Judas Priest’s Rob Halford “curled up in a ball and bawled my eyes out” following Ozzy Osbourne’s death

Posted On August 20, 2025August 20, 2025

Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford has reflected on the death of his friend, Ozzy Osbourne, and revealed he “curled up in a ball and bawled my eyes out for hours” after finding out about his passing.

Osbourne passed away on July 22nd following a cardiac arrest at his family home in Buckinghamshire, just weeks after his farewell concert in Birmingham. Judas Priest, who are also from Birmingham, were sadly unable to perform at Osbourne’s final show due to a scheduling conflict.

In a new interview with Detroit radio station WRIF (per Blabbermouth), Halford recalled discovering Osbourne had died, sharing, “Oh, man. I got a call the day (Ozzy’s death) happened. I just put the phone down in my hotel room in — I think I was in Leeds, in England, and I just curled up in a ball and bawled my eyes out for hours.”

He heartbreakingly continued: “I just couldn’t believe it. I still can’t believe it now. I’m still grieving, like so many people.”

The following night, Judas Priest performed at the Open Air Theatre in Scarborough and honoured Osbourne’s legacy by opening their set with a cover of the Black Sabbath classic, ‘War Pigs’, a mainstay of their shows. Additionally, they dedicated ‘Giants in the Sky’ to the heavy metal pioneer.

Halford explained in the new interview: “And then we had a show the next day. So, God, how do you process all of this tragedy, all of this love, because I’ve never seen such an outpouring of love. And we did the show and we came to the song that we’ll be playing when we come to see you guys — it’s called ‘Giants in the Sky,’ from the Invincible Shield album.”

The song references many fallen greats from the music world, such as Janis Joplin, Chris Cornell, Ronnie James Dio and Lemmy Kilmister. For the Scarborough show, they also included Ozzy in the lyrics.

Halford continued: “And I said to everybody, this just so much to try and comprehend and so tough, but Ozzy would say, ‘Let’s party. Let’s rock and roll. Let’s live it up. Let’s enjoy.’ That was in his heart, his soul, and his spirit.”

The frontman then said it’s important that the rock community continues to “celebrate” Osbourne, adding, “We have to celebrate. That’s the way of helping you through the grief. You think about the memories, you think about the joy, you think about the good times, and that’s what we will always do with Ozzy.”

Earlier this week, a fly-on-the-wall documentary about the last three years of Osbourne’s life was scheduled to be broadcast on BBC One. However, hours before broadcast, it was shelved from the schedule, and no new date has been given for when it will air.

The BBC said in a statement: “Our sympathies are with the Osbourne family at this difficult time. We are respecting the family’s wishes to wait a bit longer before airing this very special film. The new transmission date will be confirmed shortly.”

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