Black Sabbath are saying goodbye with a final tour, but Ozzy Osbourne isn’t going anywhere
HIS band Black Sabbath are on their farewell tour, but the Godfather of Metal Ozzy Osbourne says he will keep singing because of his wife Sharon.
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OZZY, this is the final Black Sabbath tour — it’s a dark day for the fans ...
It’s the end of Sabbath and people have been asking ‘well I thought you were doing an album. But the things we’ve discovered are — number one: People aren’t really interested in hearing new stuff and number two: If we were to do an album before the tour — it would take three or four years to complete the album. We want to end it on a high note.
It’s not the end for you though?
Well I did pretty well for 35 years — and I’m not retiring. I’m going to do a solo album and a solo tour. I mean my wife’s a shop-a-holic always off buying f---g shoes or something so I’ve got to keep the money coming somehow.
How do you see the Black Sabbath legacy and how will you manage it?
Just to be remembered is enough for me. I thought no one would remember me when we first started playing music. I’d rather end it now though than drag it out for another five albums. I mean I’m 67 in December. When we started out I thought — this thing will be all right for a year or two. One of my greatest memories of anything Sabbath was that we were a band that weren’t created by some London f---ing business d---head. We were four guys in different bands and we all got together and made a record. I remember being in a pub in Birmingham and the manager at the time said to me ‘I have some news for you — your album is entering the British charts at number 17 next week’ I went ‘f --- off you’re winding me up’. It remained in the top ten for over a year and none of us have looked back since.
Do you still remember the moment you decided to be a rock star?
I was sitting on a step listening to a transistor radio and (The Beatles’) She Loves You came on. It was that moment it went ‘bing’ I was no good as a burglar, no good in a factory so when I heard the Beatles — it change my life.
What’s going on with the drumming situation given the issues with original drummer Bill Ward?
It’s nearly Black Sabbath. Every time I talk about him I get into trouble — so I don’t know — I don’t think so.
How did you react to seeing guitarist Tony Iommi fighting cancer?
When Tony was diagnosed with lymphoma we are all ‘oh God why now?’. But in saying that we all got around him. He said to us ‘look If I sit at home in my house thinking I’m going to die — I’ll f---ing probably will die. He’s a different person to everyone else — he’s one of those guys who say ‘what do I have to do to f---ing beat this. I mean there’s never been a leader of Black Sabbath but I suppose in the early days it was him. But don’t forget in the very early days he left and joined Jethro Tull — but then he told them to go f--- themselves and came back. He has courage in his own conviction — he’s f---ing unbelievable.
You have been surrounded by strong people though — your wife Sharon Osbourne fought cancer too ...
Yeah she was diagnosed with colon cancer and was having chemotherapy three times a month for nine months and she had these weird f---ing seizures. I thought she wouldn’t last three weeks because each seizure was worse than the last but she pulled it off. These people don’t back down from a fight — they have a strong conviction to live. Me, I’m the wimp of the bunch — I’ll catch a disease off the telly, I will.
We’ve had the book — how is the Ozzy movie is coming along?
Well, I keep hearing that Johnny Depp is going to do it and all these people. But there’s so many different things in the pipeline — I don’t know if it’s going to happen or not. I can ask Sharon and she’ll go ‘oh yeah’ and I’m still none the wiser. I think the guy writing the script Sharon is dealing with him so I don’t know what to say.
The grandfather Ozzy Osbourne is much different to the Godfather of metal we see on stage.
It’s great fun. My son’s got two girls and my other son’s got three kids, my daughter from my previous marriage has got four kids — I’ve been a grandfather for a long time now — and you know you can’t send them back and — nah I don’t want them. Basically being a grandparent is having a place where they can come and wreck then go home.
You’ve said you love Australia — but not so much getting here?
I remember when we first got to Australia the f---ing plane ride — we stopped at every f---ing airport along the way. And when got to Perth after 30-something hours you guys were all happy and I’d been drunk/sober, drunk/sober, drunk/sober three times on the f---ing flight. Going to Australia is like going to Mars!
SEE BLACK SABBATH, PERTH ARENA, APRIL 15. LIVENATION.COM.AU
SEE BLACK SABBATH, ADELAIDE ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE, APRIL 17. LIVENATION.COM.AU
SEE BLACK SABBATH, ROD LAVER ARENA, APRIL 19. LIVENATION.COM.AU
SEE BLACK SABBATH, ALLPHONES ARENA, APRIL 23. LIVENATION.COM.AU
SEE BLACK SABBATH, BRISBANE ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE, APRIL 25. LIVENATION.COM.AU
Originally published as Black Sabbath are saying goodbye with a final tour, but Ozzy Osbourne isn’t going anywhere
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