{"id":26655,"date":"2025-07-28T04:37:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T04:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/26655\/"},"modified":"2025-07-28T04:37:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T04:37:12","slug":"ozzy-osbourne-death-geezer-butler-explains-singer-was-frail-for-final-black-sabbath-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/26655\/","title":{"rendered":"Ozzy Osbourne death: Geezer Butler explains singer was frail for final Black Sabbath performance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ozzy Osbourne<\/a> hit the stage for one final show with Black Sabbath just weeks before his death<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bandmate Geezer Butler has opened up about the rocker’s health ahead of the July 5 performance, admitting it was a shock to see how ‘frail’ Osbourne had become.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In an essay for the Sunday Times<\/a>, Butler said he knew the heavy metal icon wasn’t well, but he wasn’t ready for how bad things really were.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"BlackBlack Sabbath’s Geezer Butler has spoken about his last performance with Ozzy Osbourne. (WireImage\/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)<\/p>\n

“I knew he wasn’t in good health, but I wasn’t prepared to see how frail he was,” Butler wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Butler explained Osbourne needed assistance from three people during rehearsals and had to sit down to sing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“He was helped into the rehearsal room by two helpers and a nurse and was using a cane \u2013 being Ozzy, the cane was black and studded with gold and precious stones.”<\/p>\n

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Osbourne performed for the final time with Black Sabbath just weeks before his death. (Instagram\/@ozzyosbourne)<\/p>\n

When it came to how he was around the band, Butler noted Osbourne didn’t say much and he could see how much singing was taking it out of him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Butler noticed he was “exhausted” after singing around six songs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The final show, which was in Birmingham, England \u2013 where the band was originally formed \u2013 earlier this month ended on a strange note.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Ozzy Osbourne, the original Prince of Darkness<\/p>\n

“Normally, we would all hug each other and take a bow to the audience. But Ozzy was on his throne and we hadn’t thought that out,” Butler said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“What do we do? Tony [Iommi] shook his hand, I presented him with a cake, but it was such a strange feeling to end our story like that.”<\/p>\n

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Butler admitted he wishes he had more time backstage with Osbourne, but knows there’s nothing he can do about it now.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He also praised the softer side of the rocker, who had a ‘heart of gold’ and shared some insight into their friendship.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At one point he recalled Osbourne calling constantly to check in after Butler’s son was born with a heart defect, despite the fact they had barely spoken for a year prior to it.<\/p>\n

Osbourne died at age 76, his family confirming the sad news in a statement.<\/p>\n

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\"OzzyGeezer Butler opened up about the softer side not everyone saw in Ozzy Osbourne. (Getty)<\/p>\n

“It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning,” the statement started.<\/p>\n

“He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time. Sharon, Jack, Kelly, Aimee and Louis.”<\/p>\n

\ufeffIn the days since his death the entertainment industry have shared tributes, along with his family.<\/p>\n

FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE<\/a>: Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ozzy Osbourne hit the stage for one final show with Black Sabbath just weeks before his death.\u00a0 Bandmate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26656,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,136],"class_list":["post-26655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}