Rick Wakeman has shared a video paying an emotional tribute to his late friend, Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne, who died on Tuesday.
Wakeman was longtime friends with Ozzy and Sabbath, and worked with the band on 1973's Sabbath Bloody Sabbath album, featuring on piano and Minimoog on Sabbra Cadabra, and also played Mellotron on the songs Perry Mason and I Just Want You from Ozzy's 1995 album Ozzmosis. Ozzy later featured on Wakeman's 1999 album, Return To The Centre Of The Earth.
In his video, Wakeman says, "This is a message for Ozzy, who's now on a very special journey, having passed away and we all miss him something terrible. But what a legacy he's left. An absolute character, an absolute personality, both music-wise, where he was actually much cleverer than a lot of people gave him credit for, and also his madness, which I loved. I miss him an awful lot even now. And wish Sharon all the best. I think it was Sharon who made Ozzy in later years, after she met him, and in a strange way he made Sharon. The pair of them were inseparable, but now they have been separated, but there are the memories that will always live on. So obviously, wherever you are on the astral plane where you're travelling, I wish you all the very best and hope you meet a lot of interesting people on the way. Miss you, mate. Bye."
Rick's son Adam Wakeman, who played keyboards with both Sabbath and Ozzy in recent years, also paid tribute to the late frontman, saying, "Thank you for everything you have done for me, my family, my career, my musicianship, my love for music, for all the love and laughter on the many tours around the World. There are men, great men… and then above them all, there’s Ozzy Osbourne."
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