The final photo of Ozzy Osbourne before his death at the age of 76 has been released. In the photo, the legendary rocker is seen smiling on stage during a farewell performance at Villa Park Stadium — the home ground of his favorite football club, Aston Villa — less than three weeks before his death.
Ozzy reunited with his original Black Sabbath bandmates — Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward — marking their first performance together since 2005, for this emotional send-off to his decades-long live music career. In the touching photo, Osbourne is seen soaking in the applause from a packed audience while seated on a black throne, dressed head-to-toe in black.
Final Goodbye
Osbourne who looked emotional, told his loving supporters: "You have no idea how I feel - thank you from the bottom of my heart." His family said in a statement on Tuesday, "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. Sharon, Jack, Kelly, Aimee and Louis."
Black Sabbath's official X account said, "Ozzy Forever!", adding the picture of him at Villa Park.
The news of Osbourne's death comes over five years after he publicly revealed his Parkinson's disease diagnosis in January 2020. Born John Michael Osbourne on December 3, 1948, in Birmingham, England, he earned the nickname "Ozzy" during his early school years.
Though he faced a difficult upbringing, music became a vital escape and source of expression for him. Struggling with dyslexia, learning didn't come easy for Osbourne. He also revealed that he was sexually abused by bullies at the age of 11 and remembered trying to commit suicide during his teenage years.
Osbourne credited The Beatles—particularly their 1964 hit "She Loves You"—as the spark that ignited his passion for a career in music.
At 15, Osbourne dropped out of school and took on various manual labor jobs. By the time he was 17, he served six weeks at Winson Green prison after being unable to pay a fine for stealing from a clothing shop.
After his release, Osbourne teamed up with his friend Geezer Butler to form their first band, Rare Breed, with Ozzy taking on the role of lead singer.
In 1967, Osbourne co-founded Black Sabbath, a band widely credited with helping to shape the heavy metal genre. They produced legendary tracks such as "Paranoid," "War Pigs," and "Iron Man," which became defining songs of the movement.
Death of a Legend
Both the band and Ozzy frequently faced criticism for the dark and occasionally "satanic" nature of their lyrics and themes. "When we started gigging way back when, as soon as we started playing this song's opening chords, young girls in the audience would f–king freak out," Osbourne told NME in 2016. "They thought we were Satan's f–king friends or something."
"That's when the whole 'Prince of Darkness' s–t started," he explained about the origin of his nickname. "When people get excited about Halloween coming around each year, all I think is, 'Well, we used to have Halloween every f–king night."
In 1979, Ozzy was fired from Black Sabbath due to his struggles with drug and alcohol addiction—something he later described as feeling hypocritical, given the band's own lifestyle. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel betrayed by what happened with Black Sabbath," he wrote in his 2009 memoir "I Am Ozzy."
That's when Sharon Arden, the daughter of Black Sabbath's manager Don Arden, stepped in to take charge of Ozzy's career as a solo artist.
Ozzy went on to release 12 solo albums, featuring iconic tracks like "Crazy Train," "Mama, I'm Coming Home," and "No More Tears."
Throughout his career—both as a solo artist and with Black Sabbath—he sold over 100 million albums worldwide.
In 2005, both Ozzy and Black Sabbath were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame. A year later, he was welcomed into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the band.
Ozzy also gained notoriety for his outrageous antics. One of the most infamous moments came in January 1982, when he bit the head off a bat during a live performance. Just a month later, he was arrested in Texas for urinating on a monument honoring the fallen at the Battle of the Alamo while heavily intoxicated.
That same year, he married Sharon, now 72, and the couple went on to have three children: Aimee, 41; Kelly, 40; and Jack, 39.
Ozzy reunited with Black Sabbath several times over the years, officially rejoining them in 2013 to record their final album, 13. He also took part in the band's farewell tour, which ran from 2016 to 2017.
Throughout his life, Ozzy battled severe substance abuse issues. He first tried cocaine in 1971 and later admitted to using LSD daily for two years during his time with Black Sabbath.
Reflecting on that period, Ozzy confessed that toward the end of his stint with the band,he " got very drunk and very stoned every single day."
In February 2021, Ozzy revealed to Variety that he had been sober for seven years.
Later, in August 2022, he expressed frustration over the alarming levels of gun violence in the U.S., announcing that he and Sharon planned to relocate to the UK. However, he eventually reversed that decision, saying he preferred to remain in America.
Ozzy is survived by his wife, Sharon, and their three children: Aimee, Kelly, and Jack. He also leaves behind two children from his first marriage to Thelma Riley, 71—Jessica, 45, and Louis, 50.
During his marriage to Riley, which lasted from 1971 to 1982, Ozzy adopted her son from a prior relationship, Elliot Kingsley, now 59. The legendary rocker also had ten grandchildren.
