Tony Iommi has recalled his last ever conversation with Ozzy Osbourne – the night before the Prince of Darkness’ death.
The Black Sabbath frontman died on July 22 of last year, just weeks after his Back To The Beginning retirement show held at Villa Park in his hometown of Birmingham.
Sabbath guitarist Iommi spoke with Ozzy on the phone the night before his passing and says the singer was exhausted.
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Iommi tells Loudwire Nights: “I spoke to him the night before he passed.
“He said to me, ‘I really feel tired and really worn out’. I said, ‘Well, you’re bound to really, it’s been a lot of stress and pressure and stuff like that’.
“And the next thing, the next day, gone.”
Iommi admits he has struggled to accept Ozzy is no longer around and that, at times, he still feels his presence.
"It still feels like he’s there," he says.
While the Back To The Beginning celebration was a huge success that fans and artists on the bill were thrilled to be part of, Iommi reveals it was difficult for him to see Ozzy performing from a seated position when he had been such a live wire for decades.
He adds: "It was difficult because seeing Ozzy sitting in a throne is not the way I see him.
"Always when we’ve been on stage, he’s been running around, and he’d run up to Geezer and pull a face jokingly and come over to me and pull a face or the drummer or whatever.
"We always had a little laugh on stage and enjoy when he’d run about.
"But at Back To The Beginning, of course, he’s in a throne, and I couldn’t see him, which felt very unusual.
"But it was a great moment, and I’m really glad we could get the opportunity to do it, because I mean, God, we didn’t know he was going to go that quick."