Ozzy Osbourne revealed how he wanted to be remembered amid debilitating Parkinson's and spinal injuries before death
'It is with more sadness than words can convey that we report the passing of our beloved Ozzy Osbourne this morning,' read the statement from his family.
In a 2020 interview with People, Ozzy, who had been quietly living with Parkinson's for over 15 years, opened up about the fight he never stopped fighting. Alongside long-term damage from a brutal ATV crash in 2003 and multiple spinal injuries, the then-73-year-old said, 'Survival is my legacy.' He wasn't done. 'If people still want to see me and buy my music, why should I quit? That motivates me,' he said. 'I mean, if my career had gone down the toilet and I knew it was the end, I'd be pretty miserable.' The five-time Grammy winner hoped his legacy would carry weight after he was gone: 'Never give up. If you've got a passion for something, you've got to find a way around it to carry on the passion.'
Also read: Ozzy Osbourne, iconic Black Sabbath frontman and British heavy metal pioneer, dies at 76
For Ozzy, being remembered, even if not for his history-making success, just as a singer, a metal icon, was enough. 'I'd like to be remembered for the work I did with Black Sabbath. I'm so proud of the music. But to be honest, just being remembered would be an achievement to me,' he told The Guardian in 2020. 'I'm just a working-class guy from Aston,' he said. 'People pay £200 to sleep in the room I grew up in. I've made people smile. I've also made them go, 'Who the f*** does this guy think he is?' But I've got no complaints. At least I'll be remembered.'
In 2022, after undergoing major neck surgery, one he called 'life-altering', Ozzy hoped it would fix what left him barely able to walk. The surgery gave him a ray of hope; he could finally hold his head high again. He even hit the stage for an NFL halftime show that year. But by 2023, the writing was on the wall. He stopped touring: 'Never imagined it would end this way,' he wrote while cancelling his tour. Later that year, he admitted he probably had '10 years left' and bowed out of performing altogether. And then, somehow in 2025, he made a comeback. On July 5, Ozzy reunited with Black Sabbath for one final fundraising gig in Birmingham, raising $190 million for Parkinson's research and children's hospitals.
Back in 1968, Ozzy co-founded Black Sabbath with Tony Iommi, Bill Ward, and Geezer Butler. They went all in on heavy metal. But by 1979, the drugs and alcohol caught up, and he got fired. What followed was the second act, a massive solo career, thanks in large part to his wife and manager, Sharon Osbourne. Married in 1982, the two rolled out 13 solo albums and turned Ozzy into a household name. He later rejoined Sabbath for reunion tours, and the band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2006.
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