{"id":359572,"date":"2025-08-20T13:59:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T13:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/359572\/"},"modified":"2025-08-20T13:59:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T13:59:12","slug":"judas-priests-rob-halford-reveals-his-reaction-to-ozzy-osbournes-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/359572\/","title":{"rendered":"Judas Priest\u2019s Rob Halford reveals his reaction to Ozzy Osbourne\u2019s death"},"content":{"rendered":"

Judas Priest<\/a> frontman Rob Halford says he \u201cbawled [his] eyes out for hours\u201d after Ozzy Osbourne<\/a> died last month.<\/p>\n

In a new interview with Talkin\u2019 Rock With Meltdown, the 73-year-old details how he found out about the death of the Black Sabbath<\/a> singer, who passed away at his Buckinghamshire home aged 76 on July 22 following a heart attack.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

He explains that he was touring the UK with his band when he got a phone call delivering the news.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just put the phone down in my hotel room in \u2013 I think I was in Leeds, in England, and I just curled up in a ball and bawled my eyes out for hours,\u201d Halford remembers (via Blabbermouth<\/a>).<\/p>\n

He continues: \u201cI just couldn\u2019t believe it. I still can\u2019t believe it now. I\u2019m still grieving, like so many people. And then we had a show the next day. So, God, how do you process all of this tragedy, all of this love, because I\u2019ve never seen such an outpouring of love.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the remaining dates of their UK run, Priest modified the video graphics for their 2024 song Giants In The Sky to include a tribute to Osbourne. A photo of the singer was screened on the band\u2019s backdrop during the song, joining pre-existing tributes to Queen<\/a>\u2019s Freddie Mercury, former Iron Maiden<\/a> singer Paul Di\u2019Anno, former Black Sabbath\/Rainbow singer Ronnie James Dio and other fallen musical icons.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I said to everybody [while performing onstage], this is just so much to try and comprehend and so tough,\u201d Halford adds, \u201cbut Ozzy would say, \u2018Let\u2019s party. Let\u2019s rock and roll. Let\u2019s live it up. Let\u2019s enjoy.\u2019<\/p>\n

Sign up below to get the latest from Metal Hammer, plus exclusive special offers, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was in his heart, his soul, and his spirit. Whenever we did shows together, he would always say that to me after, \u2018Did you have a good time?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The singer goes on to call Osbourne \u201cthe embodiment of kindness in that respect\u201d.<\/p>\n

Osbourne\u2019s death came only 17 days after the frontman played his retirement show Back To The Beginning<\/a>, where he performed both as a solo artist and with his fellow Black Sabbath co-founders Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer Butler (bass) and Bill Ward (drums). It was the first time the four men performed in public together since September 2005.<\/p>\n

Back To The Beginning was an all-day charity event held at Villa Park \u2013 close to where Osbourne grew up in Aston, Birmingham \u2013 with an all-star lineup of support bands including Metallica<\/a>, Guns N\u2019 Roses<\/a>, Tool<\/a>, Gojira<\/a> and more. Priest were one of the few vaunted metal bands to not play the event, as they were appearing at the 60th-anniversary celebrations of German hard rockers the Scorpions in Hannover the same day.<\/p>\n

In an exclusive conversation with Metal Hammer in May, Halford said he was \u201cgutted\u201d to be missing Back To The Beginning<\/a>. He remembered: \u201cIt all got announced and was a big deal \u2013 Scorpions and Priest \u2013 and suddenly I get this phone call [from Sharon Osbourne]: \u2018Robbie, I know you\u2019ve got this gig with Scorpions, but could you consider coming over to do a thing with Ozzy and the guys, he\u2019d love to see you.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cEven with a private plane, there\u2019s a word called \u2018technical\u2019, where something could go wrong, or the weather that time of year could cause problems\u2026 I was absolutely gutted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judas Priest will tour North America from September to October<\/a> and are set to headline Bloodstock Open Air festival<\/a> in Derbyshire next August.<\/p>\n

Judas Priest’s Rob Halford | Talkin’ Rock with Meltdown – YouTube
\n\"Judas<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford says he \u201cbawled [his] eyes out for hours\u201d after Ozzy Osbourne died last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359573,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3940],"tags":[4080,77,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-359572","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115061454608515670","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}