One year on from Ozzy Osbourne’s death, his wife Sharon has revealed the advice he gave her to remember him, and his Black Sabbath bandmates have paid tribute.
The heavy metal pioneer passed away on July 22 last year, aged 76. To mark one year on, there was the first ever “Ozzy Day” held in his Birmingham hometown yesterday, with fans showing up to pay their respects, a brass band performing Black Sabbath classics, the mechanical “Ozzy The Bull” statue in New Street station being decorated with the singer’s iconic glasses and more.
Ahead of the inaugural event, his son Jack urged fans to share stories about Ozzy on the first anniversary of his death, saying that he wanted to “fill the entire day of July 22 with just awesome Ozzy stories.”
His daughter Kelly also spoke about how she was coping one year on, saying that she doesn’t “just mourn the father I lost. I mourn the soul I was before [his] death”.
Now, his wife and manager Sharon has shared the advice her late husband gave her to help remember him when he was gone.
“As Ozzy would say, ‘When you want to remember me, just yank up the music really loud, as loud as you can get it, and just head bang,’” she said in an interview with the BBC.
She also said that she remembers him most for being “authentic”, “so genuine” and “funny”.
“I mean we could have the worst arguments in the world but we would end up laughing because he would say something so ridiculous that we would just crack up,” she shared, adding that it was fitting that Ozzy Day is held in his hometown because it is “the home of metal” and “wouldn’t work anywhere else”.
The Prince Of Darkness’ passing came just over two weeks after he played his final-ever live show at Birmingham’s Villa Park – which included appearances from Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Lamb Of God, Tool, Mastodon, Alice In Chains, Guns N’ Roses, Halestorm, Gojira and more – and it was later confirmed that his cause of death was a heart attack.
Marking one year since his death, Ozzy’s three Black Sabbath bandmates also paid tribute to the metal icon. Bassist Geezer Butler wrote on Instagram: “One year ago today- hard to believe. I am so glad we were able to do the final show, back in our hometown, just a couple of weeks before Ozzy left us. Gone in body, but his legend lives on. Such incredible memories. Ozzy forever!”
Drummer Bill Ward took to X/Twitter to share: “Every day, there is persistent silence. We miss you so much. Respectfully, with love to the Osbourne Family, Bill and Jackie Ward Family.”
Guitarist Tony Iommi also shared a touching message on Instagram, saying that he “still can’t believe that he’s not with us”.
“I watch him on YouTube and it feels like he’s still here with us. We always stayed in touch, almost every week or so and we’d usually talk about our ailments and then about what we’d been doing that particular week,” he added.
Every day, there is a persistent silence,
We miss you so much,
Respectfully, with love to the Osbourne Family,
Bill and Jackie Ward Family
— Bill Ward (@billwarddrums) July 22, 2026
“The fans have been absolutely brilliant and the love and respect that they have shown for him has just been amazing. I’m so glad that we were able to play one final show with the original line up of Sabbath at the ‘Back To The Beginning’ show in our home town of Birmingham,” the guitarist continued.
“There will never be another Ozzy. I miss you my dear friend.”
Elsewhere in Sharon’s interview with the BBC, she looked back at how the final show last summer raised millions for Cure Parkinson’s, Acorns Children’s Hospice and Birmingham Children’s Hospital’s charity, and said that she wants those efforts to be “something that will go on”.
“We will continue that until we find a cure for Parkinson’s, because people don’t realise it’s more and more prevalent,” she said, before explaining why charity work was close to Ozzy’s heart. “He was just a real bloke, a really good bloke with a big heart and he wanted to give back,” she said.
As well as Ozzy Day, Ozzy’s was given a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award at the BRITs 2026, as well as the Birmingham Lord Mayor’s Award last December.
Sharon also shared a tribute to Ozzy on their first wedding anniversary since his death, and also hit back at those who were calling an upcoming AI avatar of Ozzy a “cash grab” – telling them that she “doesn’t need your fucking money”.
Jack commented on the project, too, claiming that his father “would be into this”. He explained: “It’s gonna be so tasteful what we’re doing. It’s not gonna be fucking lame.”
