Sharon Osbourne has refuted the “ridiculous” claim that the farewell Black Sabbath concert raised $190million for charity.
The star-studded ‘Back To The Beginning’ show went down at Villa Park in Birmingham on July 5, an event that took on extra poignancy when Ozzy Osbourne passed away less than three months later (July 22).
In the days following the show, its musical director, the Rage Against The Machine legend Tom Morello, announced on Instagram that it had raised “more than $190million”, which would be split equally between Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Acorn Children’s Hospice.
In a new interview with Pollstar, which was conducted a few days before Ozzy’s death, Sharon Osbourne has distanced herself from the reported numbers.
“I’m really happy that we are talking, because one of the things that’s frightening me is all this false press about [how] we’ve made $140 million and all of this, and I’m like, ‘God, I wish we could have, for one gig,’” she said.
“It’s just ridiculous, the different stories. I went on the internet the next morning and it was like, $140 million, $160 million. And I’m like, ‘Where does this stuff come from?’ And people like Billboard have printed it.”
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When it was pointed out to her that the reported number was actually $190 million, she replied: “Oh, $190 million? Thank you, Billboard, for getting it wrong. Just ridiculous. It takes a really long time [to calculate], because we’ve had all of the bands that we had come in and their expenses, and it’ll take a good six weeks to get the final number. Because we’re selling merch for another two weeks from the gig. So, we’ve got another two weeks of sales yet to add to it. It’ll be another four weeks and it’ll be done.”
In the same interview, Sharon revealed that Ozzy told her he was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love at the farewell show. “He turned around and he said to me that night, ‘I had no idea that so many people liked me’. Ozzy’s always been in his own bubble,” she said.
“For Ozzy to play with Bill [Ward] again, he was very, very emotional about that. It was a huge success, because it was a phenomenal event. It was the first time, I think, that anybody’s gone into retirement and done it, where the show is streamed and it goes to charity. So it’s the first time anybody has said goodnight like that, it’s the perfect way, when you’ve had such a long career, to end it.”
It was the first time that the full classic lineup of Sabbath – Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward – had played together since 2005. They played a streamlined four-song set of their classic songs, with Ozzy telling the live crowd: “It’s the last song ever. Your support has enabled us to live an amazing lifestyle, thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”
It has now been announced that a documentary about Osbourne is also on the way, which will share an “intimate glimpse” of his “last chapter”. Titled Ozzy Osbourne: Coming Home, it will feature contributions from his family and was filmed across his final three years. It will air on BBC One and iPlayer on August 18.
A biopic of Ozzy and Sharon’s lives is also in the works at Sony Pictures, with negotiations with a director ongoing. The project was first announced in 2021.
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