Birmingham, England, bids farewell to homegrown metal hero

LONDON — Tens of thousands of fans converged Wednesday on Birmingham, England, the home city of metal star Ozzy Osbourne, to pay their final respects to a musician who helped change the sound of rock and roll into something heavier and darker, before dying earlier this month.

The Black Sabbath singer’s coffin was driven along Broad Street in the city center, a route that saw the cortege pause at a bridge named after the band he helped found nearly six decades ago.

Birmingham’s Black Sabbath Bridge has become a significant landmark for his admirers, and in the days since his death has also served as a focal point for tributes. Osbourne’s family, including his visibly emotional wife Sharon, stopped at the spot during the funeral procession and spent several minutes observing the sea of flowers and messages fans had left, before adding their own bouquets to the memorial. Sharon, in tears, added her own pink rose to the growing pile.

Together with some of Ozzy’s children and many grandchildren, they also acknowledged the crowd of well-wishers with waves, while many fans lowered their cellphones and held their hands aloft with the two-finger peace sign that the heavy metal performer himself had used so often onstage. A spontaneous cry of “Ozzy Ozzy Ozzy oi oi oi!” erupted too.

Osbourne’s fame expanded beyond his musical career after he and his family appeared on the reality TV show The Osbournes that aired as MTV’s most-watched programming in the early 2000s.

His family had privately funded the procession, a poignant moment for Birmingham as it celebrated a man that its mayor, Zafar Iqbal, described as one of the city’s “greatest living legends.”

A local group, the Bostin Brass Band, followed six police motorcycles during the procession, while performing Black Sabbath classics from several albums dating back decades, as fans sang along.

That performance was the first time the band’s original lineup had reunited in more than a decade, as part of a concert that also featured major acts like Metallica and Guns N’ Roses, drawing large crowds to Birmingham and raising substantial funds for charity.

On Wednesday, many of those fans returned to the city, the majority dressed in attire that paid homage to Ozzy and Black Sabbath, with flames, patches, spikes and T-shirts and other memorabilia purchased during one of the band’s dozens of tours.

As the procession passed, some took photographs or bowed their heads, with others waiting to pass their own floral tributes — often via local police officers — with messages written by hand to a man dubbed the “Prince of Darkness.”

Others balanced on nearby railings, or even climbed atop a bus stop, while advertising screens along the route displayed a picture of the singer with the message, “Ozzy Forever — Birmingham will always love you.”

Iqbal, the mayor who had presented Osbourne and his bandmates the Freedom of the City award at a ceremony just weeks before, described the immense love fans showed for the musician and his family, and emphasized how Osbourne had “put Birmingham on the map.”

Ozzy had famously expressed a desire for his funeral not to be depressing, and his fans clearly took that sentiment to heart. A private service followed the public procession, attended only by friends and family members.

The atmosphere on the city’s streets appeared respectful but also infused with a celebratory spirit — a fitting tribute to a life lived on his own terms, and a legacy that transcended music and cemented Osbourne’s place in the world’s cultural firmament, while remaining forever linked to the city that shaped him.