Sharon Osbourne’s “backup plan” if Ozzy Osbourne couldn’t sing at the Black Sabbath ‘Back To The Beginning’ farewell show has been revealed.
Osbourne died on July 22 at the age of 76, just 17 days after the historic performance in Birmingham over the summer.
At ‘Back To The Beginning’, the singer sat on a giant winged throne on stage, playing a solo set first before being joined by Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward, with the original Sabbath line-up playing together for the first time since 2005.
It was Osbourne’s first full gig since 2018, and he had undergone multiple surgeries during the following years and had experienced numerous health problems, including Parkinson’s disease.
In his upcoming posthumous memoir Last Rites, an excerpt of which was shared in The Times, Osbourne’s fears of not being able to perform at the show were documented.
In the book, he wrote ahead of the concert: “Three days after we finally got to England I was back in hospital. My blood pressure kept me there for eight days, during which I had nothing to do but worry. Because the show kept getting bigger.
“As all these huge names were announced – Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, Steven Tyler from Aerosmith – I was like, holy fuck, it’s gonna be like metal’s answer to Live Aid.
“Lying in bed at night I’d be like, I can’t go, I can’t do this. I kept saying to Sharon, we’d better get a video made ’cos there’ll be an empty stage. She just looked at me like I was mad. She knows me better than I do. She knew I was just scared.”
The book went on to reveal that “Sharon said, ‘Look, there’ll be no backup plan. No video. No prerecorded anything. If you can’t sing on the night, just talk to the crowd and thank them. All you need to do is get up there and be Ozzy.’”
It comes after the late frontman also reflected on the “emotional” yet “terribly frustrating” final Black Sabbath show in a recent BBC documentary.
Sharon & Ozzy Osbourne: Coming Home, which you can watch on the BBC iPlayer here, was initially set to air in August, but was pulled from the TV schedule at the last minute due to “the family’s wishes to wait a bit longer”.
It was eventually aired on BBC One last Thursday (October 2).
Another forthcoming new documentary, No Escape From Now, will detail the Prince Of Darkness’ final six years.
Last month, Sharon Osbourne thanked fans for their “overwhelming love and support” and said she was “still finding my footing” following her husband’s passing.
Osbourne’s son Jack had previously shared a “personal note” about his father in a video on his YouTube channel, while Kelly explained how she had found her “smile again” amid the “sadness and grief”.