(CNN) — Two weeks before his final concert, Ozzy Osbourne’s doctors told him he was dying and urged him not to go ahead with the date, his widow, Sharon Osbourne, has revealed.
The British heavy metal star, who died exactly a year ago, was welcomed as a hero when he played his “Back to the Beginning” show in his home city of Birmingham, England, on July 5 last year.
The lead singer of Black Sabbath performed while sitting in a black, throne-like chair topped with a bat at the mega concert at the Villa Park stadium. He was reunited with the original members of the band, while other rock and metal legends including Metallica, Guns N’ Roses and Alice in Chains also performed.
In an interview with a BBC local radio station, Osbourne said the concert could easily not have happened.
“Ozzy knew that he was dying. He was told two weeks before the show that he was dying, and they said ‘don’t do the show,’” she said.
Ozzy, who had Parkinson’s Disease and was 76 when he died, had other ideas, according to his wife. “He said, ‘Yeah, right. Get out of here.’”
She described the show, which benefited a range of UK charities, as a “gift” that her husband got to enjoy in his final days. “It was a gift to be surrounded by his loyal crew, his friends, his family, the fans.”
“His greatest love affair was with the audience and that’s the way he wanted to go out. Just one more time and he got to do that — and he smashed it.”
But for the last two weeks of his life he “was the happiest I had ever seen him,” she said. “It was just so great to see him every day smiling.”
The event, which she described as an “absolute joy,” proved a huge boost for Ozzy at a very difficult time. “He had been so down, so depressed because he knew it was the end,” she said, adding that he had been “so afraid that he wouldn’t be able to sing.”
Osbourne was in Birmingham to mark the city’s first ever Ozzy Day, in memory of her husband. She said he was “proud” of his “humble beginnings” and became tearful when asked why it was important for her to be there.
“Because I can’t forget what Birmingham did for Ozzy,” she said, choked up, adding that although he rose to global stardom he never forgot his roots.
When asked what her message would be for fans on his anniversary, she said: “As Ozzy would say, ‘When you want to remember me, just yank up the music really loud, as loud as you can get it, and just head bang.’”
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