Ozzy Osbourne has said he is done with the “rock star lifestyle” ahead of Black Sabbath‘s final-ever live show this summer.
During a recent interview with The Guardian, the Prince Of Darkness confirmed that the legendary metal band’s huge gig at Birmingham’s Villa Park on July 5 would be the last time he’d be performing on stage.
This came after his wife and manager, Sharon, said in the conversation that “it’s time to say ‘enough’” for her and Ozzy. “When you’ve given it your all, you can sit back and say: I did it,” she added.
Explaining that the couple would be retiring to their home in Buckinghamshire, Sharon told the publication: “[We’ll] get some ponies and chickens, and a million dogs. I want to open a dog rescue centre and a horse rescue centre. Scream at the neighbours a couple of times. There you go.”
Ozzy then said: “I’d love to say ‘never say never’ [about more performances in the future], but after the last six years or so… it is time.”
This follows the icon undergoing multiple surgeries and experiencing numerous health problems in recent years, including Parkinson’s disease.
“I lived on the road for 50-odd years, and I’ve kind of got used to not picking up my bags and getting on the bus again,” Ozzy went on. “I don’t smoke dope or do any of the rock star lifestyle any more. I’m kind of like a homebody.”
He continued: “I never go out. I never hang out in bars – I don’t drink. So what the fuck is out there for me? I hate going shopping with my wife. I feel like stabbing myself in the neck after half an hour. But it’s time for me to spend some time with my grandkids, I don’t want to die in a hotel room somewhere. I want to spend the rest of my life with my family.”
Back in 2020, Ozzy looked back on the hell-raising antics of his earlier career during an interview with NME. He was fired from Black Sabbath in 1979, with the band citing his overzealous use of drugs and alcohol.
Ozzy once snorted a line of ants to outdo Mötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx, before licking the latter’s urine up off the ground, and famously bit the head off a live bat and dove.
“Well, I can’t deny those stories because I probably did ‘em,” he told NME. “I was fucking crazy when I was doing all that shit – out of my mind – but what people didn’t see was the following morning when I’d wake up and go: ‘Oh My God!’
“I’m lucky to have a friend in the world, never mind a wife. I certainly lived the rock’n’roll lifestyle, but the music scene since those days has changed dramatically. For a start, none of us sell fucking records anymore.”
Earlier this year, Ozzy remembered once drinking “28 gallons of booze” to get through Christmas, after Sharon revealed that he was “stoned” in every episode of their reality show The Osbournes. In 2022, the singer said he quit taking acid in the ’70s, following a trip that left him “standing there talking to [a] horse for about an hour”. He added: “In the end the horse turned round and told me to fuck off. That was it for me.”
In 2018, Ozzy confirmed that he no longer drank alcohol or took drugs. “I don’t smoke tobacco,” he explained at the time. “[…] I’m doing good right now.” He continued: “I now think, ‘How did I think going into a bar and getting smashed and doing all that cocaine was fun?’”
But last autumn, the legendary vocalist admitted that he was “not completely sober” yet, and had been “tempted” to use “stronger drugs” due to his ongoing health issues. “I use a bit of marijuana from time to time,” he said.
In the same new interview with The Guardian, Ozzy looked ahead to playing the last Black Sabbath show in good health. “I’ll be there, and I’ll do the best I can,” he promised. “So all I can do is turn up.”
He suggested that he “may be sitting down” on stage, following reports that he’d be performing from a “throne that flies over the stadium”.
“We’re only playing a couple of songs each. I don’t want people thinking ‘We’re getting ripped off’, because it’s just going to be … what’s the word? … a sample, you’re going to get a few songs each by Ozzy and Sabbath,” Ozzy told the newspaper.
This came shortly after the singer revealed that he was “in heavy training” for the forthcoming farewell concert, and was back in the gym. He also said he would only be “doing little bits and pieces” with Sabbath at Villa Park amid his health problems: “I am doing what I can, where I feel comfortable.”
Earlier this year, Ozzy said he now “can’t walk” as a result of Parkinson’s – but Sharon has told NME that his illness “doesn’t affect his voice”. “He wants to say thank you to everybody,” Sharon explained to us at Villa Park. “He didn’t have that chance because of his illness, but now he does have the chance.”
Despite this positive outlook from the Osbournes, Tool’s Maynard James Keenan – whose band appears on the stacked ‘Back To The Beginning’ line-up – recently said it may take “modern miracles” to get Ozzy back on stage.
Meanwhile, Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler has admitted that he is having “nightmares” and “palpitations” ahead of the band’s historic last live performance.