Read this: Geezer Butler remembers his "brother in arms" Ozzy Osbourne
Few people knew Ozzy Osbourne more intimately than his Black Sabbath bandmates, who, despite their conflicts over the years, spent decades with the Prince of Darkness. To Geezer Butler, however, Osbourne wasn’t the Prince of Darkness at all; he was the “Prince of Laughter,” as the bassist wrote in a tribute to his old friend for The Times.
In his essay, Butler reflects on the two musicians’ shared love of Aston Villa, their local football club, as well as his first impression of the man who would go on to become his “inseparable brother in arms.” In 1968, Butler, who was in a part-time band, called on Osbourne in response to an ad the latter had posted looking for a gig. Osbourne wasn’t home at the time, but the bassist left his address. Osbourne later knocked on Butler’s door, a meeting which Butler describes as follows: “[H]e had his dad’s brown work gown on, a chimney brush over his shoulder, a shoe on a dog leash and no shoes on his bare feet. He said, ‘I’m Ozzy.’ After I’d stopped laughing, I said: ‘OK, you’re in the band.'”
Butler remembers Osbourne not as a “feral wild man,” but one who “had a heart of pure gold.” “If you were a friend in need, Ozzy was always there for you,” he writes. “When my son was born with a heart defect, Ozzy called me every day to see how I was coping, even though we hadn’t spoken for a year.”
“I am so privileged to have spent most of my life with him,” Butler concludes his essay. “Of course there are millions of things I will think of that I should have written, but how can I sum up 57 incredible years of friendship in a few paragraphs? God bless, Oz, it has been one hell of a ride! Love you!”
You can read the full tribute here.
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