Zakk Wylde was unknown when Ozzy Osbourne made him his third full-time guitarist in 1987, following in the footsteps of Randy Rhoads and Jake E. Lee. He plucked him from obscurity, and together they built one of heavy metal’s most enduring friendships. After Ozzy's tumultuous early solo career, the young guitarist provided stability and built on his superlative legacy, album after album, tour after tour.
Through the years, Zakk came to know him simply as “Dad,” so it's no surprise that Ozzy's passing has hit him hard.
Now Zakk has revealed how he attempted to see him backstage at Back to the Beginning and the message he got from Ozzy after they failed to have one last goodbye together.
“Everybody and their mother were in the backstage dressing room,” he tells Guitar World. “I just wanted to give him a break. I figured we’d see him later on — the next day or whatever. But no.
“The last text I got from Oz was saying, ‘Zakky, sorry, it was like a madhouse back there. I didn’t see you.’
“He goes, ‘Thanks for everything.’ It was just us talking, saying, ‘I love you, buddy.’
“That was it.”
It marked a subdued ending to their celebrated relationship and has echoes of Ozzy’s final words to Jake E. Lee, the man Wylde replaced in the band.
“Oz was just the best,” Zakk reminisces. “I have my father, who was a World War II veteran, and then Ozzy, who was almost like an older brother. There was almost a 20-year age gap between us. With our relationship, there was the fun drinking — but if I ever needed advice, I could talk to him.”
The last song they played together was “Crazy Train,” which closed out Ozzy’s solo set at Back to the Beginning.
Before that, Ozzy was visibly emotional as he worked his way through arguably the finest song to come from the Ozzy–Wylde era: “Mama, I’m Coming Home.” It was a performance that would have made even the most hardened of people weep.
Tony Iommi believes that performing at the show — despite his mounting health issues — was Ozzy's dying wish. In the end, he and his fellow performers raised a record-breaking $190 million for charity. The funds will go to Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Acorn Children’s Hospice and Cure Parkinson’s, an organization dedicated to finding a cure for the disease Ozzy lived with since 2019.
“That’s unbelievable," Wylde says. "He helped a whole lot of people instead of making a profit. My God, what an incredible master. What an incredible life.”
One year before Ozzy’s forced retirement from touring, Wylde had stepped into the shoes of his late friend, Dimebag Darrell, in a new-look Pantera in 2022. He was out on tour with the band when the singer passed.
After adding “Planet Caravan” to their set — a song they first covered on 1994’s Far Beyond Driven — the band has now announced it needs to take a break from the road to process everything that has transpired over the last week or so.
“Ozzy wasn’t just a legend who shaped the very foundation of heavy metal and inspired Pantera from the beginning — he was family,” an official post from the band reads. “A mentor, a brother, and a constant presence in our lives both on and off the stage. The bond we shared with him ran far deeper than music.
“In light of this profound loss, we need time and space to grieve — to be with our families, our crew, and each other as we process and honor the life of someone who meant so much to us.”
Ozzy's relationship with Wylde had its quirks and moments of strife — Ozzy had some very strict gear rules, and a chance to audition for Guns N' Roses temporarily cost Zakk his place in the band. But above all, Ozzy was a father to the shredder. That’s a loss that won’t be easy to overcome.
