Followers of legendary Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne may have an opportunity to pay their respects to the heavy metallic icon at this time when his funeral procession makes its means by means of Birmingham, England.
Osbourne, who died final week on the age of 76, grew up in Birmingham, and town in central England is the place Black Sabbath was shaped.
“Ozzy was greater than a music legend — he was a son of Birmingham,” the Lord Mayor of Birmingham Zafar Iqbal mentioned in an announcement Tuesday.
Reuters/Jim Ruymen
The procession is scheduled to start out at round 1 p.m. native time (8 a.m. Japanese). It’ll make its means down Birmingham’s Broad Avenue within the middle of town towards a canal bridge named in honor of Black Sabbath.
The bridge encompasses a bench with life-size cutouts of the band’s 4 founding members — Osbourne, Terry “Geezer” Butler, Tony Iommi and Invoice Ward.
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Since Osbourne’s dying, followers have been flocking to the positioning to pay tribute to the singer referred to as the Prince of Darkness, leaving flowers, footage and notes.
“Ultimate Cease On The Loopy Practice?” a handwritten message mentioned on an Aston Villa soccer crew shirt that was tied to the bridge final week, referring to the only “Loopy Practice” from Osbourne’s debut solo album in 1980. The message added: “However Steel Lives Eternally.”
After Osbourne’s dying, “Loopy Practice” was streamed and performed on the radio a lot that the track made it onto the Billboard Scorching 100 chart for the primary time, rating at No. 46 on its most up-to-date version.
Ioannis Alexopoulos/Anadolu through Getty Photos 
Followers who could not make it to Birmingham to honor Osbourne had been invited to watch a livestream of the bench and bridge.
Iqbal mentioned it was necessary for town to have a “becoming, dignified tribute” to the legendary rocker earlier than the non-public household funeral.
“We all know how a lot this second will imply to his followers,” he mentioned. “We’re proud to host it right here together with his loving household within the place the place all of it started.”
Osbourne retired from touring in 2023, three years after revealing that he was recognized with Parkinson’s illness, a degenerative motion dysfunction.
His dying got here lower than three weeks after he appeared onstage for the ultimate time, reuniting together with his Black Sabbath bandmates in a Birmingham live performance that featured performances from rock legends influenced by the band.
“You don’t have any thought how I really feel,” Osbourne instructed the group of over 40,000 followers that night time, based on BBC Information. “Thanks from the underside of my coronary heart.”
