Perez Hilton marked one year since Ozzy Osbourne’s death by revisiting comments Sharon Osbourne made in a BBC interview about her late husband, writing that the pair had “such an iconic relationship!”
Sharon recalled that Ozzy told her,
“When you want to remember me, just yank up the music really loud, as loud as you can get it, and just head bang.”
In his blog, Hilton highlighted it as distinctly in character for the Black Sabbath frontman.
Perez Hilton’s post, published to mark the anniversary, also praised the couple’s bond as “authentic” and noted Sharon’s description of her husband as “funny and charismatic and real.” The reflection follows a separate BBC interview in which Sharon detailed the health toll behind Ozzy Osbourne’s final concert weeks before his death on July 22, 2025.
Sharon Osbourne’s tribute on the anniversary of Ozzy Osbourne’s death
Sharon Osbourne spoke to a BBC local radio station around the first anniversary of Ozzy Osbourne’s passing, recalling what made their marriage endure despite its turbulence. She said one of her favorite qualities in her husband was that he was “genuine” and “never tried to be anything other than what he was,” according to CNN’s July 22, 2026 report.
Sharon added that even their worst arguments would end in laughter because Ozzy would say “something so ridiculous that we would just crack up.” She was in Birmingham for the city’s first Ozzy Day, a tribute to her husband, and grew emotional when asked why her presence there mattered, saying,
“Because I can’t forget what Birmingham did for Ozzy”
Sharon Osbourne noted that despite his global fame, he remained proud of his “humble beginnings” in the city. Asked what she would tell fans marking the anniversary, she repeated Ozzy Osbourne’s own words about cranking up the music and headbanging in his memory.
The health warnings behind Ozzy Osbourne’s final concert
Sharon Osbourne also revealed that doctors told Ozzy Osbourne two weeks before his Back to the Beginning farewell concert that he was dying and urged him to cancel the show, according to CNN’s July 22, 2026 report. Ozzy dismissed the warning, telling them, “Yeah, right. Get out of here,” per Sharon’s account.
The concert took place July 5, 2025, at Villa Park in Birmingham, where Ozzy performed seated on a black, bat-topped throne and reunited with the original Black Sabbath lineup for the first time in 20 years, joined by acts including Metallica, Guns N’ Roses and Alice in Chains.
Sharon Osbourne described the show as a “gift” that let her husband experience one final time what she called his “greatest love affair,” performing for an audience. She said that in the two weeks following the concert, Ozzy was “the happiest I had ever seen him,” a shift from a period when he had been “so down, so depressed” out of fear that his illness would prevent him from singing.
The concert’s lasting economic and cultural impact
Beyond its emotional significance, the farewell concert delivered a substantial economic boost to Ozzy Osbourne’s home region. University of Birmingham research found the show generated £33.8 million in gross economic output across the UK, with £27.6 million retained in the West Midlands, according to the BBC’s August 20, 2025 report.
Researcher Dr. Matt Lyons said the analysis was conducted partly to “honour Ozzy’s legacy,” noting that his cultural impact extended “far beyond the financial impact his gigs and TV shows have netted.” All 42,000 tickets sold out within minutes, with roughly 20% purchased by international fans paying between £197.50 and £834, per the BBC.
Ozzy Osbourne died less than three weeks after the performance, with his family announcing his death on July 22, 2025. Thousands of fans later lined Birmingham’s Broad Street to watch his funeral procession pass the Black Sabbath memorial bench, the BBC reported.
Ozzy Osbourne’s path to becoming rock’s “prince of darkness”
Born John Michael Osbourne in Birmingham’s Aston area on December 3, 1948, Ozzy left school at 15 and drifted through jobs, including a stint in a slaughterhouse and a brief run-in with the law that landed him briefly in prison, according to the BBC’s July 23, 2025 report.
Music offered him a way out, and he later formed the band that became Black Sabbath with school friends Terry “Geezer” Butler, Tony Iommi and Bill Ward, naming the group after a 1963 horror film they watched near their rehearsal space.
Despite early criticism, Black Sabbath’s 1970 self-titled debut album reached number eight on the UK charts, and subsequent releases like Paranoid and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath drew both commercial success and eventual critical acclaim.
Substance abuse strained the band and his first marriage, leading to his firing from Sabbath in 1979, but Ozzy Osbourne rebuilt his career with a solo album, Blizzard of Ozz, and marriage to Sharon Arden, who he later credited with keeping him alive.
He and Sharon went on to star in the reality series The Osbournes beginning in 2002, and Ozzy continued performing despite a 2019 Parkinson’s disease diagnosis and spinal injuries from a fall, ultimately choosing to close his career with the Villa Park farewell show near his childhood home, per the BBC.
Ozzy Osbourne is survived by his wife Sharon Osbourne and their three children together: Aimee, Kelly, and Jack. Beyond his immediate family, his legacy lives on through Black Sabbath’s influence on generations of musicians who followed, as well as the reality television era he and Sharon helped usher in with “The Osbournes” in 2002.
His final Villa Park concert, staged just steps from his childhood home, stands as the closing chapter of a career that took him from a working-class upbringing in Aston to global stardom.
As Sharon continues marking each anniversary of his passing, she has made clear that Birmingham, and the fans who filled Villa Park one last time, remain central to how she wants him remembered.
Edited by Devangee Halder