Yungblud had a special connection with the late great Ozzy Osbourne. The men became acquainted when thanks to Yungblud’s friendship with the Black Sabbath singer’s daughter, Kelly Osbourne.
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Years into their friendship, Yungblud said on Steve-O’s Wild Ride! podcast, the musician floated the idea of having Kelly appear in his “Funeral” music video in 2022.
She was unable to do so, but connected her pal with her parents, Ozzy and his wife, Sharon Osbourne, to take on the gig.
“You know when people say ‘Don’t meet your heroes’? Ozzy, my whole life, has always been my North Star because I’ve just been mental,” Yungblud said on the podcast. “I’ve been crazy and f**king out there and he was accepted for his madness and he was loved for his madness.”
The meeting went well, and Yungblud walked away with some words of wisdom from his idol, who also gifted him a cross necklace.
“He’s so intelligent and so f**king beautiful,” Yungblud told NME. “People are scared of him until they hear him speak. He said that he saw a lot of himself in me. He said, ‘Never apologize for anything. They will understand you later. Time always tells.’”
Yungblud’s “Changes” Performance
A years-long friendship developed, which lasted well into Osbourne’s final years.
In fact, Yungblud was tapped to perform Black Sabbath’s 1972 song, “Changes,” at Osbourne’s farewell show.
“I wanted it. Tom Morello put the whole thing together and I said ‘give me the ballad’. He wasn’t so sure but I told him ‘Trust me, I’ll bring the house down,’” Yungblud told NME of his want to perform the track at the Back to the Beginning concert. “As soon as I got on stage, I forgot about everything else. I was me saying thank you to my f**king hero… I wasn’t nervous though, I was exactly where I needed to be.”
Yungblud Remember’s Ozzy Osbourne
Just weeks later, Osbourne died at age 76. Yungblud posted several tributes on Instagram in the wake of the tragedy.
“I will never forget you—you will be in every single note I sing and with me every single time I walk on stage. Your cross around my neck is the most precious thing I own,” he wrote in one tribute. “You asked me once if there was anything you could do for me and as I said then and as I will say now for all of us the music was enough. You took us on your adventure – an adventure that started it all.
In another post, Yungblud vowed to play “Changes” at all of his shows going forward.
“I promise you with all my heart I will try my best and make it my life’s journey to keep the sprit that you started and what you have taught me alive,” he wrote. “I will give it my best shot.”
Yungblud will get another chance to show his love to the late rocker on Sept. 7, when he takes part in an Ozzy Osbourne tribute at the MTV Video Music Awards. Yungblud and Nuno Bettencourt will be joined by Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith during the highly-anticipated performance.
Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP via Getty Images
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