Ozzy Osbourne, the father of British heavy metal, singer, songwriter and media personality, died Tuesday, July 22, 2025, after a long struggle with Parkinson’s disease. He was 76.

Ozbourne was the lead vocalist of the band Black Sabbath. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Black Sabbath in 2006. On that occasion critic Deborah Frost wrote, “Black Sabbath simply oozed upon us, unfestooned by any pretense of art, peace, love, understanding, or mushroom embroidery, and immediately defined heavy metal.”

Voodoo Fest, 2015. Photo by Noe Cugny / OffBeat

On October 31, 2015, Halloween night, Ozzy Osbourne played Voodoo Fest in New Orleans. With his passing, here’s a bit of reminiscing with OffBeat’s concert review.

Ozzy Osbourne lit up the Altar Stage during a stormy Halloween night at the Voodoo Music + Arts Experience. The 66-year-old heavy metal icon was joined by his backing band, as well as a trio of hard rock legends that included Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler, Guns N’ Roses’ Slash and Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello.

Osbourne delivered an explosive performance that included many of Black Sabbath’s timeless hits like “Iron Man,” “War Pigs” and many more. The singer also had a flair for the theatrical as he doused the already-soaked crowd with a firehose full of some kind of soapy liquid. The all-star band closed its set with a crowd-pleasing “Crazy Train” before return for an encore that included “Mama, I’m Coming Home” and the highly anticipated “Paranoid.”

Although considered an icon of hard rock music, and one of the founders of heavy metal music, he disliked being categorized as metal, stating that while his band “plays heavy” other bands that are considered metal are “really heavy.” He said: “Back in the day, it was always just rock music. It’s still just rock music.”