Description

People say to me, if you could do it all again, knowing what you know now, would you change anything? I’m like, f*** no. If I’d been clean and sober, I wouldn’t be Ozzy. If I’d done normal, sensible things, I wouldn’t be Ozzy.

Look, if it ends tomorrow, I can’t complain. I’ve been all around the world. Seen a lot of things. I’ve done good… and I’ve done bad. But right now, I’m not ready to go anywhere.

At the age of sixty-nine, Ozzy Osbourne was on a triumphant farewell tour, playing to sold-out arenas and rave reviews all around the world.

Then disaster.

In a matter of just a few weeks, he went from being hospitalised with a finger infection to having to abandon his tour – and all public life – as he faced near-total paralysis from the neck down.

Last Rites is the shocking, bitterly hilarious, never-before-told story of Osbourne’s descent into hell. Along the way, he reflects on his extraordinary life and career – including his turbulent marriage to wife Sharon, his regrets over Black Sabbath’s reunion, his friendships with Slash and Zakk Wylde, and the harrowing final moments he spent with Motorhead’s Lemmy Kilmister.

Unflinching but surprisingly life-affirming, Last Rites demonstrates once again why Ozzy has transcended his status as ‘The Godfather of Metal’ and ‘The Prince of Darkness’ to become a modern-day folk hero and national treasure.

Publisher Review

Self-aware, level-headed and savagely funny, and not just by rock star standards * THE GUARDIAN * Brilliantly gossipy... unearths a new trove of rock and roll stories * THE DAILY TELEGRAPH * Wild, and fun, and funny * THE STANDARD * A self-effacing and unexpectedly affecting portrait of the Prince of Darkness in twilight... Last Rites mixes ancient stories of Ozzy's rock star rapscallionism (entertaining, always) with meditations on the inevitability of death that grow thicker as the book lurches toward the only conclusion it can * THE WASHINGTON POST * An essential, entertaining read * METAL HAMMER * Desperately moving * iPaper * Genuinely big-hearted rather than contrivedly quirky, refusing to overwrite past ugliness but still brimming with gratitude...a fitting final encore for a life lived at extremes * SALON * Haunting, revelatory * ROLLING STONE * Ozzy holds nothing back * MUSIC FRENZY *