WASHINGTON — Performing in front of 40,000 fans for his “farewell concert” in early July 2025, Ozzy Osbourne knew he was dying.
The 76-year-old rock star, ailing years after a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis, had, in fact, been warned by doctors against performing, Ozzy’s widow Sharon Osbourne revealed in a local BBC Radio interview that aired Wednesday — exactly one year after the heavy metal pioneer’s death.
“They said ‘don’t do the show,'” Sharon Osbourne said of the massive farewell show with his former Black Sabbath bandmates in Osbourne’s home city of Birmingham, England. “He said, ‘Yeah, right. Get outta here.'”
Sharon added that doctors told him two weeks before the show that he was dying.
The warnings from doctors turned out to be prophetic as Ozzy Osbourne would die just 16 days after his last-ever live performance. Sharon Osbourne reflected that she couldn’t say no to the “Crazy Train” singer, who had been notorious for onstage stunts and hardcore performances.
“I wanted him to go the way he wanted,” Sharon Osbourne said. “How could I take that away from him?”
The interview with Sharon Osbourne was part of a tribute to Ozzy, who rose from the British working class to create a body of work that became recognizable across generations, transforming the world of rock music and reality TV. Talking to BBC Birmingham, Sharon Osbourne said that the English city was “who my husband is.”
“I can’t forget what Birmingham did for Ozzy,” Sharon Osbourne said Wednesday while fighting back tears.
Sharon and Ozzy had been married for 43 years, raising three children together, all of whom became well known in their own right on the MTV reality show “The Osbournes,” which aired from 2002 to 2005. Sharon had been an influential figure in bringing the rock singer into cultural relevance during the new millennium with TV appearances and as a founder of Ozzfest, a heavy metal and hard rock music festival tour inspired by her husband’s musical persona.
