OZZY OSBOURNE: 'I've Had A Phenomenal Career'

Ozzy Osbourne invited SiriusXM host Jose Mangin to his house for a special interview for Osbourne's exclusive SiriusXM channel Ozzy's Boneyard, channel 38. A few clips from the chat can be heard below.

On the highlights and lowlights about life on the road:

Ozzy: "I get homesick; [that is] a lowlight. And when you phone home, Sharon [Ozzy's wife and manager] would go, 'Oh, Jack [Ozzy's son] walked for the first time today,' or, 'Kelly [Ozzy's daughter] won a prize at school.' And you're sitting in some fucking hotel room somewhere, going, 'Why am I here?' 'Cause I'd do a show, then a day off, show, then day a day off, so for me, I'm sitting in a room for 20 hours, you know, and for four hours, you get to a gig and you do a show... you do a great gig, and you go back on your own to a hotel room. I don't care who you are. Then you phone your wife home, and she goes, 'So and so happened today, and guess what, this and that.' It was so nice to be at school and see the kids do their Christmas play, and Jack was a fairy or something like that. You know how kids are."

On touring highlights:

Ozzy: "Well, there's nothing like a great gig. When you do a great gig, it's the best feeling in the world. Same as when you do a bad gig. You go, 'Fuck!' you know."

On how he felt about doing the final BLACK SABBATH show in Birmingham, England in February 2017:

Ozzy: "Well, I didn't think I was going to get emotional, but I got emotional. I was with [BLACK SABBATH] ten years. I've been solo for 40 years. I've got to play with some great people in my career. I've had a phenomenal career, thanks to the band. I have a great fanbase. I want to make this perfectly clear: I am not retiring. I am just not doing tours anymore. I'll always do gigs, an Ozzfest or Vegas thing or festival or a one-off here and there. I am not retiring. I am just not going on tour anymore."

Ozzy's comments to Mangin echo those he made earlier in the weekwhen he insisted in an interview with Rolling Stone that he was not retiring from music at the end of his upcoming "No More Tours 2" tour, but was instead saying goodbye to long global treks in favor of select shows. He explained: "I'm not retiring. It's 'No More Tours', so I'm just not doing world tours anymore. I'm still going to be doing gigs, but I'm not going on tour for six months at a time anymore. I'd like to spend some time at home."

The BLACK SABBATH singer said he simply wants to spend more time at home with his ever-expanding family, admitting: "I just need to slow it down a little. I enjoy being a grandfather. I don't want to go through another generation of Osbournes without seeing them grow up."

Ozzy's son Jack and his wife Lisa just welcomed their third daughter into the world last weekend, giving the 70-year-old Prince of Darkness a total of eight grandchildren now.

Ozzy's final world tour kicks off this spring with dates in Mexico, South America and Europe, coming to North America in August. It's slated to last until 2020.

He said this week at a press conference that he has "eight or nine" song ideas for a new album, which he may work on once the tour is completed.
He and Sharon also indicated that Ozzfest will continue as an annual destination festival even if Ozzy himself doesn't play, and that the singer could entertain the idea of doing a residency somewhere.