Details have been shared for Ozzy Osbourne‘s funeral cortege, which will be making its way through his Birmingham hometown.
The cortege will be taking place tomorrow (July 30) and offer fans in the city a chance to pay their respects to the heavy metal pioneer.
The body of the Black Sabbath singer will be brought back to Birmingham for a procession, which will travel along the city centre’s Broad Street from 1pm BST tomorrow. The news was revealed by BBC, and the hearse will make its way to the Black Sabbath Bridge and bench, where thousands have come together to leave flowers and messages in tribute to the artist.
It will take place ahead of a private funeral, and local musicians Bostin’ Brass will accompany the procession.
“We’re going to pay our last respects and homage to one of the greatest living legends of Birmingham,” Lord Mayor of Birmingham Zafar Iqbal said. “He put Birmingham on the map. He put Aston on the map.”
Broad Street will be closed to traffic from 7am tomorrow, and trams and buses operating around the area will be diverted throughout the day, and reopen as usual after the event.
People have travelled from around the world to leave touching tributes at the Black Sabbath Bridge following Osbourne’s death on July 22. He was aged 76.
There has also been a book of condolence that allows fans to write their own messages about what the singer meant to them. People have queued extensively to leave their respects in the book, including the city’s Lord Mayor.
Speaking about the book with the BBC, Iqbal said that the “love they showed Ozzy and his family was immense”, and that he was grateful to the Osbourne family for paying to enable it to go ahead.
Shortly after news of his death broke, fans came together to call for both Birmingham Airport and a stage at Download Festival to be renamed after the late singer. A Change.org petition for the former got over 5,000 signees in less than two days, and currently stands at nearly 47,000 signatures.
Countless fans and figures from the music world have shared tributes to the ‘Crazy Train’ singer – including Zak Starkey, Adam Sandler, Ghost’s Tobias Forge, Alice Cooper, Elton John, Yungblud, Billie Joe Armstrong, Jack White, Coldplay, Gojira and Jake E Lee. Touching messages have also been shared by his Sabbath bandmates Tony Iommi, Bill Ward and Geezer Butler.
Pantera have rescheduled shows to give fans a chance to mourn the loss of The Prince Of Darkness, and both Ozzy’s solo work and music with Black Sabbath have seen a massive increase in streaming numbers following the loss.
Ozzy’s death came shortly after the music icon took to the stage for the huge ‘Back To The Beginning’ gig in Birmingham on July 5 – marking his final show both as a solo artist and with Black Sabbath. While a cause of death has not been revealed, Ozzy had been dealing with a myriad of health issues for numerous years, including being diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.
That final show has brought in “a ton” for charities Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Acorns Children’s Hospice, and a film documenting the gig is currently in production from Mercury Studios and is set to arrive in cinemas in 2026.
