, because you really knew that it was going to be the last time you’d see him onstage. Weirdly, it was the fireworks at the end that really got me. I was like, ‘Oh my god, that’s it. That’s the final big bang.’ But it was amazing. And looking at the other bands on that day you can see his influence – he had an impact on everyone!”
“I heard of Ozzy’s passing while I was at home, getting ready to go to practice, when a friend text me. I’m not the type of person that typically has instant reactions to anything – it often takes me a minute to process something like that – so there was this feeling of, ‘I cannot take this in right now.’ It wasn’t until we were at practice that a bandmate suggested we should maybe work on an Ozzy cover for a festival we were playing the next day. I had gone through a bit of a karaoke phase with my drummer Jess, and I would often do Snowblind, Crazy Train or Changes. So I sat down to learn Changes, and as soon as I started playing, that’s when the news really hit me, and I broke down in tears.
“I discovered Black Sabbath through my dad at an early age. I was first drawn to the iconic cover art of Vol. 4 – that record was one of my first introductions to metal, and remains my favourite album of theirs. But another album of his that I love is No More Tears. It’s inspiring for me as someone in their early 40s to see that Ozzy made such great work when he was also in his early 40s. It’s cool to see that you can make some of the best music of your life at an age that a lot of people in the music industry think is past your ‘prime’. How many incredible comebacks did Ozzy have over the years? Not many people could go on to do what he did after leaving a band like Black Sabbath.
“Ozzy had such a singular voice – I don’t think there’s anyone else out there who sounds like him. What made him so unique was that he infused his personality into his voice. I loved that about him. He was known as this dark character and at the same time he obviously had so much fun onstage, and I think that played into his melodies and the way that he sang. He was also very lovable and open and had a joy to him that stands out in our genre. There was something vulnerable about him, and not a lot of artists are willing to show that side of themselves. A lot of us keep things very curated to the music and the art, and we don’t show a lot of our personality or the joy that we feel when making music.
“Ozzy showed us that even someone who’s been crowned The Prince Of Darkness can smile and have fun onstage, and can be a man who loves his family so deeply. And he showed that all of us are imperfect, but you can always still come back and redeem yourself.”
“Getting to sing Changes for Ozzy at Back To The Beginning was amazing. I was so glad to got to honour him. I remember seeing the guys from Metallica, who are lovely, but among people like that it can be like, ‘Go on, kid, what have you got?’ In a good way. But that’s what keeps rock real – if you’re doing something like that, you have to mean it, and earn it.
“I felt so lucky that I got to honour the man who was my North Star for everything. I’ve always been a little bit too much for people, or too loud, or too fucking mad my whole life. Ozzy was someone like that who was celebrated for being nuts and themselves and out-there and effervescent.
“Getting to know him was really special. When you talk to someone backstage, it goes in one ear and out the other. But I got to know him as a man, and connect with him. I feel so lucky that I got to become friends like that. He text me on the day when he saw the performance. He was watching everything on his iPad in his last days, and to be able to thank him like that showed how much I loved him. Not from a position of, like, ‘Yo, I love you because you’re a rock star.’ I mean, there was that as well, as it was for a lot of people, but I felt it much more deeply. To be able to be there for his last days was just mental. I’ll miss him, and I love him, and I’m very lucky I had the chance to honour him.”
