Daniel Bukszpan, who wrote a biography about Ozzy Osbourne in 2023, couldn’t deliver himself to observe the rocker’s farewell live performance that came about lower than three weeks earlier than his demise.
“I couldn’t watch it. I mean, Ozzy was so frail and just so obviously suffering,” the “Ozzy At 75 : The Unofficial Illustrated History” writer completely instructed The Publish.
“I really had a hard time with it,” Bukszpan admitted. “I feel like it’s something I still have to confront.”
On July 5, Osbourne reunited together with his former Black Sabbath bandmates for his or her “Back to the Beginning” live performance at Villa Park within the band’s hometown of Birmingham, England.
The Prince of Darkness, who was battling Parkinson’s, carried out for the 42,000-person crowd in what turned out to be the ultimate live performance of his life.
“At the time I sort of felt like, oh, they’re making this poor man go on stage when clearly he’s not up to it, and how can they do that to him?” Bukszpan instructed The Publish. “But that was before he died. Now that he died, and especially since he died so soon after, it’s like, no, that was exactly the point.”
“That was what he wanted,” the writer continued. “He wanted basically a big Irish wake. That’s what that was. But it was before he was dead. So I did not recognize it as a big Irish wake until he passed. And then it was like, oh, okay, all right.”
Bukszpan additionally identified that Osbourne was deteriorating from different points, together with a extreme spinal damage, earlier than his demise.
“He was in a lot of physical pain for that last part of his life,” Bukszpan stated. “And I’m certainly glad he’s not dealing with that anymore. He was in chronic pain for about the last 20 years of his life. He had pain throughout his entire body for 20 years and he still was like, ‘But when can I go back on stage?’”
“I really respect that. He knew what he needed to do and he knew what he wanted to do. And he did it for as long as he possibly could.”
Bukszpan famous that whereas the “Crazy Train” singer “was ailing for a long time,” he “didn’t want pity” from followers or for the general public “to think of him as this frail old man.”
The writer additionally stated that Osbourne at all times owned as much as his errors, together with in his marriage to spouse Sharon Osbourne and in his profession.
“He took responsibility for the things he did. I never saw him blame anyone for anything,” Bukszpan instructed The Publish. “When he was fired from Black Sabbath… there are a lot of musicians who, when they leave their original bands, make this whole career out of talking about how much that band sucked. He never did that. He copped to pretty much everything.”
In hindsight, he’s “not surprised” Osbourne handed so shortly after his closing live performance.
“I think he really just took his whole job, all of it, very seriously,” Bukszpan stated. “He had a real work ethic about my job is to show up for people, give them a good time, and at my concerts they’ll forget their troubles for two hours. I think he had an absolute diehard, utter commitment to that for his entire life. And that was how he lived.”
