With a deafening cheer of “Ozzy Ozzy Ozzy! Oi oi oi!,” Birmingham, England, said a fond farewell today to its favorite son, Ozzy Osbourne, during a citywide celebration. Thousands of fans gathered in the city center, congregating along Broad Street and near the Black Sabbath Bridge. The mood was mostly upbeat — a fitting tribute to a man who once said he didn’t want his funeral to be depressing.
Officially, the community came together for a cortège procession in honor of Osbourne, who died at age 76 on July 22. But afterward, the musician’s fans transformed a typically morose event into a lively commemoration of life and music that stretched across Osbourne’s hometown. Many dressed in Black Sabbath gear and walked with canes — a nod to the Prince of Darkness’ style. An unending catalog of Black Sabbath tracks blared from pubs and trucks, and fans of all ages delivered notes, flowers, and even a Star Wars VHS box set to monuments around town, including the now-shuttered Crown pub where Black Sabbath got their start.
“There were a couple of weepy moments because everybody loves him, but everybody came here as a celebration of life,” says 36-year-old Mikee Smith, who traveled from Worcester and visited the Crown for a photo. “It was an uplifting experience.”
“Whatever sorrow I felt on the train ride here was gone as soon as I was part of the crowd waiting for the cortège to go past,” adds Mark Dubanowski, 34, a member of Worcester death metal band Dessicator. “The atmosphere flipped everything upside down.”
The funeral cortège, paid for by the musician’s family, trailed through the city with Osbourne’s casket in a black hearse. Local band Bostin’ Brass provided the soundtrack, evoking both the spirit of New Orleans and the culture of Birmingham in an effort to keep the tears at bay. The group offered rousing takes on Black Sabbath and Osbourne classics like “Iron Man” and “Crazy Train,” which they previously learned for the unveiling of the Ozzy the Bull monument during the Birmingham Commonwealth Games opening ceremonies in 2022.
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If there was a somber moment, it was when Osbourne’s family, including widow Sharon, momentarily exited their cars on Black Sabbath Bridge. The rocker’s children and grandchildren took in the overflowing pile of flowers and letters, reading a few of the heartfelt notes. The family hugged and shed tears, but fans quickly attempted to uplift spirits by shouting “Ozzy forever!” and “Sharon, we love you” before joining their voices in a rousing chant of the musician’s name.
The family stayed for only a few minutes before moving on and allowing the barricades holding the fans back to be cleared. It was a conscious choice, many said, to give Osbourne the revelatory celebration he always wanted. After paying their respects at the mural, the museum, and on the bridge, many gathered outside the pubs along the canal, pints in hand and cheers to the fallen legend, who returned to Birmingham in the later part of his life — a full-circle moment for the city.
Osbourne hailed from a working-class family in Birmingham, a former industrial city that has only recently seen a revitalization. Aaron Diaz, trumpeter and bandleader for Bostin’ Brass, points to Osbourne’s eventual rise from Aston youth to globally-renowned musician as a mirror of the city’s own evolution. “Ozzy is such an indelible part of Birmingham’s music scene. He represents so much about the city’s pride and humility and humbleness and sense of humor,” Diaz says. “He’s really become a totem for the city. His regeneration as a cult figure and metal God reflects Birmingham’s journey as well.”
For many fans, Osbourne was a beacon of hope for a city that has often been overshadowed by London. Many revelers waited in long queues to snap a quick photo on Black Sabbath Bridge or sign the commemorative book at the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. Following the procession, the wait time to sign the book, which will be gifted to Osbourne’s family, was over an hour. Justin Reeves, a Visitor Experience Assistant at the museum, estimated that at least 1,000 fans had come to sign the book by early afternoon on the day of the parade and at least 11,000 had signed it since Osbourne’s death. Although he has seen some tears and shared a few emotional moments with visitors, Reeves said he has been heartened by the galvanizing response from around the world.
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“I’ve never experienced anything like this in my life,” says Reeves. “We’ve had people come in from London and as far as Argentina and Sao Paulo. They’ve all been saying, ‘Birmingham is so nice. Everyone here is so lovely.’ Someone said to us, ‘The way you guys celebrate your local heroes is like nowhere else.’ It’s been very enriching to the soul to witness it.”
One of the fans waiting in line to sign the book was Birmingham local Hayden Worton, 31, who recently attended Osbourne’s final performance, Back to the Beginning, a charity concert held at nearby Villa Park.
“I’ve been to many, many gigs, and it’s the best one I’ve ever been to,” Worton said. “When he played ‘Mama, I’m Coming Home,’ there wasn’t a dry eye in the place. It was a great send-off. He meant everything to Birmingham. He put Birmingham on the map.”
Another local, Sarah Edwards, 45, has regularly been visiting the memorials around Birmingham and leaving flowers and tributes since the musician’s death. Edwards was born in the same hospital as Osbourne, and her father was friends with him when he was younger. She said she’s never seen the community come together over a Birmingham legend like this in her lifetime.
“This is a first,” she said after visiting the recently unveiled Black Sabbath mural created by artist Mr Murals, where many fans were laying flowers. “We are the second biggest city in England, and we’ve never come across anything like this before. It’s been very nice because I’ve met some fantastic people, and everyone is here for the same reason. It’s nice that everyone is happy here together.”
“Birmingham has shaped me because that’s where I’m from,” Osbourne once told the Huffington Post. “I had no other choice than to be a Brummie — it’s great.”
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Although many British musicians and artists have died in recent years, some fans could only point to the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022 as being as momentous in U.K. culture. “She was royalty,” Dubanowski said. “But so was Ozzy. He was rock royalty.”
But even as fans said goodbye to a favorite musician, it was clear Osbourne would never truly be gone. “When someone that you have followed all your life and you love dies and all of a sudden that person’s gone, it’s sad,” Edwards said. “But I know that Ozzy Osbourne will always be here.”
