Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi has mirrored on his friendship with Ozzy Osbourne in a brand new social media submit.

In the present day (22 July) marks one yr because the passing of the Sabbath frontman, which occurred only a matter of weeks after his ultimate gig with the band for the mighty Again To The Starting live performance occasion of their residence metropolis of Birmingham, UK.

Iommi writes, “Hello everybody. Effectively, it’s now a yr since Ozzy’s passing and I nonetheless can’t imagine that he’s not with us. I watch him on YouTube and it seems like he’s nonetheless right here with us. We at all times stayed in contact, nearly each week or so and we’d often discuss our illnesses after which about what we’d been doing that exact week.

“The followers have been completely sensible and the love and respect that they’ve proven for him has simply been wonderful. I’m so glad that we have been in a position to play one ultimate present with the unique line up of Sabbath on the Again To The Starting present in our residence city of Birmingham! There’ll by no means be one other Ozzy. I miss you my expensive good friend.”

Iommi spoke to ITV Information shortly after Osbourne’s loss of life final yr, wherein he shared his perception that the Prince of Darkness held on to have the ability to do their ultimate gig: “I believe he actually simply held out to try this present. I actually really feel, and me and Geezer [Butler] have been speaking about it final night time, that we predict he held out to do it, and simply after that, he’s accomplished it and stated goodbye to the followers. And that was the tip of it, actually.”

The Again To The Starting occasion raised an estimated eight million for charity in whole. Iommi was lately made an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) within the King’s Birthday Honours for his companies to music and charity. Iommi has labored on humanitarian tasks through the years, reminiscent of worldwide catastrophe reduction and most cancers affected person advocacy.

Rachel started writing for Guitar.com in 2021 whereas ending up her diploma. A proud DIY guitarist, she has been taking part in for over 10 years and has written for the likes of Kerrang!, The Forty-5, and MusicTech. An enjoyer of all issues heavy, you’ll discover her at a pageant or downtuning her guitars when away from her desk.