Birmingham, England, bids farewell to homegrown steel hero : NPR

LONDON — Tens of hundreds of followers converged Wednesday on Birmingham, England, the house metropolis of steel star Ozzy Osbourne, to pay their last respects to a musician who helped change the sound of rock and roll into one thing heavier and darker, earlier than dying earlier this month.

The Black Sabbath singer’s coffin was pushed alongside Broad Street within the metropolis middle, a route that noticed the cortege pause at a bridge named after the band he helped discovered almost six many years in the past.

Birmingham’s Black Sabbath Bridge has change into a big landmark for his admirers, and within the days since his demise has additionally served as a focus for tributes. Osbourne’s household, together with his visibly emotional spouse Sharon, stopped on the spot in the course of the funeral procession and spent a number of minutes observing the ocean of flowers and messages followers had left, earlier than including their very own bouquets to the memorial. Sharon, in tears, added her personal pink rose to the rising pile.

Together with a few of Ozzy’s kids and lots of grandchildren, additionally they acknowledged the group of well-wishers with waves, whereas many followers lowered their cellphones and held their palms aloft with the two-finger peace signal that the heavy steel performer himself had used so usually onstage. A spontaneous cry of “Ozzy Ozzy Ozzy oi oi oi!” erupted too.

Osbourne’s fame expanded past his musical profession after he and his household appeared on the fact TV present The Osbournes that aired as MTV’s most-watched programming within the early 2000s.

His household had privately funded the procession, a poignant second for Birmingham because it celebrated a person that its mayor, Zafar Iqbal, described as one of many metropolis’s “greatest living legends.”

An area group, the Bostin Brass Band, adopted six police bikes in the course of the procession, whereas performing Black Sabbath classics from a number of albums courting again many years, as followers sang alongside.

Just over two weeks earlier, Osbourne had himself carried out in his residence city, as a part of the “Black Sabbath: Back to the Beginning” live performance at Villa Park, a big native soccer stadium near the place John Michael “Ozzy” Osbourne was raised as a toddler.

That efficiency was the primary time the band’s authentic lineup had reunited in additional than a decade, as a part of a live performance that additionally featured main acts like Metallica and Guns N’ Roses, drawing giant crowds to Birmingham and elevating substantial funds for charity.

On Wednesday, a lot of these followers returned to town, the bulk wearing apparel that paid homage to Ozzy and Black Sabbath, with flames, patches, spikes and T-shirts and different memorabilia bought throughout one of many band’s dozens of excursions.

As the procession handed, some took images or bowed their heads, with others ready to cross their very own floral tributes — usually by way of native law enforcement officials — with messages written by hand to a person dubbed the “Prince of Darkness.”

Others balanced on close by railings, and even climbed atop a bus cease, whereas promoting screens alongside the route displayed an image of the singer with the message, “Ozzy Forever — Birmingham will always love you.”

Iqbal, the mayor who had offered Osbourne and his bandmates the Freedom of the City award at a ceremony simply weeks earlier than, described the immense love followers confirmed for the musician and his household, and emphasised how Osbourne had “put Birmingham on the map.”

Ozzy had famously expressed a want for his funeral to not be miserable, and his followers clearly took that sentiment to coronary heart. A non-public service adopted the general public procession, attended solely by family and friends members.

The ambiance on town’s streets appeared respectful but in addition infused with a celebratory spirit — a becoming tribute to a life lived on his personal phrases, and a legacy that transcended music and cemented Osbourne’s place on this planet’s cultural firmament, whereas remaining perpetually linked to town that formed him.