Ozzy Osbourne tells Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction event ‘Sharon saved me’
The star has previously been inducted with his band, Black Sabbath, and is one of a few including Sir Paul McCartney to have been given the honour.
Ozzy Osbourne has been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for a second time.
The 75-year-old Black Sabbath star thanked his wife, talent manager and reality star Sharon Osbourne, for “saving” him as he accepted the honour at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse arena in Cleveland, Ohio, on Saturday.
He has previously been inducted with the heavy metal band, and is one of a few including Sir Paul McCartney to have been given the rare honour.
Others honoured at the event were singer Cher, hip hop stars Mary J Blige and Kool & The Gang, rock groups Foreigner and the Dave Matthews Band, Bromley-born guitarist Peter Frampton and soul singer Dionne Warwick.
Celebrities including Julia Roberts, Zendaya, Jack Black and Dua Lipa were on stage to welcome the inductees.
School Of Rock actor and Tenacious D member Black introduced Osbourne, ahead of the Birmingham star telling the audience he wanted to thank those who voted for his solo work from the “bottom of my heart”, adding that “fans have been so loyal to me over the years”.
“I cannot thank them enough,” he said. “I’ve been fortunate over the years to play with some of the world’s greatest guitar players, drummers, bass players, and a few of them are here tonight.
“But I’ve got to say one thing for a guy by the name of Randy Rhoads. If I hadn’t have met Randy Rhoads, I don’t think I’d be sitting here now. And more so than that, my wife Sharon. Saved my life. And my grandbabies and my babies. I love them all.
“So with all that, I’m gonna get on with the show and hand it back to Jack.”
Guitarist Rhoads, who died in 1982, worked on Osbourne’s records Blizzard Of Ozz and Diary Of A Madman, and was posthumously inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2021.
Black joked that you can listen to “Post Malone and Taylor Swift and get all the warm hugs you need for your broken hearts”, or “you could stay up all night and get your minds blown by Ozzy’s entire catalogue for the first time”, while calling today’s young people lucky.
London-born singer Lipa opened the show by performing with Cher to Believe, before Zendaya praised the US singer ahead of her belting out her track If I Could Turn Back Time.
Cher told the audience: “My life has just been a rollercoaster, but one thing I’ve never done, I never give up.
“I’m talking to the women – OK, you guys are on your own – we’ve been down and out, we keep striving and we keep building and we are somebody.”
Dr Dre inducted Blige, The Who frontman Roger Daltrey inducted Frampton, and Roberts introduced the Dave Matthews Band.
Kris Kristofferson, Cissy Houston, David Sanborn and Liam Payne were among those mentioned in the In Memoriam segment.
Payne died on Wednesday at the age of 31 after falling from a third-floor balcony at a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
