Pennsylvania senator John Fetterman has paid tribute to Ozzy Osbourne, who died on Tuesday at the age of 76. During an interview on Wednesday (July 23),Fetterman told reporters about Ozzy‘s passing: “ Oh, Goddamn. I mean, I’m a BLACK SABBATH guy… People don’t realize how their first album changed everything. Now, all of the giants in the business — METALLICA and others — they all owe debt to [BLACK SABBATH]. I’m a big METALLICA fan. And now he’s rode the crazy train to the next world. And, absolutely, he was a treasure. And I grew up on those kinds of music.”
A member of the Democratic party, Fetterman served as mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania from 2006 to 2019. Prior to that, he served in the AmeriCorps and earned an MPP from Harvard.
Born in Reading, Pennsylvania in 1969, Fetterman has been advocating for LGBTQ rights, access to abortion and other progressive causes, but he has also expressed a desire to align with conservatives on issues like protecting the U.S. border and defending Israel.
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.
