A year after he lost the man he’d known and played alongside for more than half a century, Tony Iommi still hasn’t been able to accept that Ozzy Osbourne is really gone. In a raw and reflective new interview, the Black Sabbath guitarist opened up about grief, memory, and the final threads of a friendship that defined both of their lives.
Speaking to Rolling Stone‘s Kory Grow in a conversation published July 29, Iommi was asked how he’d handled the past twelve months without his bandmate. His answer laid bare just how present Ozzy still feels to him:
“It’s been really strange. I still don’t feel like he’s gone because when I look on YouTube or whatever, there’s something to do with Ozzy, and I see him again and again. It’s almost like he’s still here. It’s really peculiar. Only, we were in touch so many times. That’s what I miss.”
The interview arrives roughly a year on from two events that will forever be linked: Black Sabbath‘s farewell “Back To The Beginning” concert on July 5, 2025, and Ozzy‘s death on July 22, 2025, just weeks later. For Iommi, that final show was as surreal as it was moving, not least because of how different it felt to share a stage with a seated Ozzy, perched on a throne rather than storming across the boards as he always had.
“[Ozzy] was always jumping around, pulling faces, and making me and [bassist] Geezer [Butler] laugh. But on this occasion, I couldn’t see him because he’s in that throne at the front. Obviously, we hadn’t played with [drummer] Bill [Ward] . . . for 20 years, so Bill wanted me to stand back by him just because he was unsure of some bits. And so I did.”
None of them, he said, had any inkling of what was coming. “Of course, nobody knew Ozzy was going to go not long afterwards either. I knew he weren’t well, but I didn’t expect it to happen that quick,” Iommi admitted. The suddenness of it hit especially hard because the two had spoken only hours earlier. Ozzy, he revealed, “texted [him] the night before, funny enough, and said he weren’t feeling great and so on.”
“But obviously, most of our conversations to each other have been, ‘How are you feeling? How’s this? How’s that?’ And so it was just another conversation. I didn’t expect him to go overnight. Blimey. It was a hell of a shock, really,” he continued.
Those check-ins, it turns out, ran both ways, and had for years. When Grow noted how much Ozzy valued Iommi‘s support through his own health struggles, the guitarist reflected on a bond built on mutual care, recalling how Ozzy had been there for him during his cancer battle: “Well, we did stay in touch a lot. And he was going through so many different things and constantly in and out of hospital and having this done and that done. And again, he stood by me when I was diagnosed with cancer. He called me every day. So we’ve been supportive of each other. I do miss our conversations.”
For all the sorrow, Iommi made clear he’s at peace with how Black Sabbath‘s story ended. Asked whether he was satisfied with the band’s legacy being complete, he pointed to the farewell show as the perfect full stop: “Yeah. The legacy’s been fantastic, really. I think it was a good thing to finish off when we did the ‘Back to the Beginning‘ one, because all the bands who were fans of Sabbath came onto that show, which was just brilliant. And it was so nice of them to all put themselves out to come and play on the same show and no egos or anything. Everybody just got on with it and played. It was great for a final thing with Sabbath to take it together as the original band and finish it off as it should.”
The Rolling Stone conversation wasn’t the only time Iommi marked the milestone. On July 22, the exact one-year anniversary of Ozzy‘s passing, he posted a snippet of a pre-2017 Black Sabbath performance to social media, alongside a heartfelt message:
“Hi everyone. Well, it’s now a year since Ozzy‘s passing and I still can’t believe that he’s not with us. I watch him on YouTube and it feels like he’s still here with us.”
“We always stayed in touch, almost every week or so and we’d usually talk about our ailments and then about what we’d been doing that particular week.”
“The fans have been absolutely brilliant and the love and respect that they have shown for him has just been amazing.”
“I’m so glad that we were able to play one final show with the original line up of Sabbath at the ‘Back To The Beginning‘ show in our home town of Birmingham!”
“There will never be another Ozzy.”
“I miss you my dear friend.”
His bandmates honored the day as well. Geezer Butler shared a photo of Ozzy from the farewell concert, writing: “One year ago today- hard to believe. I am so glad we were able to do the final show , back in our hometown, just a couple of weeks before Ozzy left us. Gone in body, but his legend lives on. Such incredible memories. Ozzy forever!”
Bill Ward, meanwhile, offered a spare, aching tribute:
“Every day, there is a persistent silence,”
“We miss you so much,”
“Respectfully, with love to the Osbourne family,”
“Bill and Jackie Ward Family.”
Iommi‘s reflections came as he prepares to release his new solo album, From The Dark, his first since 2005’s Fused. The record, made with vocalist Jorn Lande, bassist Becky Baldwin and drummer Karl Brazil, and co-produced by Iommi and Mike Exeter, arrives October 23 via BMG.
