In a recent interview with ITV News, Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi opened up about the death of his lifelong friend and bandmate, Ozzy Osbourne. The Prince of Darkness passed away on Tuesday (22) at 76, just weeks after Black Sabbath’s final performance at Back to the Beginning in Birmingham, England.

“Yeah, it was a shock for us. I mean, when I heard yesterday, it couldn’t sink in. I thought, ‘It can’t be.’ I only had a text from him the day before. It just seemed unreal, surreal. And it really didn’t sink in. And in the night I started thinking about it: ‘God, am I dreaming all this?’ But as I said before, he’s not looked well through the rehearsals. And I think he really just held out to do that show. I really feel, and me and Geezer were talking about it last night, that we think he held out to do it, and just after that, he’s done it and said goodbye to the fans. And that was the end of it, really.”

The farewell concert brought together the original Sabbath lineup for the first time in two decades, including drummer Bill Ward. On the final show, Iommi revealed how it meant everything to Ozzy:

“He’s built up for it for a while now. He’s been sort of training and trying to do what he can, so he could do this gig, so he could do it. And that’s really what he wanted to do. I think he must have had something in his head that said, ‘Well, this is gonna be it, the last thing I’m ever gonna do.’ Whether he thought he was gonna die or what, I don’t know. But he really wanted to do it and he was determined to do it. And fair dues, he’d done it.”

Iommi revealed what Ozzy did after the performance, stopping by each dressing room to say goodbye:

“Well, he went to his dressing room and I went to mine and Geez went to his and so on. And then he came over. He came around before he was leaving on a wheelchair that brought him in to say goodbye and have a little chat for a bit. And he seemed all right. He enjoyed it. And he said, ‘Oh, it went all right, didn’t it?’ I said, ‘Yeah, it did.’ But as I say, when I had the text off him the day before yesterday saying he’s tired and he’s really got no energy. And I thought, ‘Oh, dear.’ ‘Cause it’s a lot for him to do that under the problems he’s got. And we could see it in rehearsal. We didn’t want him there every day at rehearsal, because it’s too much. He just wouldn’t be able to stand it. So they’d bring him in and he’d sit down and sing a few songs, and then we’d talk about some rubbish old times or whatever, have a laugh, and then he’d go. And that’s sort of what we did, really. But the gig was for him, really, and for us to say goodbye, ’cause also Sabbath saying goodbye; it was the end of the band, and we’ll never do that again. And to have Bill with us as well after all these years, after 20 years of not playing with Bill. I can’t believe it’s 20 years, to be honest.”

On the iconic final sendoff performance, Iommi revealed Ozzy appeared “moved and frustrated,” explaining:

 “I think he was moved and frustrated as well, ’cause he wanted to stand up. You could see he was trying to get up. But yeah, it meant everything to him. This is what we built up for, for that big ending where he could see all the people and we could all see all the people, and close it in that way. But we didn’t expect to close it so quick with Ozz; we didn’t expect him to go that quick, really. Well, we didn’t expect him to go. So it’s been a shock.”

Reflecting on how long he’s known Ozzy, Iommi said:

“God, we go back so many years. I knew Ozzy before everybody, ’cause we went to the same school. He was always funny. Ozzy was Ozzy. There’s never gonna be another Ozzy. He’s the only one, one Ozzy and that’s it. Just a special person, just the way he is. He says what he thinks. Many times we said to him, ‘Now, don’t get saying anything.’ And, of course, he does. But it was funny. It really was funny. He did do some funny antics. And we did have a laugh on stage. As much as we were serious about the music, we’d always have this thing, and Ozz would always come over to me and pull faces. Of course, the audience couldn’t see that, and he’d be pulling all these funny faces, and I’d just crack up. Then he’d go over to Geezer and do the same. He was just that sort of person. He was a showman.”

On how there will never be another Ozzy, Iommi added:

“He had a special way, and that was it. There’s not another Ozzy. And his antics and everything — we never knew what he was gonna do in all the years we’ve known him. So it was all a bit of a thing, ‘I wonder what he’s gonna do now.'”

Zenae Zukowski

See Full Bio