Billy Idol’s rhythm guitarist Billy Morrison shared a close three-decade friendship with Ozzy Osbourne. He opened up about the rock legend’s final days before his death in July 2025 in a recent interview.
Morrison reflected on witnessing Ozzy’s declining health firsthand. He recalled hospital visits and surgeries, as well as the deeply personal messages the Prince of Darkness sent him in his final period.
“Everyone with a heart was crying the day of that show at Back to the Beginning concert. Obviously, his health had been declining, and I had been witness to that. I had seen him in more than one hospital with tubes attached. I visited him coming out of surgeries,” Morrison said.
Despite the gravity of the situation, Morrison described how he tried to stay strong for his friend during their private exchanges.
“But you know you don’t go there in your head. Ozzy was so strong and overcame so much. He would text me: ‘I’m in pain. This thing, it’s getting me down.’ I would just say: ‘You’re the strongest man I know,'” he continued.
Morrison also spoke about the emotional weight of attending Ozzy’s funeral in England, where he delivered a eulogy. He reflected on the unique bond the two shared.
“The hardest day I’ve ever been through was his funeral. I flew to his funeral in England, and I delivered a eulogy. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. Sharon would tell you that we were like two 11-year-olds when we got together. That’s what made the friendship special. We understood each other in situations where, perhaps, other people didn’t understand us,” Morrison said. “And as friends, there were huge life events for both of us where one of us helped get the other one through… We had a connection. I miss him.”
Morrison’s tribute offers a rare and intimate look at the personal side of Ozzy Osbourne in his final chapter — one defined by pain, defiance, and an unbreakable will to perform until the very end.
In the weeks leading up to the Back to the Beginning concert on July 5, 2025, Ozzy’s doctors told him he was dying and urged him not to take the stage. He ignored them.
Sharon Osbourne later revealed that despite the dire medical warning, Ozzy went ahead with the performance. He appeared seated on a bat-topped throne at Villa Park in Birmingham, reuniting with Black Sabbath’s original lineup one final time. Sharon said the show lifted his spirits in his final two weeks. She described him as the happiest she had seen him, even as he feared he would not be able to sing.
Ozzy Osbourne died on July 22, 2025, just 17 days after that farewell performance. He was 76 years old. The official cause of death was acute myocardial infarction and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Coronary artery disease and Parkinson’s disease with autonomic dysfunction were listed as contributing factors.
Ozzy had been battling Parkinson’s disease since his diagnosis in 2019. The condition progressively robbed him of his mobility. By February 2025, he could no longer walk. Yet even in that state, he chose to face an arena full of fans one last time — a decision that defined the final chapter of one of rock’s most enduring careers.
Morrison’s words, delivered from the perspective of a man who stood beside Ozzy through surgeries, hospital rooms, and grief, serve as a testament to the depth of that friendship. For those closest to him, the loss is not just that of a rock icon — it is the loss of a man who, even in his darkest moments, refused to stop fighting.
