Ozzy Osbourne is a living legend in his own right. It’s hard to imagine him getting star struck at meeting anyone. However, meeting Paul McCartney left him amazed.
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Talking about the experience on The Osbournes Podcast, Ozzy opened up about being a huge Beatles fan. He said, “I’m a big Beatles fan and when I first met Paul McCartney, it was like meeting Jesus Christ.”
Osbourne and McCartney got along well. McCartney even reached out again afterwards.
“He was a very nice man. And when I got a Grammy, he followed up with my producer to congratulate me. That was very, very special,” Osbourne said.
Osbourne once tried to get McCartney to play bass on his song “Dreamer,” but the Beatles legend politely declined the offer.
Ozzy Osbourne on Appreciation for Paul McCartney
It’s not the first time that Osbourne has gone on the record about his love for The Beattles. In 2022, he told Rolling Stone that he listened to The Batles daily. In particular, one Beatles track stands out above the rest. In an interview with Classic Rock, Osbourne cites “She Loves You” as a life changer that helped him determine his future. He said, “‘She Loves You’ had such an impact on me. I remember exactly where I was. I was walking down Witton Road in Aston, I had a blue transistor radio and when that song came on I knew from then on what I wanted to do with my life.”
He continued, “This was so brand new and it gave me a great feeling. Then I became an avid Beatles fan – they were great. I owe my career to them because they gave me the desire to want to be in the music game.”
While Osbourne has a great love for The Beatles, he has a lesser admiration for icon Elvis Presley, who he once saw live. While the performance left a lot to be desired, Osbourne learned about the the industry, according to his memoir I Am Ozzy.
“It was an education, that gig. It was the first time I’d seen merchandising sold so professionally at a venue,” Osbourne wrote. “You could buy Elvis drinks coasters, Elvis bog-seat warmers, Elvis mug, and spoon sets, Elvis dolls, Elvis watches, Elvis jumpsuits. Anything you could think of, they’d put the name ‘Elvis’ on it and wanted to sell it to you with an Elvis Coke and an Elvis hot dog. And the fans seemed only too happy to buy it. He must have been the richest bloke on the planet.”
[Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for The Recording Academy]
