PHOENIX (AZFamily) — The music industry in the Valley is mourning the loss of the conductor of the crazy train, Ozzy Osbourne, who died at 76. Also known as the Prince of Darkness, Osbourne’s impact and influence was worldwide including in Arizona. “Black Sabbath and Ozzy will live on forever,” said long time Arizona radio personality Dave Pratt.
“I can’t imagine the rock world without Ozzy Osbourne in it. It’s quite a blow,” said concert promoter Danny Zelisko.
“What a life. I mean, what an impact he made, not just on music, but on entertainment,” said Pratt.
Pratt first met Osbourne back in the early 1980s. He has interviewed the metal icon numerous times and the two quickly developed a long-time friendship. “He’s thought of as the ‘Prince of Darkness,’ but the truth is, he was a warm guy. I had him in studio once around the holidays and he was explaining to me how he loved the holidays,” said Pratt. “He was a very giving, generous, humble man.”
Pratt said he will never forget when Osbourne called him one day to express support over his decision to go from rock radio to country. “He called my house and he felt the need to say, ‘This is Ozzy.’ He didn’t need to do that because nobody else sounds like Ozzy,” said Pratt, “Instead of bagging me on it, he supported me and he was one of my first interviews on country radio, which I thought was really funny. Great guy, great guy.”
When it came to performing in Arizona, Osborne worked closely with Zelisko. “He was like, pretty much every other musician in the sense that they cared about their craft and their music and what they did,” he said.
Zelisko said he always kept in touch with the Osbourne family and had a great time working with the metal icon over the years. “It’s a shame when anything runs out of steam and has to go but you know, I don’t know if you could have written a better ending,” said Zelisko.
If you’ve ever wondered what the legend thought of Arizona, Pratt said he can answer that one. “Keep in mind a lot of his friends had connections to Arizona. Rob Halford from Judas Priest lived here for quite a while, so Ozzy was very familiar with Arizona. Paul McCartney had a place down in Tucson, so he was very familiar with Arizona. A couple times we had Ozzy around Labor Day for Ozzfest out of what used to be Desert Sky Pavilion on the west side and he thought the heat was, he’d say it in his Ozzy way and, ‘That’s ‘rock n’ roll baby.’ That’s rock n’ roll.’ He loved it,” Pratt said.
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