Ozzy Osbourne ‘knew’ the end was coming

Tom Morello is convinced Ozzy Osbourne “knew” he was reaching the end of his life.

The Rage Against The Machine star was put in charge of organising the performances for the Back to the Beginning concert at Birmingham’s Villa Park stadium in July which featured Black Sabbath’s last ever performance together as well as a solo set by Ozzy just two weeks before his death – and Tom has now admitted he believes the veteran rocker agreed to the show because he was aware his time was running out.

During an appearance on Chicago’s Q101 radio station, Tom explained: “Ozzy Osbourne had lived on the edge for such a long time, the fact he lived as long as he did was a miracle.

“The fact he lived to play and feel that love one more time, to do Paranoid, to do Crazy Train. If you have got to go – and I wish Ozzy lived another 30 years – if you’ve got to go out … it felt like he knew.”

He went on to add Ozzy – who battled a number of health problems including Parkinson’s disease – had been “frail for a while” but his death still came as a shock.

Tom said: “Friends of mine saw him a week later [after the Back to The Beginning show] at another event in Birmingham. He wasn’t on his deathbed. He was just sort of living his life. It [his death] was a terrible and tragic surprise … “

He added of the Black Sabbath reunion concert: “I laid out to make it a great show for fans and for them [Black Sabbath]. It is so unusual that those guys headlined.

“They got to see all the work they had done and the great artists their music had created perform for them. They got to play and feel the love not just from the bands, the people in the stadium but from all over the world.”

The Back to the Beginning show took place on July 5 and Ozzy passed away two weeks later on July 22 at the age of 76.

The concert raised almost $200 million for good causes with the proceeds being split between Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Acom Children’s Hospice.