Hi, everyone. Welcome to this week’s edition of Music Monday.

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

We said farewell to another musical icon last week. John Michael “Ozzy” Osbourne died on July 22, 2025 at age 76. Born December 3, 1948 in the Marston Green village of the UK, he is best known as the original lead singer of Black Sabbath, the band credited with the invention of the heavy metal genre where he became known as “The Prince Of Darkness”.

They played their farewell show together 17 days earlier on July 5 in Birmingham, England & all the proceeds-reported to be 190 million dollars, the highest grossing charity concert of all time according to Billboard-were donated equally to three charities: Acorn Children’s Hospice, Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Cure Parkinson’s, the disease Osbourne struggled with for over 20 years. Despite that, his last performance was all him-no lip synching, no back tracks, just talent.  

Heavy metal was not a genre that spoke to me, but Sabbath’s “Paranoid”-released 55 years ago in the UK in September 1970 (and January 1971 in the U.S.)- was a staple on FM radio. I always found the guitar riffs & Osbourne’s vocals intensely captivating. He was fired from the band in 1979 for substance abuse issues. A year later he released his first solo album, Blizzard Of Ozz, led by the first single, “Crazy Train”. Twelve more solo studio albums followed over the next four decades along with his music festival, Ozzfest-an event he started in 1996 along with his wife & manager, Sharon-which was held nearly every year until 2018.

I became a fan of “The Osbournes” MTV reality show which ran from March 2002 to March 2005. The first season was the standout one for me & while I could have done without his wife in our faces for the next 20 years (or his daughter, Kelly), watching Ozzy doing regular life things like getting mad at the remote, taking out the garbage & cuddling with his dogs was both priceless and hilarious.

Ozzy was heavily affected by The Beatles and compared their arrival on the music scene like “going to bed in a black & white world and waking up in color”. In 2010 in honor of what would have been John Lennon’s 70th birthday, Ozzy paid tribute to him with a cover of the song, “How”. The accompanying video follows Osbourne walking through NYC and ends at the Central Park “Imagine” mosaic where he places a bouquet of flowers for the former Beatle. Respect.

John Michael “Ozzy” Osbourne: December 3, 1948 – July 22, 2025.

Top: Black Sabbath in 1970 (L-R): Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Bill Ward and Ozzy Osbourne. Middle: Ozzy Osbourne in the 1970’s. Bottom: The Prince Of Darkness on his throne at his last show with Black Sabbath on July 5, 2025 at at Villa Park in Aston, Birmingham, England. (Images found online.  Original sources unknown.)

Osbourne reunited with Black Sabbath 40 years ago to perform at the U.S. location of the Live Aid concerts. They were held on July 13, 1985 on two different continents: The show in America took place at the John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania while the European show was held at Wembley Stadium in London, England. If you had MTV, you had a front row seat to this extraordinary musical event. The concerts were held to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia which was organized by musicians Bob Geldof and James “Midge” Ure. First they put together the UK charity single by Band Aid, “Do They Know It’s Christmas”, released in December 1984. Then a group of American artists formed USA For Africa and recorded, “We Are The World”, which was released in March 1985. Both songs closed out their respective concerts which reportedly raised over 100 million dollars collectively.

Some of the artists who performed at Live Aid in 1985 included David Bowie (top picture), Led Zeppelin (L-R: Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page, middle picture) and Eric Clapton (bottom picture). (Images found online.  Original sources unknown.)

There were a number of standout moments at both locations, but even four decades later, Queen’s 21 minute set is still hailed as one of the greatest live performances of all time. Other exceptional Wembley moments include David Bowie, U2, The Who (despite experiencing technical issues) and Elton John, who performed “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me” as a duet with George Michael for the first time. The pair collaborated on that song at the same venue during Michael’s March 1991 show and that version was released as a single. It became a #1 hit in both the UK & the U.S. (in December 1991 & February 1992, respectively).

For the American show, Phil Collins (who played at both concerts, using the Concord to fly from England to the U.S. venue) played drums for Eric Clapton & for the three surviving members of Led Zeppelin. Neil Young sang with Crosby, Stills & Nash, Ashford & Simpson performed with Teddy Pendergrass for his first performance after being paralyzed in a car crash in Philadelphia in 1982), Hall & Oates sang with former Temptations David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks and Mick Jagger performed with Tina Turner. Motown and soul were represented, respectively, by The Four Tops and Patti LaBelle. YouTube has a Live Aid channel of videos from both shows.

Queen at Live Aid in 1985 (L-R): John Deacon, Freddie Mercury, Roger Taylor and Brian May. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Black Sabbath: “Changes” (1972, written by Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne and Bill Ward).

Ozzy Osbourne: “How” (2010, written by John Lennon).

Queen: ” We Are The Champions” (Live performance at the Live Aid Concert in London, Wembley Stadium on July 13, 1985. Originally released in 1977. Written by Freddie Mercury).

Paul McCartney: “Let It Be” (Live performance at the Live Aid Concert in London, Wembley Stadium on July 13, 1985. Joined by David Bowie, Alison Moyet, Pete Townshend and Bob Geldof. Originally released in 1970. Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney).

The Four Tops: “It’s The Same Old Song” (Live performance at the Live Aid Concert in Philadelphia, PA on July 13, 1985. Originally released in 1965. Written by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland).

Black Sabbath: “Paranoid” (Live performance at the Live Aid Concert in Philadelphia, PA on July 13, 1985. Originally released in 1970. Written by Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne and Bill Ward).

Patti LaBelle: “Over The Rainbow” (Live performance at the Live Aid Concert in Philadelphia, PA on July 13, 1985. Originally released in 1966. Written by Harold Arlen and Edgar Yipsel “Yip” Harburg).

Stay safe & well.