Sharon Osbourne reveals husband Ozzy’s final words about his fans

Sharon Osbourne has revealed her husband Ozzy’s heartwarming final words about his fans after he said farewell to them with his last Black Sabbath concert.

The band’s frontman, famously known as the Prince of Darkness, died last month at the age of 76 – just weeks after performing his final concert. 

And in a newly released interview which took place just five days before his death, Sharon gushed about the concert, admitting it was a ‘huge success’.

She told Pollstar: ‘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. 

The wife of the music legend also revealed how Ozzy was blown away by the support at the concert.

She explained: ‘He [Ozzy] turned around and he said to me that night, he said, “I had no idea that so many people liked me”.’

Ozzy took to the stage for his farewell concert at Villa Park stadium in his native Birmingham less than three weeks before his death – reuniting with his original Black Sabbath bandmates for the first time since 2005.

The concert was to raise money for three charities: Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and Acorns Children’s Hospice. 

More than 42,000 fans packed into the venue for the Back To The Beginning show, during which he told the crowd in his final speech: ‘You’ve no idea how I feel – thank you from the bottom of my heart.’

A message on screen then read: ‘Thank you for everything, you guys are f***ing amazing. Birmingham Forever,’ before the sky lit up with fireworks.

Ozzy had told of it being his last performance due to his health, having opened up about his battle with Parkinson’s in 2020.

The musician had undergone seven surgeries in the past five years, including a fourth spinal operation in 2023, and had been battling Parkinson’s disease since 2003.

Before his final show, Ozzy said he hoped to continue recording music after retiring from live performing, but he heartbreakingly died before he was able to do so.

Ozzy’s last solo album, 2022’s Patient Number 9, featured a long list of guest artists, including hid Black Sabbath bandmate Tony Iommi, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Zakk Wylde, and Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready, among others.

Last month, huge crowds descended on Birmingham to pay tribute to the beloved Prince of Darkness at his funeral procession.

The funeral cortege was led by a live brass band, Bostin’ Brass, who performed versions of Black Sabbath songs such as Iron Man, as thousands of tearful devotees lined the streets and sang along in Ozzy’s memory.

The hearse carrying the singer’s coffin – adorned with purple flowers spelling out ‘Ozzy’ – passed the star’s childhood home in Lodge Road, Aston, shortly after midday.

Flowers had been placed outside the terraced property, close to Villa Park, while the owners of the house put up a picture of Osbourne in the front bay window.

Sharon led the procession with her children Jack, Aimee and Kelly and Ozzy’s son Louis from his first marriage as they comforted each other amid their devastating grief.

Thousands of people were pictured taking their places not only on Black Sabbath Bridge but along the city centre route along which his cortege travelled towards the Black Sabbath Bridge bench.

Fans clapped and cheered chanting ‘Ozzy, Ozzy, Ozzy’ as the rock legend’s hearse passed through the streets of Birmingham as Sharon watched on and brushed away tears.

Describing Ozzy as a ‘working class hero’ who loved his city, the Lord Mayor of Birmingham said: ‘I got to know him in the last few weeks when we gave him the freedom of the city and he was just so humble, so down to earth. He was a working class hero.

‘I couldn’t tell he was a rock star, he was just an ordinary guy, so caring. He had working class roots and his loved his fans, he loved his city, he always promoted Birmingham wherever he went, he was proud to have been born in Aston.

‘His slogan was “Birmingham Forever” and that makes me such a proud citizen. It was a last hurrah for him today.’

Ozzy and his Black Sabbath bandmates – Terence ‘Geezer’ Butler, Tony Iommi and Bill Ward – were recently given the freedom of the city of Birmingham, which recognises people’s exceptional service to the city.

Ozzy is survived by his wife Sharon and his five children Jessica, Louis, Aimee, Kelly and Jack.

In a statement shared by Ozzy’s family at the time, it said he died ‘surrounded by love’, adding: ‘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.’