EXCLUSIVE: Pneumonia, Collapsed Lung and 'Human Concrete' to Hold Together His Innards — Secrets of Ozzy Osbourne's Crazed Battle to Attend Final Gig Revealed in His Searing Final Words
Ozzy Osbourne's thoughts on his fight with pneumonia, a collapsed lung, and failing health are laid bare in a newly released memoir.
Oct. 8 2025, Published 3:37 p.m. ET
RadarOnline.com can reveal Ozzy Osbourne fought through pneumonia, sepsis, and a collapsed lung to deliver his final performance in Birmingham – a farewell show he described as "the best medicine I've had since all my medical s--- started back in 2019."
The late Black Sabbath frontman, who died in July aged 76, laid bare the full story of his near-miraculous last concert in a newly released memoir, Last Rites.
Written in his trademark blunt style, it charts the brutal decline of his health and the determination of his wife Sharon, 72, to see him take the stage one last time.
Sharon's Unstoppable Determination
Ozzy Osbourne fought through pneumonia and sepsis for his final show.
"I've got to be honest with you," he said. "When Sharon first mentioned the idea of the Back to the Beginning gig to me, I didn't think there was much chance of me making it to 2025. I was like, no one will wanna do this, and no one's gonna watch. But she's unstoppable, my wife. When she decides to do something, she's gonna do it, end of story."
The Villa Park concert, which drew 42,000 fans and millions online, became both a charity event and a farewell to the city where Osbourne was born and raised.
Proceeds went to Birmingham Children's Hospital, Cure Parkinson's and Acorns Children's Hospice.
Health Battles That Nearly Ended His Life
He called the farewell concert the best medicine he ever had.
But the road to that stage almost killed Ozzy. "My back went again," he said. "Then I got pneumonia, which is bad enough for a normal person, never mind someone with Parkinson's. It kicked off my emphysema, causing one of my lungs to go down."
Doctors at Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles warned him surgery could be fatal, but he pressed on.
"They filled the cracks in my dodgy vertebra with this human cement stuff," he said. "I mean, I've got so many plates and bolts inside me already, why not pour a slab of concrete in there too?"
Then came sepsis. "It really was touch and go," Osbourne recalled. "At my age, with Parkinson's and blood clots and all the other s--- that's going on, I had about as much chance of surviving a major sepsis infection as I did of winning the next season of Love Island."
After two months on antibiotics, the singer recovered – only to contract pneumonia again. Yet by May, he and Sharon, their daughter Aimee, and a nurse boarded a plane for England. "It was a total s---show," he said. "We didn't know if we'd be coming back."
A Full-Circle Farewell in Birmingham
Ozzy performed from a black throne before 42,000 fans.
Osbourne described arriving back at his childhood city as "coming full circle." "The house where I grew up, 14 Lodge Road, was just a quarter of a mile away from the stage," he said. "Even some of the bands went over there to take selfies."
Unable to stand, he performed from a "massive black throne" with skull armrests and bat wings. "As soon as the curtain went up I forgot about my nerves," he said. "Suddenly I was looking out over 42,000 faces. It was overwhelming, man, it really was."
An Emotional Goodbye to Fans and Family
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He broke down during Mama, I’m Coming Home.
He broke down during Mama, I'm Coming Home, written with Lemmy Kilmister for Sharon.
"It was my last hurrah," he said. "After losing the ability to walk or do anything on my own, it was just the whole thing, all of it coming together."
As fans sang the words back through tears, Osbourne said he felt "so uplifted."
"Death's been knocking at my door for the last six years," he wrote. "But I've had a good run. I think I made a mark on the world."
