Music Correspondent
Fans, musicians and former bandmates have paid tribute to Ozzy Osbourne, the frontman of pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath, who has died aged 76.
Black Sabbath have “lost our brother”, says the band’s co-founder Tony Iommi, while bassist Terence “Geezer” Butler remembered their final gig and drummer Bill Ward shared a photo of them together.
The music icon’s death on Tuesday, announced by his family, came just weeks after his band played their farewell gig in his home city of Birmingham.
“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,” his family said. “He was with his family and surrounded by love.”
Osbourne, known for energetic and controversial live shows, inspired a generation of musicians.
US heavy metal band Metallica said “it’s impossible to put into words” what Osbourne meant to them.
“Hero, icon, pioneer, inspiration, mentor, and, most of all, friend are a few that come to mind,” Metallica members Noah Abrams and Ross Halfin wrote on X.
American rock band Aerosmith called him “our brother in rock”, saying its love “goes out to… the millions around the world who felt his fire”.
Less than three weeks ago, the self-styled “prince of darkness” performed in Birmingham supported by many of the musicians he had inspired, including Metallica and Guns ‘n’ Roses.
Billy Corgan, lead singer of The Smashing Pumpkins – one of the many bands that performed alongside them – said: “Some of the biggest musical artists in the world travelled from all over the world to be there literally to celebrate the legacy of this band.
“It’s one of the greatest musical moments of my life,” added Corgan, who spoke to BBC Radio 4’s The World Tonight.
“For him to have been that close to death on July 5 and still get up there and perform like he promised… Wow! That puts him in a category of his own,” Sammy Hagar, the lead vocalist of Van Halen who also played at the farewell concert for Osbourne, wrote on Instagram.
Others shared fond memories of Osbourne’s larger-than-life character.
Variety magazine’s senior entertainment editor Jem Aswad recalled the first time he met Osbourne, he was “nervous” to meet the prince of darkness.
“It was just this sort of really bizarre scene,” Aswad told the BBC.
Osbourne entered the room near noon in a bathrobe, having “just woken up”, wearing loads of jewellery and accessories and “a lot of gold”, Aswad said, though adding that Osbourne was “perfectly nice, perfectly friendly”.
Meanwhile, fans gathered at the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles, where they laid flowers on the star dedicated to Osbourne.
“Osbourne was more than a rock legend – he was a cultural icon who reshaped music and defied expectations,” said Ana Martinez, the venue’s producer.
Black Sabbath were pioneers in the heavy metal genre of music, writing classic tracks like Paranoid, War Pigs and Iron Man.
After leaving the band in 1979 over rising tensions with its other members, Osbourne had a lengthy solo music career releasing more than a dozen albums. His debut single released the next year, Crazy Train, is arguably one of his most famous songs.
Osbourne is survived by his wife Sharon and six children, three from each of his two marriages.
