Ozzy Osbourne reveals Lemmy’s favourite album by him - and some defiant words the Motörhead legend gave him near the end

Ozzy Osbourne and Lemmy
(Image credit: Daniel Knighton/Getty Images, Jason Merritt/Getty Images)

Ozzy Osbourne has detailed what happened during the final few moments he spent with Lemmy ahead of his death 2015, as well as what the Motörhead frontman thought of his solo music.

In conversation with Metal Hammer, the Black Sabbath vocalist recalls spending time with Lemmy during the height of his battle with cancer.

“I think about Lemmy all the fucking time," Ozzy reveals. "He was a great guy – he’d go, ‘That record you just made was fucking shit’, or ‘I really like that one’. His favourite [line] was, ‘Your best record was No More Tears’ – yeah, because you wrote on it, you cunt!"

Speaking of seeing Lemmy during his latter days, Ozzy continues, "I went down to South America and he was there on tour, but he was so fucked he couldn’t speak to anyone. He was sitting at the front, skinny as a rake. He was riddled with cancer at the end, but mind you, he turned round to me and said ‘I’m probably going to die, I suppose. Never thought I’d make 70, so I did good’.

"His exact words were, ‘I could have lived a lot longer and taken care of myself, but I lived my life the way I want to live and I ain’t got no regrets’. Fair enough!”

Last month, Ozzy released the second single from his forthcoming solo album, Patient Number 9. The track, titled Degradation Rules, served as one of two tracks to feature Black Sabbath bandmate Tony Iommi, the other being No Escape From Now.

The first single from the follow-up to 2020's Ordinary Man was the album's title-track, featuring Jeff Beck, which was released in June.

Patient Number 9 is scheduled to arrive on September 9, and will host more appearances from rock royalty including Eric Clapton, Pearl Jam's Mike McCready, the late Taylor Hawkins, Red Hot Chili Peppers' drummer Chad Smith, Metallica bassist Rob Trujillo and Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan.

Liz Scarlett

Liz works on keeping the Louder sites up to date with the latest news from the world of rock and metal. Prior to joining Louder as a full time staff writer, she completed a Diploma with the National Council for the Training of Journalists and received a First Class Honours Degree in Popular Music Journalism. She enjoys writing about anything from neo-glam rock to stoner, doom and progressive metal, and loves celebrating women in music.