Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford was extraordinarily saddened to study of Ozzy Osbourne’s passing, revealing, “I simply curled up in a ball and bawled my eyes out for hours.”
The singer spoke about his response to Ozzy’s loss of life in a brand new interview with Detroit radio station WRIF (as transcribed by Blabbermouth), recalling, “Oh, man. I bought a name the day [Ozzy’s death] occurred. I simply put the telephone down in my resort room in — I feel I used to be in Leeds, in England, and I simply curled up in a ball and bawled my eyes out for hours. I simply couldn’t imagine it. I nonetheless can’t imagine it now. I’m nonetheless grieving, like so many individuals.”
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He continued, “After which we had a present the following day. So, God, how do you course of all of this tragedy, all of this love, as a result of I’ve by no means seen such an outpouring of affection. And we did the present and we got here to the music that we’ll be taking part in once we come to see you guys — it’s referred to as ‘Giants within the Sky,’ from the Invincible Defend album — and that music talks about those that we love in music which have moved on to this lovely place. We reference Lemmy and Ronnie [James Dio] and Paul Di’Anno [of Iron Maiden] and Jill [Janus from] Huntress and Chris [Cornell] and all of those greats, Janis Joplin, Freddie Mercury. After which for that present we added Ozzy on the finish.”
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Halford added, “And I stated to all people, this simply a lot to try to comprehend and so robust, however Ozzy would say, ‘Let’s get together. Let’s rock and roll. Let’s dwell it up. Let’s take pleasure in.’ That was in his coronary heart, his soul, and his spirit.”
The Judas Priest singer additional acknowledged that it was vital to protect the legacies of artists like Ozzy and others. “”So it’s nice that we’re speaking about him now and we should always hold speaking about him endlessly, like I at all times discuss Ronnie, I discuss Lemmy,” Halford stated. “These are all pals of mine. And we’ve to have a good time — we’ve to have a good time. That’s the best way of serving to you thru the grief. You concentrate on the reminiscences, you consider the enjoyment, you consider the nice instances, and that’s what we’ll at all times do with Ozzy.”
Judas Priest have been invited to participate within the “Again to the Starting” live performance that includes the ultimate performances of Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath, however had already dedicated to taking part in Scorpions’ sixtieth anniversary present on that very same day. In lieu of their absence on the historic occasion, the band recorded a canopy of Sabbath’s “Conflict Pigs.”
“We used to textual content sometimes,” stated Halford of his interactions with Ozzy. “‘Trigger he’s one other man I used to be in awe of. I’m nonetheless in awe of Alice [Cooper]. [Laughs] ‘Oh my God. He’s Alice Cooper.’ And I used to really feel the identical each time I used to be in Ozzy’s presence, as a result of he had this larger-than-life character. It’d been some time since we’ve been in contact. However, once more, I simply have the fantastic reminiscences of the 2 alternatives I used to be capable of sing for him with Sabbath. After which this current alternative to cowl ‘Conflict Pigs,’ which we nonetheless play at first of our present, which is likely one of the biggest metallic songs ever written. In order that connection won’t ever be severed in that respect.”
Halford famously stepped in to entrance Black Sabbath at a present on Ozzfest 2004 when Ozzy had bronchitis. He additionally fronted Sabbath for a pair reveals in 1992 when then-Sabbath-singer Ronnie James Dio refused to open for Ozzy.
Judas Priest are set to embark on a co-headlining North American tour with Alice Cooper this fall, with tickets vailable right here. Watch Rob Halford’s interview with WRIF under.