Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne has confirmed that the band will retire after one last tour in 2016.
Ozzy performed at last weekend’s Monsters Of Rock festival in São Paulo, Brazil and said in an Spril 24th press conference: “The plan is that next year we’ll do the final Black Sabbath tour and then it’s over.
“I’m still gonna continue my solo career. I’m doing these few solo gigs down here in South America now. Then at the beginning of next year, I’m going out with Sabbath. The Sabbath thing is folding up after the next tour, but I’m gonna continue my solo career.”
Asked what the differences are between performing with Black Sabbath and playing with his solo band, Ozzy said: “With Black Sabbath, I’m part of a band that I grew up with, so we all know each other’s temperaments. You know where to tread and where not to tread. It’s a completely different style of music anyway — it’s very slow and heavy. And Tony Iommi, he’s the master of Metal riffs; you can’t beat him.
“It took [Black Sabbath] 45 years to get our first number one album [2013s ’13’] and Tony, I was amazed at what he was coming up with, considering that he was fighting cancer. He’s doing great now. I text him now and again. He sounds fine.”
It is not clear whether Sabbath has begun writing a new album yet. Ozzy has also hinted at working on a solo album, and will do a residency in Las Vegas this October.
Ozzy released a solo career retrospective titled ‘Memoirs Of A Madman’ in October 2014. The CD contained 17 of his greatest hits, while the DVD featured music videos, rare live performances and interviews.
Ozzy’s last solo studio effort was 2010s Scream.
