Zakk Wylde spoke warmly about his long relationship with Ozzy Osbourne, and shared a few memories from their final performances together, in a new interview with Guitar World.
The conversation marks the first time Wylde has spoken publicly since Osbourne’s death last week. Wylde started playing with Osbourne in 1987 and continued to perform and record with him at regular intervals over the decades. Even when they weren’t working together, Wylde and Osbourne remained close friends.
“Oz was just the best,” Wylde said. “I have my father, who was a World War II veteran; and then Ozzy, who was almost like an older brother. There was almost a 20-year age gap between us. With our relationship, there was the fun drinking – but if I ever needed advice, I could talk to him.”
Wylde then joked: “There were issues on how to drink and how not to drink. You know, the important factors in life!”
Wylde was part of Osbourne’s all-star farewell concert earlier this month in Birmingham, England. That was the last time he saw Osbourne, but Wylde also admitted it was a bit too hectic for the two to get any quality time together.
“Everybody and their mother were in the backstage dressing room and I just wanted to give him a break,” Wylde said. “I figured we’d see him later on — the next day or whatever. But no. The last text I got from Oz was saying, ‘Zakky, sorry, it was like a madhouse back there. I didn’t see you.’ He goes, ‘Thanks for everything.’ It was just us talking, saying, ‘I love you, buddy.’ That was it.”
At the “Back to the Beginning” show, Wylde was onstage for a handful of Osbourne classics, including “Mama, I’m Coming Home” and “Crazy Train.” During “Mama,” Wylde said he tried to keep his acoustic guitar away from the microphone so he could better help Osbourne sing, because he was “having trouble at certain notes.”
Trending Stories
Wylde continued: “I was like, ‘I need to make sure I’m always there so I can double him.’ I was like three feet away from the microphone when I started playing the song. I was like, ‘I gotta get near the microphone,’ so I had to almost stop playing, lift the guitar up and put it over the mic. It was like juggling balls or chainsaws while being on a skateboard! It was actually pretty funny — but it was business as usual. It’s supposed to be the most important show ever, but everything’s on the fly!”
From the beginning, Wylde said, he and Osbourne had serious chemistry. “Lions attract lions,” he said. “And the hyenas you hang out with, that sorts itself out later! But Ozzy was the easiest-going, warmest guy. He was so easy to get along with.”
