Ozzy Osbourne fans – including emotional Jen Butler – lined the streets of Birmingham yesterday as the Prince of Darkness made his final journey through his home city
An Ozzy Osbourne superfan thought “it was a prank” when the the Prince of Darkness died.
Jen Butler was among thousands of mourners gathered in Birmingham city centre yesterday as Ozzy, the frontman of Black Sabbath, made his final journey through his home city. Jen arrived at 5.45am to pay her respects to the legendary heavy metal icon, who died aged 76 last week after a battle with Parkinson’s disease.
But it took Jen, 46, one week to accept the tragedy as, at first, she believed she was being pranked. Grieving, she declined for days to visit the site of floral tributes on Broad Street, Birmingham, despite only living around four miles away in Smethwick, West Midlands.
Fighting the emotion as she spoke to a reporter at the scene of the funeral procession yesterday, Jen said: “Honestly, when he passed, I thought it was a prank, it’s only today that I’ve had enough courage to come down and see the memorial. It’s starting to sink in that he’s really gone.”
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The funeral procession passed by the Black Sabbath Bridge, which has been transformed into a giant shrine featuring hundreds of flowers and tributes. Reflecting by the bridge on Broad Street in the city centre, Jen continued: “I became a fan when I was eight-years-old. My whole life has literally been this man.
“When we got here it was 5.45am and there were already loads of people here. I was going to camp overnight, I expected it to be this packed. Us rock fans, usually we don’t get up yet before midday.
“He’s the only person that I’d get up that early for. There were probably 30 or so people here at that time and now it’s descended into chaos.
“Ozzy has done so much for us over the years, he’s given us such beautiful music, the least we could do is get here and see him off… To me this is bigger than the Queen’s passing. I didn’t even go to the Queen’s funeral.”
Chants of “Ozzy Ozzy Ozzy” could be heard while city centre bars blasted out Black Sabbath hits. The cortège, which passed these pubs, was accompanied by a brass band performance from Birmingham musicians Bostin’ Brass.
The Osbourne family, which paid for the event and all associated costs, followed the hearse through the city centre. Ozzy’s wife Sharon, and children Kelly, Jack, Aimee and Louis were among relatives to get out of cars at the bridge and pay their respects to the star.
In heartbreaking scenes, Sharon broke down in tears as she grieved the loss of her husband of more than 40 years. Sharon, 72, looked heartbroken as she emerged from her car to survey the thousands of tributes at the famous bridge.