Sharon Osbourne’s Tribute to Cosby Show Star Before Ozzy’s Death Announcement

Sharon Osbourne shared a heartfelt tribute to Malcolm-Jamal Warner just hours before her family confirmed the death of her husband, legendary rocker Ozzy Osbourne.

Ozzy, the iconic Black Sabbath frontman, died Tuesday at age 76. A statement from his family revealed he passed earlier that day and had been ‘surrounded by love.’

Strikingly, not long before news of Ozzy’s passing became public, Sharon shared a touching message in memory of Warner, who tragically died the day prior at 54 in a reported drowning accident.

On her Instagram story, Sharon, 72, posted a video of Warner smiling while driving, wearing a baseball cap decorated with a flower for his daughter.

In the clip, the actor shares an uplifting message about finding joy in everyday moments.

‘No matter what’s going on, there’s always a reason to smile,’ Warner says in the video. ‘If you just take a minute to stop and take stock, I guarantee you can find at least one reason to smile.’

He continued: ‘And if for some reason you can’t find a reason to smile, then that’s probably the best time to be the reason for somebody else to smile.’ 

Sharon captioned her tribute: ‘Beautiful. Rest in peace @malcolmjamalwarner.’ 

Ozzy’s death comes just two weeks after his final performance at the Back to the Beginning concert, where he reunited on stage with his fellow Black Sabbath bandmates for a celebratory farewell. 

In a statement, his family said: ‘It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. 

‘He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time. Sharon, Jack, Kelly, Aimee and Louis.’

The rocker was able to bid an emotional farewell to his fans on stage this month as he reunited with his original Black Sabbath bandmates Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward for the first time since 2005.

‘You’ve no idea how I feel – thank you from the bottom of my heart,’ Osbourne told the crowd in his final speech.

The music legend vowed, however, that it would be his final ever performance due to his health, having opened up about his battle with Parkinson’s in 2020.

The star was a titan of music who somehow survived controversies that would end the careers of many others, and weathered health problems that would leave most of us on our backs.

Whether it was biting the head off both a bat and a dove, snorting a line of ants or urinating on a US war memorial while wearing one of his wife Sharon’s dresses, Osbourne was defined by his antics both on and off stage.

The singer, who sold more than 100 million records, will forever be synonymous with the heavy metal band he formed in his home city of Birmingham in 1969.

With hits that included Iron Man, War Pigs and Paranoid, Black Sabbath’s pushing of occult themes proved both hugely popular and controversial, with a future pope even condemning Osbourne for his ‘subliminal satanic influence’.

Osbourne’s most infamous moment came when he bit the head off a bat that had been thrown on stage during a solo performance. He later claimed he thought it was made of rubber. 

Osbourne forged a hugely successful solo career after being thrown out of his band in 1979 due to his drug-fuelled antics, with hits that included Crazy Train and Hellraiser.

But his hellraising off stage continued. In 1989 he attempted to kill Sharon while high on drugs, and seven years before that he urinated on the treasured Alamo Cenotaph in Texas, an act that saw him banned from San Antonio for a decade.

He was also injured in a quad bike crash at his UK home in 2003, an episode that had a serious impact on his fragile health.

Yet there was also redemption for the troubled singer, who relaunched himself as a reality tv star in The Osbournes in the early 2000s, after getting clean from drink and drugs with the help of Sharon.

It saw two of his and Sharon’s children, Kelly and Jack, become stars in their own right, whilst their other daughter Aimee declined to appear.

There was a return too to Black Sabbath in 1997, when the original line-up got back together. Five years later, he and Iommi were an unlikely part of the star-studded lineup at the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Concert at Buckingham Palace, where they performed Paranoid.

Osbourne’s final performance with Black Sabbath came in 2025, when he reunited with his bandmates for a final gig at Aston Villa’s Villa Park stadium in Birmingham.

Having then suffered from Parkinson’s disease for more than five years, he was seated for much of the farewell performance.

Born John Michael Osbourne on December 3, 1948, the singer was raised by his parents Lilian and John with three older sisters and two younger brothers in a small two-bedroom home in Birmingham.

The family of eight grew up poor and Ozzy said it was difficult because his parents were always fighting about money.

Their strained marriage meant Ozzy did not speak to his parents after he was repeatedly sexually abused, aged 11, by two bullies.

He said in a later interview: ‘I was afraid to tell my father or mother and it completely f***ed me up. Dirty little secrets fester and that is one of the first things I said to my kids.’

Aged 14, Osbourne tried to hang himself and was only saved by his father.

He was a persistent truant from school and suffered from both attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and dyslexia, whilst his violent streak made an early appearance when he once attacked a teacher with an iron bar.

The only subject that caught his attention at school was music and he performed in several productions of Gilbert & Sullivan operettas.

Osbourne left education at 15 and found work as a laborer and abattoir worker.

Osbourne then turned to petty crime. 

After stealing a television and baby clothes just before his 18th birthday, he was arrested and spent six weeks behind bars because his father refused to pay his £40 fine.

It was while in prison that Osbourne gave himself his first tattoo: ‘OZZY’ in capital letters on the knuckles of his left hand.

He formed his first band, Rare Breed, at 19, with bassist Geezer Butler.

When the pair fell out with their bandmates, they joined Iommi and Ward to set up Black Sabbath in 1968, which was first named Earth.

They renamed the band in 1969 in tribute to their favorite horror film. The move set Osbourne, Iommi and Ward on the path to heavy metal royalty.

The group quickly established a reputation for dabbling with satanic and occult themes. 

One early critic wrote: ‘His baroque prophesies of doom were uttered against a background of a uniquely heavy guitar sound.’