In a new interview with Darren Redick of U.K.’s Planet Rock, legendary rocker Alice Cooper was asked if Ozzy Osbourne‘s death earlier this week gave him pause in any way. Alice responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I was on my way to the stage when I heard about it, and I went, ‘Oh, that’s not right. He just did this thing [where he performed with BLACK SABBATH one last time at the ‘Back To The Beginning’ event in Birmingham, United Kingdom]. I saw him. He was singing well.’ But when it finally hit, it was just one of those… Even though you know it’s coming, especially with Ozzy, especially with certain guys in rock where you go, ‘He certainly hasn’t been well for a while.’ But what a shock to the system. And at the end of the show, I just said, ‘Everybody, let’s say good night to Ozzy,’ and everybody just [went], ‘Ozzy! Ozzy!’ So, he was a very beloved character in rock.”
Elaborating on his relationship with Ozzy, Alice said: “We did shows together. He was not one of those guys that I would say [was] one of my best friends, but we were close when we saw each other. We’d go, ‘Oh, good to see you, man,’ dah, dah, dah. We didn’t hang in the same sort of people. I knew [Ozzy‘s wife and manager] Sharon, I think, more than I knew Ozzy, ’cause I’d met Sharon before for other things, and I met [their son] Jack a couple of times.
“Ozzy and I did four or five things together — he sang on [my album] ‘Hey Stoopid’, and we did Brazil together, a soccer stadium down there together, and things like that,” Alice continued. “But there was never that, ‘Let me call Ozzy,’ there was never that thing. I just respected him and I think we had a mutual respect for each other. We had a lot of the same players. I mean, the great thing about being a lead singer without a band is that you get your pick of — you know who the guitar players are, you know who the drummers are, you know who the bass players are. So between us, we had the same drummer at one time. You get your pick of the litter.”
Asked by Redick why he thinks so many iconic rockers refuse to retire even when they hit their late 70s and early 80s, Alice said: “It’s not for money. We could have retired 30 years ago when it comes to financially. It’s not that. You’re either a lifer or you’re not. I’ve always been a lifer. And Ozzy was a lifer. [THE BEATLES‘ Paul] McCartney, THE [ROLLING] STONES… THE STONES are doing it because they love to do it. McCartney — if McCartney wasn’t playing his big shows, he’d be in a pub band somewhere, because he just loves to play. That has nothing to do with the financial part of it. [Bob] Dylan does 200 shows a year — what? — because that’s what he loves to do. [Pete] Townshend — I mean, THE WHO are going back out. Townshend is still really angry at his guitar. I saw Townshend maybe five years ago, and his knuckles were bleeding and he was hitting the guitar. And I went, ‘Yeah.'”
Alice added: “I tell every young band. They [ask me], ‘What should we do?’ I say, ‘Go see Pete Townshend. Go see GREEN DAY. Go see the FOO FIGHTERS.’ These are the bands that bring it every night — they bring it. I said, ‘That’s what you need to do.'”
Cooper and his band found out that the world lost Osbourne just minutes before they were due to go perform in Cardiff, Wales, which is about two hours from the place where legendary BLACK SABBATH singer was born. Before hitting the stage, Alice recorded the following quote for his radio show “Alice’s Attic”: “Well, we all know that time is going to take us rockers, but when the giants fall, it’s really hard to accept. Even though everybody saw it coming with Ozzy, it just took our breath away when it happened. So, Ozzy and family, your records and your music and your legend and all that you brought — the humor to the rock business — will live on forever and we’re gonna miss you, man.”
Alice and his band then dedicated Tuesday night’s show to Ozzy‘s memory and they were able to celebrate along with the crowd who had also just learned of this great loss for rock and roll. Following the concert, Alice summed up his thoughts by saying: “The whole world is mourning Ozzy tonight. Over his long career, he earned immense respect among his peers and from fans around the world as an unmatched showman and cultural icon.
“I always saw Ozzy as a cross between the prince of darkness, which is the persona his fans saw, and the court jester. That was the side that his family and friends saw. He was and will continue to be a rock and roll legend.
“Rock and roll is a family and a fraternity. When we lose one of our own, it bleeds. I wish I would have gotten to know my brother Ozzy better.
“Sharon, Jack, Kelly, Aimee and the rest of the Ozzy brood — our prayers are with you tonight. A titanic boulder has crashed, but rock will roll on.”
In 1991, Ozzy provided backing vocals to Cooper‘s song “Hey Stoopid”, which was the title track of Alice‘s 12th studio album. The two worked together again on the song “Wake The Dead”, which appeared on Cooper‘s 2008 album “Along Came A Spider”.
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.
