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 dying in a brand new interview with Detroit radio station WRIF (as transcribed by Blabbermouth), recalling, “Oh, man. I obtained a name the day [Ozzy’s death] occurred. I simply put the telephone down in my lodge 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 consider it. I nonetheless can’t consider it now. I’m nonetheless grieving, like so many individuals.”
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 track that we’ll be taking part in after we come to see you guys — it’s known as ‘Giants within the Sky,’ from the Invincible Defend album — and that track talks about folks that we love in music which have moved on to this stunning 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.”
Associated Video
Halford added, “And I mentioned to all people, this simply a lot to attempt to comprehend and so robust, however Ozzy would say, ‘Let’s get together. Let’s rock and roll. Let’s stay it up. Let’s get pleasure from.’ That was in his coronary heart, his soul, and his spirit.”
The Judas Priest singer additional said that it was essential to protect the legacies of artists like Ozzy and others. “”So it’s nice that we’re speaking about him now and we must always preserve speaking about him endlessly, like I all the time discuss Ronnie, I discuss Lemmy,” Halford mentioned. “These are all associates of mine. And we’ve got to have a good time — we’ve got to have a good time. That’s the best way of serving to you thru the grief. You consider the reminiscences, you consider the enjoyment, you consider the nice occasions, and that’s what we’ll all the time do with Ozzy.”
Judas Priest had 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,” mentioned 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 at any time when I used to be in Ozzy’s presence, as a result of he had this larger-than-life persona. It’d been some time since we’ve been in contact. However, once more, I simply have the great reminiscences of the 2 alternatives I used to be capable of sing for him with Sabbath. After which this latest alternative to cowl ‘Conflict Pigs,’ which we nonetheless play at first of our present, which is likely one of the best 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 exhibits 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.
