When Ozzy Osbourne died in July 2025, the world lost more than a rock star. It lost a cultural force who reshaped music, shocked polite society, and, somehow, kept going decades beyond what anyone thought possible. At 76, the Prince of Darkness passed away just 17 days after performing with Black Sabbath in his hometown of Birmingham. His final months, now captured in the BBC documentary Sharon & Ozzy Osbourne: Coming Home, reveal a moving, intimate portrait of a man who refused to fade quietly.
His Final Performance with Black Sabbath
On July 5, 2025, Black Sabbath—Ozzy, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward—returned to Villa Park in Birmingham for a show called Back to the Beginning. Fans didn’t know it at the time, but this would be Ozzy’s swan song.
Seventeen days later, on July 22, he died at home in Buckinghamshire, surrounded by Sharon and their children. In hindsight, the performance now feels like destiny: Ozzy’s story began in Birmingham in 1968, and it ended there, with Sabbath’s sound shaking the ground one last time.
What Did Ozzy Osbourne Die From?
According to official records, Ozzy Osbourne died following:
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Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest
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Acute myocardial infarction (heart attack)
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Coronary artery disease
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Parkinson’s disease with autonomic dysfunction
In plain terms, his heart simply gave out after years of battling Parkinson’s and other chronic health issues. Though Parkinson’s slowed him for decades, his death came unexpectedly and suddenly.
The Long Road of Health Struggles
Ozzy’s final years were marked by determination as much as by decline:
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Parkinson’s Disease: Diagnosed publicly in 2019, but he’d been living with symptoms for nearly 20 years.
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Spinal Injuries: A 2003 quad bike crash and a 2019 fall left him with multiple surgeries and limited mobility.
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Respiratory Illnesses: Severe infections sidelined him repeatedly in his later tours.
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Addiction Recovery: His years of excess caught up with him, though he’d been sober for much of his final chapter.
Yet through it all, Ozzy kept returning to music, insisting he needed live performance “like air.”
Sharon & Ozzy Osbourne: Coming Home
The BBC documentary that was meant to chronicle the Osbournes’ move back to England became, instead, an unplanned memorial.
Filmed between 2022 and 2025, it shows Ozzy and Sharon leaving Los Angeles for their Buckinghamshire estate, Welders. The move was symbolic—Ozzy didn’t want to die in America. He longed for an English summer, for Wimbledon, for the feeling of truly being “home.”
What makes the film so affecting is its irony. Sharon calls their return “the last chapter” before Ozzy’s sudden heart attack. We see him joke, reminisce, and cling to life’s ordinary joys: dogs underfoot, family bickering, quiet moments with Sharon.
The closing sequence overlays footage of his funeral procession in Birmingham with Ozzy’s voice:
“It’s been a great life. I wouldn’t change a damn thing.”
It’s raw, honest, and deeply Ozzy.
The Man Behind the Myth
Ozzy was never just the “bat-biting” metal frontman or the bewildered dad from The Osbournes. He was:
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A pioneer of heavy metal – helping to invent a genre in 1968 with Sabbath.
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A survivor of excess – enduring decades of drugs, alcohol, and near-death experiences.
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A reluctant reality star – giving us an unvarnished look at celebrity family life in the 2000s.
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A husband of 43 years – Sharon was his anchor, his fiercest defender, and, by his own admission, the reason he survived as long as he did.
Birmingham’s Outpouring
When Ozzy died, Birmingham became a living memorial. Streets filled with tributes. Fans blasted Sabbath riffs and shared stories of seeing him live. Murals appeared overnight. His city claimed him once more—not just as a rock star, but as one of their own.
My Reflection
I’ll admit: when I first heard of Ozzy’s passing, my mind went straight to disbelief. For decades, he felt immortal, someone too stubborn and too outrageous to die. Seeing footage of him scribbling love notes to Sharon, or grinning through pain just to sing again, hits hard. If anything, Ozzy’s greatest act of rebellion was not against religion or authority—it was against death itself, for as long as he could fight it.
Conclusion
So, what did Ozzy Osbourne die from? Officially, a heart attack complicated by Parkinson’s and heart disease. But the bigger truth is that he died the way only Ozzy could: after one final thunderous performance, on his own terms, back in the country he called home.
The Prince of Darkness has gone, but his voice—and his spirit—will echo for generations. What’s the one Ozzy moment you’ll never forget?