In his most poignant and detailed reflection yet, Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford has shared his belief that his friend and fellow metal icon Ozzy Osbourne consciously chose the timing of his death, holding on through his battle with Parkinson’s disease to deliver one final, triumphant performance before deciding it was “time to let go.” The Metal God‘s profound theory offers a powerful and empathetic perspective on the final days of the Prince of Darkness.
Speaking in a new, wide-ranging interview with Jonathan Clarke of New York’s Q104.3 radio station, Halford painted a vivid picture of a man who, in his view, took control of his own final chapter.
“He was such a strong man in battling Parkinson’s… but he just got to the point where I think he knew, with the other things that were going on with his body, the clock was ticking,” Halford theorized. He described watching the “Back To The Beginning” farewell concert on July 5, seeing Ozzy “lit up” and happier than he’d ever seen him, surrounded by his family, friends, and the original members of Black Sabbath. He then speculated on the emotional aftermath.
“How do you think he felt when he went home to Windsor the next day and got in his chair and just sat there? It’s done. It’s done, it’s done,” Halford mused. “I think somehow your body says it’s time to let go. You take a deep breath and, and you just let go.”
He connected this feeling directly to Ozzy’s struggle with his illness. “Parkinson’s is a really, really f***ing cruel, horrible disease. And it chips away at your life… And maybe he thought, ‘I’m not making that exit that way. I’m going my way.’ And if he did that, God bless him even more,” he concluded.
The news of Osbourne‘s death on July 22 hit Halford with devastating force. He was in the UK on a day off when his manager called. “She said, ‘Are you sitting down?’ I go, ‘Yeah.’ She goes, ‘Ozzy‘s gone,'” he recalled. “I can’t talk. I can’t talk. And I sat there stunned, like we all were… And then the tears start. And I was lost, like we all were lost when we had the news that day.” In a previous interview, he admitted he “curled up in a ball and bawled my eyes out for hours.”
Halford also addressed the painful dilemma of Judas Priest‘s absence from the historic tribute show. He explained that they had a long-standing, locked-in commitment to perform with the Scorpions in Germany on the same day. He knew Sharon Osbourne would likely reach out, a call he was dreading. “In my heart I thought, ‘Sharon‘s gonna reach out… I don’t how we’re gonna deal with saying we’re really, really, really sorry.'” He noted that Priest‘s recently released cover of the Black Sabbath classic “War Pigs” served as their “homage” and “contribution” to the beautiful day.
Remembering his friend, Halford focused on Osbourne‘s core essence as a performer whose primary concern was always his audience. “Whenever we did shows together, he would always say that to me after, ‘Did you have a good time? Did you really have a good time?'” he recalled, calling Ozzy “the embodiment of kindness in that respect.”
For Rob Halford, the path through grief is celebration. He confirmed that Judas Priest has now added Ozzy‘s name to the live dedication in their song “Giants In The Sky,” which honors fallen rock legends.
