Sharon Osbourne reveals what Ozzy’s emotional final words about his fans were
Sharon Osbourne has revealed the emotional phrase her late husband Ozzy Osbourne uttered after performing at Black Sabbath's Back to the Beginning farewell gig.
On 5 July, the Prince of Darkness took to the stage in front of 40,000 metal fans crammed into Birmingham’s Villa Park for what would become the last time in his infamous career.
Before being joined on stage by the original Black Sabbath lineup in their home city, the 76-year-old sang several songs on his own from a black throne.
After ending the set on ‘Paranoid’, Ozzy - who had a well-documented diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease - left the stage to rapturous applause.
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"It’s so good to be on this f***ing stage. You have no idea. I f***ing 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," he said.
17 days later, the ‘War Pigs’ singer’s famous family announced his death, with his private funeral taking place on 31 July.
Speaking about the history-making gig, his wife Sharon Osbourne, 72, said: "It was the first time, I think, that anybody’s gone into retirement and done it, where the show is streamed and it goes to charity.
"So it’s the first time anybody has said goodnight like that, it’s the perfect way, when you’ve had such a long career, to end it - I never wanted Ozzy to just disappear without some big event."
Speaking to Pollstar, the former X Factor judge who married the father-of-six in July 1982, claimed Ozzy issued a heartbreaking ten-word confession about his die-hard supporters.
"He [Ozzy] turned around and he said to me that night, he said, 'I had no idea that so many people liked me'," she said.
Despite not being aware of how loved he was, a whopping 110 people attended Ozzy’s private funeral service, including Metallica frontman James Hetfield and Sir Elton John, according to reports.
Thousands of fans also lined the streets of Birmingham on 30 July to witness the music legend’s public procession.
Sharon and the three children she and Ozzy shared - Jack, 39, Aimee, 41, and Kelly, 40 - were part of the event, visiting a mountain of heartwarming tributes, flowers and an overwhelming amount of purple items left by mourners.
Following the emotional farewell, the Daily Mail revealed that The Osbournes star had been buried on the Grade II-listed property he and Sharon shared in Buckinghamshire.
It’s understood that he had been laid to rest close to a lake on the 250-acre property, in a similar fashion to that of Diana, Princess of Wales, at Althorp Park.
This burial site seems to be similar to what Ozzy requested in his 2010 autobiography, I Am Ozzy.
He penned: "Eventually death will come, like it comes to everyone.
"I've said to Sharon: ‘Don’t cremate me, whatever you do.’ I want to be put in the ground, in a nice garden somewhere, with a tree planted over my head."
Ozzy wanted ‘a crabapple tree, preferably’ so this his ‘kids can make wine out of me and get p***ed out of their heads’.
"As for what they’ll put on my headstone, I ain't under any illusions. If I close my eyes, I can already see it," he added.
"Ozzy Osbourne, born 1948. Died, whenever. He bit the head off a bat."
Topics: Celebrity, Music, Ozzy Osbourne, Sharon Osbourne, UK News
Ella Scott