Sharon Osbourne has encouraged fans to remember her late husband Ozzy by playing his music “loud” on the first anniversary of his death.
READ MORE: Ozzy Osbourne, 1948-2025: culture-smashing revolutionary that redefined rock and reality TV
The heavy metal icon, solo star and Black Sabbath frontman passed away on this day in 2025 (July 22), aged 76.
His passing came just over two weeks after he played his final-ever live show at Birmingham’s Villa Park, and it was later confirmed that his cause of death to be a heart attack, while also citing coronary heart disease and Parkinson’s.
To mark one year since the loss, there is the first-ever official ‘Ozzy Day’ taking place in The Prince Of Darkness’ hometown of Birmingham today. The celebrations will include a free “city centre programme of music, memories and tributes” to Osbourne, while nodding to his “life, legacy and Birmingham roots”.
Already, his son Jack has urged fans to share stories about Ozzy on the first anniversary of his death. “That’s what I want,” he said. “I want to fill the entire day of July 22 with just awesome Ozzy stories.”
Now, his widow and former manager Sharon has also spoken out about how she hopes fans will remember his music and his legacy – saying that she hopes they will play his music “loud” throughout the day.
Speaking to BBC Radio WM this morning, Sharon said that she hoped that fans would “remember how funny he was – funny and charismatic and real”.
“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’,” she added, also saying that he was “authentic” and “never tried to be anything other than what he was”.
“He was just genuine, so genuine and funny,” she continued. “I mean we could have the worst arguments in the world but we would end up laughing because he would say something so ridiculous that we would just crack up.”
Looking back at his final show – which included appearances from Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Lamb Of God, Tool, Mastodon, Alice In Chains, Guns N’ Roses, Halestorm, Gojira and more – Sharon shared that she was most proud of the money the event raised for Cure Parkinson’s, Acorns Children’s Hospice and Birmingham Children’s Hospital’s charity.
The efforts, she said, are “something that will go on”.
“We will continue that until we find a cure for Parkinson’s, because people don’t realise it’s more and more prevalent,” she said, before explaining why the charity work was close to Ozzy’s heart. “He was just a real bloke, a really good bloke with a big heart and he wanted to give back,” she said.
As for Ozzy Day, she said that she was glad to see it take place in Birmingham, and added that she hopes it will become an annual event.
“This is the home of metal,” she said of Birmingham. “It’s Ozzy’s home, it’s where he was born, what he loved… and [Ozzy Day] wouldn’t work anywhere else. He loved this city, he loved its people. He was proud of being a Brummie and that’s it.”
Earlier today, Ozzy’s daughter Kelly also spoke about how she was coping one year on from his passing, saying that she “[doesn’t] just mourn the father I lost. I mourn the soul I was before [his] death”.
“I miss who I was before my daddy died. Before my heart became a home for absence. Before every memory became both a blessing and a wound,” she shared. “Some losses don’t simply break you. They divide your life into two people. The one you were before, and the one left behind.
“And perhaps that is grief’s cruellest truth. Not that death takes the ones we love, but that it leaves us living as ghosts of the people we used to be.”
At the start of the year, Kelly and Sharon accepted Ozzy’s posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award at the BRITs 2026 in Manchester. The pair previously picked up the Birmingham Lord Mayor’s Award on Ozzy’s behalf, on what would have been his 77th birthday last December.
Since then, Sharon has shared a tribute to Ozzy on their first wedding anniversary since his death. “I miss your hand in mine, but I carry your love with me every step of the way,” she wrote. “Forever my husband. Forever my heart.”
Previously, she responded to those who were calling an upcoming AI avatar of Ozzy a “cash grab” – telling them that she “doesn’t need your fucking money”. Jack commented on the project, too, claiming that his father “would be into this”. He explained: “It’s gonna be so tasteful what we’re doing. It’s not gonna be fucking lame.”
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