Ozzy Osbourne defied doctors' orders to perform farewell concert

Ozzy Osbourne knew he was dying when he performed his farewell concert, but he wanted to go down rockin’.

Just two weeks before his death last year at age 76, the Black Sabbath frontman took the stage at Villa Park in Birmingham, England, against doctors’ orders. His wife, Sharon Osbourne, recalled the conversation while speaking to BBC Radio on Ozzy’s one-year-death anniversary on Wednesday, July 22.

“Ozzy knew that he was dying. He was told two weeks before the show that he was dying, and they said ‘don’t do the show,’” she shared.

His response was unmistakably Ozzy: “Yeah, right. Get out of here.”

The concert reunited Ozzy with the original Black Sabbath lineup and featured performances from Metallica, Guns N’ Roses and Alice in Chains. Seated on a black throne topped with a bat, the Prince of Darkness delivered the performance he had feared he might never be able to give.

Sharon, 73, described the charity event as “a gift” that brought him comfort during his final days. “It was a gift to be surrounded by his loyal crew, his friends, his family, the fans,” she said. “His greatest love affair was with the audience and that’s the way he wanted to go out. Just one more time and he got to do that — and he smashed it.”

The former X Factor judge added that those last two weeks were unlike anything she had seen in years. “He had been so down, so depressed because he knew it was the end,” she said, but after the show, “he was the happiest I had ever seen him.”

Ozzy was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2019. His cause of death was listed as cardiac arrest, acute myocardial infarction, coronary artery disease and Parkison’s disease.