Rock god Gene Simmons remembered the godfather of heavy metal as a one-of-a-kind performer who was a menacing presence on stage and a warm-hearted thoughtful friend and family man when the show was over.
Simmons, who co-founded the hard rock band Kiss in the 1970s, told NBCLA Tuesday that he was grief-stricken after learning the messages popping up on his phone were true — Ozzy Osbourne had died at age 76. The stunning news came just weeks after a farewell show with fellow rock stars and some 40,000 fans in Osbourne’s hometown.
“It said, ‘Ozzy’s dead.’ I thought it was fake new,” Simmons said. “About a week ago, Ozzy seemed healthy. He was at the concert. Yes, he was in a chair, but all the energy — he was still Ozzy.”
A family statement said he died Tuesday, but did not include a cause of death. In 2020, Osbourne revealed he had Parkinson’s disease.
Raised in Birmingham, England, Osbourne listened to the likes of the Four Seasons, Chuck Berry, Little Richard and a band from about 90 miles north called The Beatles. The Black Sabbath frontman re-invented himself throughout his career, which reached new heights to equal Osbourne’s soaring vocals when the band released its self-titled debut album hailed as the Big Bang of heavy metal in 1969.
The band fired Osbourne about a decade later, but he re-emerged as a solo artist the following year. A string of heavy metal playlist essentials and a reality TV show at the forefront of the genre followed.
Through the ups and downs of stardom, Osbourne remained an original, Simmons said.
“Before Ozzy, there wasn’t such a thing as Ozzy. He was what scientists call a singularity,” Simmons said. “Somehow, he sprang out of nowhere. Not from New York or Paris, some fancy city. He came from the industrial town of Birmingham. He was just a regular guy. Yes, on stage, the Prince of Darkness. Loving father, dedicated husband. Most people break up their families, especially men, and abandoned their families. He was a standup guy who treated the Queen of England the same way he was treat his next door neighbor.”
Osbourne is survived by wife Sharon and his children.