ROLLING STONE SPECIAL TRIBUTE ISSUE “The Final Note: Ozzy Osbourne 1948–2025”

ROLLING STONE SPECIAL TRIBUTE ISSUE
“The Final Note: Ozzy Osbourne 1948–2025”

A DUET OF GRIEF AND GLORY: SHARON OSBOURNE AND ANDREA BOCELLI’S HEART-SHATTERING FAREWELL

By Rolling Stone Staff | Photography by Annie Leibovitz | Edited by Jason Fine

No one was ready for what happened next.

Inside the candlelit cathedral, the crowd of 20,000 mourners had already witnessed a day of unforgettable tributes. From tearful eulogies to video montages and whispered prayers, it was everything one might expect for a rock legend of Ozzy Osbourne’s stature.

But the moment that broke the world came when Andrea Bocelli took the stage.

The first trembling notes of “Time to Say Goodbye” echoed through the vaulted ceiling — haunting, beautiful, unmistakable. The audience fell into stunned silence. Then, from the shadows, another figure emerged:

Sharon Osbourne.

The widow of the Prince of Darkness. Dressed in flowing black, clasping a single microphone, her voice cracked before she sang a single word. But when she did, it was with the power of decades — of love, of pain, of everything they had survived together.

This wasn’t just a song.

This was a requiem.

A DUET THAT WAS NEVER PLANNED

According to sources close to the family, Sharon never intended to sing at Ozzy’s funeral. “She kept saying she wouldn’t be able to get through it,” said a longtime friend. “But when Bocelli started singing, something changed. She looked at the photo of Ozzy, then just stood up and walked onstage. No rehearsal. No warning. Just heart.”

The crowd gasped. Even Bocelli, by some miracle, seemed moved — visibly nodding to Sharon as she joined him. They sang the second verse together, voice and voice, pain and elegance.

It was more than music. It was surrender.

“THIS WAS HER LAST CONVERSATION WITH HIM”

Sharon didn’t address the crowd afterward. She didn’t need to. What she gave in those few minutes was something sacred — raw and untouched by showbiz.

Later, their daughter Kelly told Rolling Stone:

“That wasn’t just a song. That was her last conversation with him. And every person in that cathedral heard it.”

Fans sobbed. Security guards stood frozen. Grown men dropped to their knees. The silence afterward wasn’t empty — it was full. Heavy with the weight of finality. A moment that wrapped around every heart in the room.

THE POWER OF A VOICE, THE WEIGHT OF A LOVE STORY

Ozzy and Sharon weren’t perfect. Their love story wasn’t sugar-coated. It was chaotic. Scandalous. Loud. But it was real. It endured more than most marriages could survive — addiction, betrayal, fame, illness, near-death, and brutal public scrutiny.

But through it all, they remained unbreakable.

And in that duet, in front of twenty thousand mourning fans, Sharon didn’t just honor Ozzy. She showed the world the kind of love that outlives the grave.

THE VENUE, THE CROWD, THE ATMOSPHERE

Held at the historic Royal Albert Hall, the farewell ceremony felt less like a funeral and more like a sacred rite. Black roses lined the aisles. A string quartet played somber versions of Black Sabbath classics. Every pew was filled with friends, fans, and legends from across the music universe.

Elton John. Paul McCartney. Slash. Dave Grohl. All seated quietly, heads bowed.

But it was the duet that broke them.

When the final notes of “Time to Say Goodbye” faded, no one clapped. It wasn’t that they forgot. It was that they couldn’t.

The moment was too delicate. Too heavy. Applause would have felt like shattering glass.

OZZY, THE MAN — NOT JUST THE MYTH

It’s easy to talk about Ozzy as a myth. The bat, the wild shows, the reality TV chaos. But Sharon’s performance reminded everyone who he was behind the curtain.

A father. A partner. A broken, mended, and fiercely devoted soul.

“He used to sing this song in the kitchen,” Sharon once said in a 2014 interview. “He’d try to mimic Bocelli’s voice and say, ‘I bet if I sang like this, you’d finally listen to me.’ We’d laugh. We’d dance. He loved that song.”

That kitchen memory became prophecy.

ANDREA BOCELLI: “I COULD FEEL HIS PRESENCE”

Speaking with Italian press after the funeral, Bocelli shared his thoughts on the performance:

“I’ve sung this song all over the world — for kings, for presidents, for the pope. But never have I felt a spirit in the room the way I felt Ozzy’s. Sharon’s voice was fragile. But in that fragility was all the power in the world.”

He added that the experience would stay with him forever.

THE WORLD REACTS

Social media lit up within minutes of the performance:

• Lady Gaga tweeted: “That duet. That heartbreak. That LOVE. I am undone.”
• Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden) wrote: “That was the most human, most rock ‘n’ roll thing I’ve ever witnessed.”
• P!nk shared: “Ozzy would’ve been proud. Sharon was a warrior of love.”

Clips of the moment have since gone viral, with fans calling it “the most emotional musical performance of the decade.”

IN THE END, A LOVE LETTER

If music is the language of the soul, then Sharon Osbourne wrote her last letter to Ozzy in song. Not for the crowd. Not for legacy. But for him.

A duet of grief and glory.

And as the candles flickered and the silence held, the world remembered not just the rock icon who changed music forever, but the human being behind it all — loved ferociously, remembered eternally.

“Time to say goodbye,” Sharon whispered that day.

But somehow, it didn’t feel like goodbye at all.
It felt like a promise — to love, to carry on, and to sing again.

For Ozzy. Always.

Rolling Stone
In memory of Ozzy Osbourne, who taught the world to howl, to cry, and to never apologize for feeling everything too deeply.