After roughly two weeks, metal legendOzzy Osbourne’s deathstill has fans reeling in its wake. The Prince of Darkness enjoyed a truly remarkable career,defining and redefining heavy metal at every turn throughout his nearly 60-year tenure, both as a solo artist, reality TV star, and frontman of pioneering metal bandBlack Sabbath.
Often thought of asthe Godfather of Heavy Metal, Osbourne has released nine studio albums with Black Sabbath, and 13 solo albums,all of which have heavily influenced countless musicians, even beyond the genres of metal and rock.Needless to say, he has reached a certain level of legendary status that few musicians have ever achieved.
This summer, Osbourne performed with Black Sabbath at the band’s farewell concert, and while the singer sounded great, he performed the show seated on a large black throne.His death certificate was released this week,and though he hadn’t been in great health as of late, his death being ruled a heart attack was certainly a bit of a surprise.
In 2020, Ozzy Osbourne announced that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.He announced the diagnosis onGood Morning Americawhile discussing a bad fall he took after a show that New Year’s Eve: “I had a bad fall. I had to have surgery on my neck, which screwed all my nerves.”
His wife, Sharon, was on the show with him, and added of his diagnosis, “It’s not a death sentence by any stretch of the imagination, but it does affect certain nerves in your body.” As a result of his Parkinson’s,Osbourne had spent the past several years in relatively poor health,enduring chronic pain, and also the consequences of years of drug use.
At 76 years old, Osbourne’s body had been through the ringer, and after the farewell show,it was the hope that he had a few more years left in him and was planning to spend them in retirement.What was relatively unexpected, was that his cause of death wasn’t Parkinson’s or drug use, but rather a heart attack.
His Death Came Just Weeks After His Farewell Show In Birmingham
Ozzy Osbourne played his final farewell with his band Black Sabbath on July 5th in Birmingham, England. He sang to a crowd of 40,000 Black Sabbath fans for a nine-song set in the band’s hometown, andeven seated from a throne in the center of the stage, he put on a hell of a show.
According to theNew York Times, Osbourne’s death certificate listed his cause of death as “(a) Out of hospital cardiac arrest (b) Acute myocardial infarction (c) Coronary artery disease and Parkinson’s disease with autonomic dysfunction (Joint Causes).” While his Parkinson’s certainly didn’t help,it was not ultimately what caused his death.
Knowing now that Osbourne’s death was caused by heart problems,it makes the fact that he played such an electric show just two and a half weeks beforehand all the more impressive.The Prince of Darkness went out with a bang, ending his career just weeks before his life itself, in the grandest way he possibly could have.
