Mourners pay tribute to Ozzy Osbourne as fans speak out | UK News

Less than a month in the past, Sharon, 72, joined 40,000 fans and thousands and thousands online to witness Ozzy Osbourne say goodbye and thanks to his home metropolis at the Black Sabbath Back to the Beginning gig at the ground of his beloved Aston Villa FC. Sadly, it was to be the ultimate curtain for Godfather of Metal who handed away aged 76 on July 22. His funeral procession yesterday (Weds) befell in entrance of a crowd of mourners that Birmingham City Council stated stretched for more than a mile and was made up of tens of hundreds. His spouse Sharon regarded visibly emotional as she stepped from the funeral car helped by her and Ozzy’s son Jack as the cortege halted by Black Sabbath Bridge, named in honour Ozzy and his band on town’s Broad Street. Sharon and Jack had been joined at the occasion with the Osbourne’s daughters Aimee and Kelly – who all raised their arms in a peace signal while paying their respects.

Cheers and shouts of “Ozzy, Ozzy, Ozzy” pierced the second of sombre silence and applause broke out and rock hand indicators adopted from the assembled plenty, many of whom had been kitted out in full metallic music apparel. “We love you Ozzy” and “Let’s go f**king crazy” might also be heard from the mourners, the latter phrase being one issued by Ozzy himself at his final gig just a few weeks in the past.

Speaking to the Daily Express, mourner Faye Reynolds, 33, from Birmingham, stated: “This means everything, I went to my first rock music gig at 10 years old, and Ozzy created this, he started it all, heavy metal, and that’s my life, it’s who I am. He’s inspired my life. I always think, what would Ozzy do?

“He’s a son of Birmingham. It’s beautiful seeing so many people here, it’s like being at a festival, it’s the same atmosphere.”

Young fan Abdullah Shatir-Yasin, aged 13, had drawn two items of paintings honouring the heavy metallic icon, including one exhibiting the singer as “Saint Ozzy”.

He stated: “My grandma started listening to him at my age and she’s passed down vinyl, and my auntie passed down CDs, and my mum’s passed down cassettes.

“It’s a rite of passage. It’s amazing to see the impact that Ozzy has had on all of these people’s lives.”

And Charlie Grant, 34, from The Crew Rock bar, Nuneaton, Warks, revealed she had an Ozzy impressed tattoo performed on her left arm of a Guinea pig named “The Pig of Darkness”.

Charlie stated she had been a fan for 20 years. “His music was one thing, but him as a person, he never forgot where he was from”, she stated.

The hearse carrying Ozzy’s coffin handed the star’s childhood home in Lodge Road, Aston, at about 12.45pm on Wednesday on its route into Birmingham metropolis centre.

Flowers have been positioned outdoors the terraced property, close to Villa Park, while the house owners of the home have put up a image of Osbourne in the entrance bay window.

The Jaguar hearse and six Mercedes funeral vehicles, accompanied by police bike riders and a police car, drove slowly along the road on Lodge Road, watched by a handful of fans and the present proprietor of the home.

Osbourne and his Black Sabbath bandmates – Terence “Geezer” Butler, Tony Iommi and Bill Ward – had been just lately given the freedom of town of Birmingham, which recognises people’s distinctive service to town.

The music star, who was identified with Parkinson’s illness in 2019, carried out his final gig on July 5 in a live performance that also noticed performances from the likes of Anthrax, Metallica and Guns N’ Roses.