Ozzy Osbourne: "I was talking to Lemmy on the morning he died"

Ozzy And Lemmy — (Image credit: Ozzy: Press / Lemmy: Mick Hutson/Redferns)

Ozzy Osbourne has revealed that he was speaking with his good friend and sometime songwriting partner Lemmy on the morning that Motörhead's legendary frontman passed away.

Lemmy died on December 28, 2015, just days after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. Motörhead's redoubtable leader was 70.

In a new interview with Classic Rock for the magazine's 300th issue, Ozzy talks about losing his friend, and says that he was actually talking to Lemmy on the morning of December 28.

"He was a good man, Lemmy was," says Ozzy. "All the guys from Motörhead have gone now, from the original band. It's hard to lose anyone you love. I was talking to Lemmy on the morning that he died, but I couldn't understand what he was talking about. I wanted to talk to someone else who was there, but they kept giving the phone to Lemmy."

Ozzy has always spoken about Lemmy with great fondness, the pair having collaborated on songs such as Mama, I'm Coming Home and I Don' Want To Change The World.

"I have fond memories of Lemmy," he said in 2018. "He was interesting man. You’d go into his apartment and it was like walking into Steptoe’s fucking war museum, with his daggers and Nazi memorabilia. He was a very educated man."

Elsewhere in the Classic Rock interview Ozzy reveals one final ambition: to have a number one solo album in his seventies. Osbourne has recruited Tony Iommi, Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton to guest on his next solo record, which is being produced by Andrew Watt.

"It's coming out as soon as it's been mixed" he says, somewhat vaguely.

For the full interview with Ozzy pick up the new issue of Classic Rock.

The 300th edition of Classic Rock is available now and features new interviews with Jimmy Page, Cheap Trick, Rush's Geddy Lee, Metallica, Brian May, Genesis, Iron Maiden and many , many more.

Classic Rock 300 — (Image credit: Future)

Artists

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.