In a new interview with Chaz & AJ In The Morning, a morning radio talk show program on 99.1 WPLR, a rock radio station broadcasting from New Haven, Connecticut, Don Dokken paid tribute to Ozzy Osbourne who died on July 22 at the age of 76. The DOKKEN leader said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “[His death] was inevitable. Well, it’s inevitable for everybody, man. We’re all gonna have our time here in this world, and we’re gonna go. And he was only about five or six years older than me, so [that] makes me nervous. I’m getting ready to retire too.”
Referencing the “Back To The Beginning” event, which took place on July 5 and marked Ozzy‘s final performance both as a solo artist and with the rest of the original lineup of BLACK SABBATH, Don said: “How amazing was it that just — was it three weeks ago? He had his last concert. It’s amazing… He did his last concert sitting in that throne, and he sang great, he looked great. He sang the songs. He didn’t make any mistakes. He did a few songs, and all those great bands like METALLICA and [AEROSMITH‘s] Steven Tyler, hey were all there. I think they had over 40,000 people. So it was a great sendoff that he could even muster up the energy to say thank you to all his fans and say farewell in England and do a show. I mean, obviously the fact that he passed three weeks later, I think he knew that it was coming.”
Dokken also shared some personal memories of Ozzy, saying: “He was different than I think a lot of people perceive him as, the Prince Of Darkness and just a wild party animal, 24 hours a day. Yes, he had his time, but I think [in the later years] he slowed down and became more reclusive.
“It’s funny, when you talked to him, just talked to him, sitting at a table, it’s not the Ozzy that the public perceived him as, as the Prince Of Darkness, wild man,” Don explained. “He was pretty mellow. And the cool thing about Ozzy, he was very well read. He loved to read. He was always reading something, and he’d ask me what I’m reading. And he loved his books.”
Asked if he is planning to cover any Ozzy-sung songs in tribute to the legendary heavy metal singer when he hits the road with DOKKEN this week, Don said: “The problem with singing anySABBATH song is Ozzy‘s voice was so unique. How do you copy or even try to pay homage to that style of singing? How do you homage the song properly without messing it up?”
Ozzy died Tuesday morning (July 22),his family announced 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,” the family said.
No cause of death was given, but Osbourne had battled a number of health issues over the past several years, including Parkinson’s disease and injuries he sustained from a late-night fall in 2019.
Ozzy‘s death came a little more than two weeks after he took the stage for his final performance with BLACK SABBATH at Villa Park in the band’s original hometown of Birmingham, United Kingdom. They performed four songs for more than 40,000 people in the stadium and 5.8 million more on a livestream. Ozzy also played a five-song solo set while seated in a bat-adorned throne.
Ozzy‘s family reality television show “The Osbournes” won a 2002 Primetime Emmy.
In 2006, Osbourne and the other members of the original BLACK SABBATH were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Ozzy was also inducted into the Rock Hall as a solo artist in 2024.
Osbourne won several Grammys, including one in 1993 for his solo song “I Don’t Want To Change The World”.
Ozzy and his wife and manager Sharon started their annual tour — Ozzfest — in 1996 after he was rejected from the lineup of what at the time was the top touring music festival, Lollapalooza. The first traveling version of Ozzfest in 1997 included MARILYN MANSON and PANTERA as part of the lineup.
Osbourne leaves behind his wife, three children from his first marriage (including an adopted son from his first wife’s previous relationship),and three with Sharon: Jack, Kelly and Aimee.
