Tony Iommi has opened up about missing Ozzy Osbourne in a new interview.
The Black Sabbath legend caught up with Rolling Stone to discuss his new solo album, From the Dark, but his former bandmate wasn’t far from his mind.
When asked how he’s handled the last year without Ozzy, Iommi said, “It’s been really strange. I still don’t feel like he’s gone because when I look on YouTube or whatever, there’s something to do with Ozzy, and I see him again and again. It’s almost like he’s still here. It’s really peculiar. Only, we were in touch so many times. That’s what I miss.”
Iommi revealed that he got to goodbye to Ozzy. “He texted me the night before, funny enough, and said he weren’t feeling great and so on,” he said. “But obviously, most of our conversations to each other have been, ‘How are you feeling? How’s this? How’s that?’ And so it was just another conversation. I didn’t expect him to go overnight. Blimey. It was a hell of a shock, really.”
When the interviewer pointed out that Ozzy always appreciated Iommi’s support over the years, he replied, “Well, we did stay in touch a lot. And he was going through so many different things and constantly in and out of hospital and having this done and that done. And again, he stood by me when I was diagnosed with cancer.
“He called me every day. So we’ve been supportive of each other. I do miss our conversations.”
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Iommi has released “World Alone”, the first single from his forthcoming album which arrives on October 23rd. Listen to the track above.
“I tend to go right into all the doomy stuff, and I thought, ‘Well, we could do something with an up-tempo riff, as well.’ When I’d done that, and then I heard the melody he’d [vocalist Jørn Lande] done, it all worked,” he told Rolling Stone.
