Kelly Osbourne has thanked fans of her late father Ozzy after picking up an award in the Prince Of Darkness’ honour.
On Friday (October 17), Ozzy posthumously won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Birmingham Awards, and the prize was picked up by Kelly in the Black Sabbath singer’s stead.
Afterwards, Ozzy and his wife/manager Sharon’s youngest daughter took to Instagram, penning a heartfelt tribute to her father, the fans and the City Of Birmingham, where Ozzy grew up.
“Last night I had the honor of accepting my father’s lifetime achievement award on his behalf at the @birminghamawards,” she says.
“I can’t thank everyone enough for their love and support. I know that my dad was shining down on us from heaven with pride because being a #Brummy meant more to him than anything. He loved the city and he loved the people.
She signs off: “This honor would have meant the world to him. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. #birminghamforever.”
Ozzy died at the age of 76 on July 22, following a heart attack. Just 17 days before his death, he played his retirement concert Back To The Beginning at Birmingham’s Villa Park football stadium, a short distance from where he was raised in Aston. Ozzy played two sets at the event: one as a solo artist, and another with his fellow Black Sabbath co-founders, marking the first time they’d all been together onstage in almost 20 years.
Ozzy had a private funeral at his Buckinghamshire home on July 30, but en route to the ceremony, his cortège passed through Birmingham. Tens of thousands of fans turned up to say goodbye to the singer and lay flowers at the Black Sabbath Bridge on Bridge Road. Kelly, her sister Aimee, her brother Jack, and Sharon were all part of the cortège.
Two documentaries about Ozzy’s later life, during which he weathered the effects of numerous spinal surgeries and Parkinson’s disease, came out this month. A one-hour programme called Sharon & Ozzy Osbourne: Coming Home was broadcast in the UK via the BBC on October 2, and the two-hour film Ozzy: No Escape From Now started streaming via Paramount Plus on October 7. The singer’s second memoir, Last Rites, also came out on October 7.
Last week, it was rumoured that Back To The Beginning will become a concert franchise dedicated to Ozzy. The reports kicked off after it was discovered that Sharon had moved to trademark the phrase ‘Back To The Beginning’ in the US, under “entertainment services in the nature of live musical performance”. The Osbournes have not publicly commented on the matter.
