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Wed 15 October 2025 21:30, UK
For the so-called Prince of Darkness, the general consensus is that, actually, Ozzy Osbourne was a really nice guy.
There are several stories to back that claim up. As the family’s life was so often on camera thanks to their reality show, The Osbournes, there are plenty of moments of the man’s sweetness immortalises, whether it be him caring for his kids and sending Kelly Osbourne off on holiday with a handful of cash, or him doting on his wife Sharron, stating in a later interview, “I couldn’t live without her; I don’t wanna live without her.”
But even in the world of music, despite his own looming reputation, Osbourne so often acted like nothing but a fan. The video of him meeting Paul McCartney is a perfect example, as the heavy rocker is too scared to even enter the room and can barely utter the word ‘Hello’ to his hero, saying it was “like seeing God” and adding bashfully, “He was a very nice man, a very nice man.”
Despite his wild reputation of crazy antics, the singer was overwhelmingly kind and sweet, always willing to share praise for his peers and even take newer and younger artists under his wing. He wasn’t the unapproachable guy that his reputation might have suggested, but instead, he was a friend to many – especially Bon Scott.
Friendship isn’t even strong enough. For a period, Scott and Osbourne seemed to have an all-out bromance as the Black Sabbath singer couldn’t stop packing the praise onto the original AC/DC leader.
“Bon was one of the nicest guys I ever met,” Osbourne said about the singer, adding for impact, “I really mean that. If he was an asshole I’d tell you. I’m not just saying that because the poor guy is dead.”
It genuinely seemed that the death of Scott deeply impacted Osbourne. They met back in the 1970s when Black Sabbath and AC/DC shared a co-headline tour of Europe and became good friends on the road. Admittedly, part of that closeness was prompted by their mutual self-control issues when it came to drink and drugs, but while the rest of their bands seemed somewhat suspicious of one another during that tour, their friendship was the glue that held it together.
He praised Scott’s talent, too, stating, “I love Brian Johnson. But to me my good friend, the late Bon Scott, was the best singer AC/DC ever had.”
When Scott died in 1980 at the age of only 33, it was a tragedy to Osbourne. In response, his band wrote ‘Suicide Solution’, a controversial song that seems to promote suicide but that Osbourne said was inspired by Scott’s death in an attempt to shock and warn people of the slow suicide that alcoholism can cause.
“He really was a lovely guy,” he said, reiterating just how much he admired and loved him, adding of the tragic and all-too-early death of the singer, “It was a great loss.”
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