Hours before his death, Ozzy Osbourne shared a poignant Instagram post about going “back to the beginning.”
The founding Black Sabbath frontman died Tuesday, aged 76, his family confirmed in a statement. “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,” they said.
Osbourne’s death comes weeks after he performed his farewell show with the original Sabbath founding members at their Back to the Beginning charity event in Birmingham, benefiting Acorns Children’s Hospice, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and Cure Parkinson’s.
The day before his death, however, the “Crazy Train” singer shared a backstage photo from the event of the sign above his dressing room. His name was printed at the top of the poster, with a picture of Osbourne and his four original bandmates Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, and Bill Ward below.
“Back to the Beginning,” it read. “The Final Show.”
During the 10-hour show, fans saw performances from bands including Slayer, Tool, Gojira, Metallica, and Guns N’ Roses, while Osbourne himself performed some of his biggest solo hits from a black winged throne.
The charity event earned the name “Back to the Beginning” because Birmingham was the place where the band was formed, and Osbourne said he wanted to “give back to the place where I was born.”
“How blessed am I to do it with the help of people whom I love. Birmingham is the true home of metal. Birmingham forever,” he added in a statement at the time.
The concert was personal for Osbourne, not only for that reason, but also because of his own experience living with Parkinson’s disease. He was diagnosed with the incurable neurodegenerative disorder in 2019.
For many years, it seemed Osbourne was indestructible. The “Godfather of Metal” had survived decades of hard living, including drug and alcohol abuse, along with controversies such as the notorious moment he bit the head off a bat during a live concert in Des Moines, Iowa.
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Yet, in his later life, he was a reformed wildman who suffered a string of health issues, mostly related to neck injuries sustained in a 2003 quad-biking accident, which were later exacerbated by a fall in 2019. That same year, he received his Parkinson’s diagnosis and also endured a bout of Covid.
Years before the event, in a 2022 interview with The Independent, Osbourne vowed: “I will get back on stage if it f***ing kills me, because if I can’t do it then that’s what’s gonna happen anyway, I’m gonna f***ing die. I love to see them audiences.
“If I have to crawl up there, I will do it. You ain’t seen the last of Ozzy Osbourne, I can f***ing tell you that.”
Read the latest updates and tributes following Osbourne’s death here.
