Tony Iommi recalls his last call with Ozzy Osbourne

Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi has described the last time he spoke to Ozzy Osbourne, telling him to get some rest the day before he died.

Iommi, 78, said they spoke on the phone on Monday 21 July last year. Ozzy told him he was "really tired" and "absolutely shattered".

"And that was it"

"Well, it's been a tough few weeks. You're bound to be," Iommi told him. When he suggested Ozzy get some rest, the singer replied: "Yeah, I'll try to do that."

"And that was it," said Iommi, who was born in Handsworth. "Then I heard the next day that he'd gone. And that was weird."

Ozzy Osbourne died at the age of 76, weeks after reuniting with Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward for Back to the Beginning, Black Sabbath's farewell concert at Villa Park. He had suffered a cardiac arrest, and had also been living with coronary artery disease and Parkinson's disease.

"Playing to the back of a chair"

Iommi told the Telegraph that the Villa Park show had been difficult, because Ozzy performed sitting on his throne.

"It's like he wasn't there. I was so used to, over the years, him running backwards and forwards and coming up, pulling faces and having a laugh. All of a sudden, there I am playing to the back of a chair," he said. "But we got through it and Ozzy was pleased afterwards. I'm glad we did it."

"I knew it was going to be the last time of playing live in Sabbath, yeah. But I didn't know as far as with Oz that he was going to go that quick."

Before the farewell, Iommi had not seen Ozzy since they performed together at the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games at the Alexander Stadium in 2022. "We all were shocked because they had to help him in and carry him in and sit him down," he said. "We had a chat and a laugh, but it was just sad to see him like that."

The band that started it all

Black Sabbath formed in Aston in 1968 and are widely credited with creating heavy metal. Their first album, released in 1970, and songs such as Paranoid and Iron Man made them one of the most influential bands in rock history.

After Ozzy's death, thousands of fans lined Broad Street for his funeral procession, which paused at the Black Sabbath Bench, where people had left flowers and messages. The city has since celebrated his life with tributes including the first Ozzy Day.

Iommi, who now lives in the Cotswolds, has remained closely connected to Birmingham. A scholarship in his name has recently been launched at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire to support young musicians.