Ozzy Osbourne is gearing up for one final performance despite no longer being able to walk as his Parkinson's diagnosis progresses.
The 76-year-old announced that he is reuniting with Black Sabbath and will return to the stage one last time for "the greatest heavy metal show ever" at Villa Park in his hometown of Birmingham on July 5, 2025.
Ozzy was forced to take a step back from performing due to his health issues and last played live during halftime of an NFL football game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Buffalo Bills in September 2022. One month prior, he performed at the closing ceremony at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
His health woes began in 2003 when Ozzy was involved in an ATV accident; this led to extensive back surgery, where he had metal rods placed in his spine.
Ozzy's spinal issues didn't stop in 2003; sixteen years later, the rocker suffered a nasty fall in his home, which dislodged the metal rods and kick-started his long health journey.
Parkinson's battle
© Getty ImagesOzzy was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in 2019 but didn't share the news with his fans until January 2020.
It was discovered that he had the neurodegenerative disorder after a fall at his Los Angeles home, which required him to undergo surgery and aggravated a 16-year-old spinal injury.
Appearing on Good Morning America with his wife, Sharon Osbourne, Ozzy admitted the diagnosis was "terribly challenging".
© Getty Images"I had to have surgery on my neck which screwed all my nerves. I found out that I have a mild form of...." unable to finish his sentence, Sharon added: "It's Parkin 2 which is a form of Parkinson's.
"There are so many different types of Parkinson's. It's not a death sentence by any stretch of the imagination but it does affect the nerves in your body. It's like you'll have a good day, then a good day, and then a really bad day."
Ozzy's condition has progressed to the point where it has affected his legs. "I have made it to 2025. I can't walk, but you know what I was thinking over the holidays? For all my complaining, I'm still alive," he recently said on Sirius XM.
© Getty Images"I may be moaning that I can't walk but I look down the road and there's people that didn't do half as much as me and didn't make it."
Speaking about Ozzy's upcoming gig, Sharon told The Sun: "He's very happy to be coming back and very emotional about this. Parkinson's is a progressive disease. It's not something you can stabilize. It affects different parts of the body, and it's affected his legs. But his voice is as good as it's ever been."
Ozzy's spinal setbacks
© GettySpeaking about his 2019 fall, Ozzy told Rolling Stone UK: "It really knocked me about. The second surgery went drastically wrong and virtually left me crippled."
"I thought I'd be up and running after the second and third, but with the last one, they put a [rod] in my spine." Ozzy shared that doctors also found a tumor in his back at the time, "so they had to dig all that out too".
Since the fall, the 76-year-old has had multiple spinal surgeries to fix the damage, with little luck.
Living with pain
© GettyHe revealed how his quality of life has diminished since the 2019 fall thanks to the immense pain he is living with in an episode of The Osbournes Podcast.
"What's happening now…in my back, the two discs and the muscles on my shoulders have separated from my skeleton, and that's why I lean forward as it's like gravity is bringing my head forward," he explained. "I was thinking when [the doctor] was saying it, 'I've walked like that all my life.'"
© Getty Images"My lower back is…I'm going for an epidural soon because what they've discovered is the neck has been fixed," he said ahead of the 2023 surgery. "Below the neck there's two vertebrae where the bike hit me and disintegrated, there's nothing left of 'em."
"All I know is…is right now I'm in a lot of pain. I'm in a lot of discomfort."
The toll on the Osbournes
© Getty ImagesBy his side through it all has been his wife, Sharon, who shared with Rolling Stone UK just how challenging his health journey has been for the whole family.
"It's been nearly five years of heartache, and at times, I've just felt so helpless and so bad for Ozzy to see him going through the pain," she told the publication. "He's gone through all these operations, and the whole thing has felt like a nightmare."
"He hasn't lost his sense of humor, but I look at my husband, and he's here while everyone else is out on the road. This is the longest time he hasn't ever worked for. Being at home for so long has been so foreign to him."
