Ozzy Osbourne: Lemmy didn't know who I was the day he died

15 June 2018

Ozzy Osbourne was one of the last people to speak to late Motorhead frontman Lemmy.

Ozzy Osbourne

The 'Paranoid' hitmaker knew his friend was nearing the end of his life on December 28, 2015, and says the 'Ace of Spades' hitmaker - who passed away after a battle with inoperable prostate cancer - had no idea who he was.

He recalled: "I phoned him on the day he died. I knew he was dying. He didn't even know it was me ... I had to say to him: 'It's Ozzy, Lem.' He just gurgled down the phone to me. I said Lemmy, for f**k[s] sake, stay there, I'm coming."

The 69-year-old rocker wanted to drive to Lemmy's home, but his wife Sharon told him it was too late.

He told Metal Hammer magazine: "I said to Sharon, 'F**k it, get in the car, we're going round to his apartment.'

"And just as we were leaving she came up to me and said, 'Don't worry, he's gone.'"

The Black Sabbath frontman has fond memories of his time on the road with Motorhead on his first American tour, 'The Blizzard of Ozz Tour', in 1980 and 1981.

He said: "That's a memory I'll take to my grave you know. Good times, they were all good guys, I miss them all to be honest."

The pair wrote several songs together, including 'Mama, I'm Coming Home' - along with his guitarist Zakk Wylde and multi-platinum producer/engineer Tom Fletcher - which Ozzy performed during his headlining set at Download Festival last weekend.

Not long after Lemmy's death, Ozzy revealed it was a running joke between them of who would die first, because they'd both lived the rock 'n' roll lifestyle abusing drugs and alcohol for years.

He said: "Me and Lemmy go back a long time. We used to have a standing joke with each other, 'Which one of us is going to go first?' But I curbed my ways, staying up all night and all that, a long time ago.

"But Lemmy said to me one time, 'What's the point of living to 99 if you're not enjoying it? It's my life and I want to have fun with it.

"And he lived to 70. And the way he lived, smoking cigarettes, drinking and all that, he knew he wouldn't be doing it. You can't live that lifestyle and live 'til 99. Very rarely, some people can. Most of us drop off along the way."