Featured Image Credit: Dave Hogan/MTV 2014/Getty Images for MTV
Topics: Ozzy Osbourne, Music, Celebrity, Sharon Osbourne
Britt Jones
Topics: Ozzy Osbourne, Music, Celebrity, Sharon Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne's long time guitarist, Zakk Wylde, has revealed what he told him in their final text conversation before his death.
The Prince of Darkness sadly passed away on 22 July at the age of 76.
A statement from his family read: "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."
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Ozzy’s final Black Sabbath gig in Birmingham was a touching goodbye from the band to the fans as they played at Villa Park, just weeks before his passing.
The musician was laid to rest in Birmingham yesterday (30 July), the place he grew up and called home.
During the funeral procession, his loved ones laid flowers in front of thousands of fans as they paid their respects.
Ozzy's death came as a shock to fans, but for his guitarist, it meant that his goodbye was via a text exchange.
According to Wylde, 58, the last time he received a text from Ozzy was after Black Sabbath's final performance.
“Everybody and their mother were in the backstage dressing room and I just wanted to give him a break,” he told Guitar World.
While Wylde assumed he'd see the frontman later in the day or the next day, it didn’t happen.
Instead, he received a text which apologised for the madness backstage.
Wylde revealed: “The last text I got from Oz was saying, ‘Zakky, sorry, it was like a madhouse back there. I didn’t see you.’ He goes, ‘Thanks for everything.’ It was just us talking, saying, ‘I love you, buddy.’ That was it.”
The guitarist said the show was ‘business as usual,’ but everyone prioritised ‘making sure that Oz was okay’.
“It was definitely pretty amazing. Seeing Oz onstage when Sabbath got done, that’s the last time I saw him,” he told the publication.
The singer was never one to fuss over his own funeral, and had detailed how he’d want it to go down in 2011, when he said: “I honestly don't care what they play at my funeral - they can put on a medley of Justin Bieber, Susan Boyle and 'We Are The Diddymen' if it makes 'em happy.
“But I do want to make sure it's a celebration, not a mope-fest.”
In Ozzy's 2010 autobiography, I Am Ozzy, he wrote: “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.”
He said he wanted ‘a crabapple tree, preferably’ to be planted above him so his ‘kids can make wine out of me and get p***ed out of their heads’.
And having supported him and his wishes through life, it seems that Sharon is doing the same in death.
It was reported by the MailOnline that he was buried on his 250-acre property close to Gerrards Cross.
There was even said to be a row of three purple plant arrangement that read: “OZZY F*****G OSBOURNE”.
In true style, it was all very Ozzy.