Birmingham bids a grand farewell to its Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne
The rock legend and godfather of heavy metal passed away at his home in Birmingham, surrounded by friends and family.
BIRMINGHAM bid an emotional farewell to its most famous son on Wednesday, as thousands gathered for the funeral procession of Ozzy Osbourne. The heavy metal icon, who died on July 22, was honoured with a cortege through the streets of his hometown. The procession paused at Black Sabbath Bridge, a landmark named for the band he helped found nearly six decades ago, where fans had built a makeshift shrine of flowers, notes and memorabilia. His wife Sharon, visibly moved, laid a single pink rose among the tributes, joined by children Jack and Kelly and several grandchildren.
The family-funded procession was accompanied by six police motorcycles and the Bostin Brass Band, who played Black Sabbath classics as mourners sang along. Fans dressed in studded jackets, tour T-shirts and DIY tributes stood shoulder to shoulder along Broad Street, some throwing peace signs, others climbing bus stops for a glimpse. Spontaneous chants of “Ozzy, Ozzy, Ozzy, oi, oi, oi!” echoed through the city.
Mayor Zafar Iqbal, who had awarded Osbourne the Freedom of the City just weeks earlier, called him “a legend who put Birmingham on the map.” A private service followed the public tribute, with digital billboards across the city flashing the words: “Ozzy Forever — Birmingham will always love you.”
Osbourne, the wild-eyed frontman of Black Sabbath and the unlikely heart of a dysfunctional reality-TV dynasty, died at the age of 76. His wife and longtime manager, Sharon Osbourne, confirmed the news on Tuesday, stating he passed away peacefully at home in Birmingham, surrounded by family.
“It is with more sadness that mere words can convey that we have to report that beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning,” the family announced on X.
“He was with his family and surrounded by love.”
Born John Michael Osbourne on December 3, 1948, Ozzy was a working-class kid from Aston whose voice and charisma helped define heavy metal. In 1968, he joined Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward to form Black Sabbath, a band whose music would come to embody an entirely new genre: sludgy, ominous, riff-heavy, and utterly revolutionary. Albums like Paranoid, Master of Reality, and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath were messages from the void for a legion of heavy metal devotees.
He was famously fired from the band in 1979 after years of alcohol and drug abuse made the group unworkable. But Ozzy turned exile into opportunity. With Sharon’s support, he launched a solo career that arguably eclipsed his first. ‘Blizzard of Ozz’ and ‘Diary of a Madman’ introduced fans to a more theatrical, melodic, yet still blistering Ozzy, backed by the virtuoso guitarist Randy Rhoads, whose death in 1982 nearly shattered him.
Somehow, Ozzy endured. Despite arrests, rehab stints, and the chaos that surrounded him, he kept performing, recording, and improbably, evolving. In 2002, he entered an entirely new phase of fame with ‘The Osbournes’ on MTV. Audiences were riveted by the spectacle: the Prince of Darkness confused by remotes, muttering around the kitchen, and yelling across the mansion at Jack, Kelly and Sharon. For all the mess, it humanised him.
It also made him an icon to a new generation.
His final bow came just 17 days before his death. On July 5, 2025, Ozzy returned to Birmingham’s Villa Park for ‘Back to the Beginning’, a marathon farewell concert reuniting the original Black Sabbath lineup. Wheelchair-bound and visibly frail, he sang seated on a throne, flanked by bandmates who had, like him, somehow survived the wreckage of fame. The concert, streamed worldwide and staged as a charity benefit for Cure Parkinson’s and Birmingham’s children’s hospitals, was a triumph of legacy and willpower.
Ozzy had publicly revealed his Parkinson’s diagnosis in 2020, though he’d been living with the condition since 2003. In the years that followed, he underwent multiple surgeries, battled spinal issues, and withdrew from touring. Still, he never fully disappeared. Whether through music, appearances, or the orbit of his family’s public life, Ozzy remained a visible, often endearingly unfiltered, presence.
He is survived by Sharon, his wife of more than four decades, and their children Aimee, Kelly and Jack. In a career spanning more than 50 years, he sold over 100 million records, was twice inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (with Sabbath in 2006 and solo in 2024), and left behind a catalogue as chaotic, magnetic and unapologetic as the man himself.
Ozzy was the godfather of metal and also its soul. Flawed, loud, enduring, and defiantly alive until the very end.
Rest in rock. The throne is empty, but the echo lives on.
Related:
