Ozzy Osbourne had his heart monitored “15 times a day” in the weeks before his death, it has been reported.
The Black Sabbath singer died on Tuesday, aged 76, days after the band reunited for their Back To The Beginning farewell concert in Birmingham, England.
Osbourne had previously detailed how he was being closely monitored in the lead-up to the gig to ensure he was fit enough to perform.
“I am constantly in training seven days a week. I have got this guy who’s virtually living with me and I am in bed by seven. I used to have to take a handful of f****** sleeping pills,” the rocker said on an episode of his Ozzy Speaks show on SiriusXM in May.
“Now I don’t take anything. I am having my blood pressure taken 15 times a day. I’ve got this f****** device on my finger. It’s a monitor to say how my heart rate is,” he added.
“I’m just taking it one day at a time. Ask him upstairs. In my case, the one below.”
The Black Sabbath star was dealing with numerous health issues, including spinal problems related to an old quad bike crash in 2003 as well as a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease.
He also revealed that the reunion concert was his wife Sharon’s idea, as a way to cheer him up when all the compounding health problems started getting him down.
“You wake up the next morning and find that something else has gone wrong. You begin to think this is never going to end,” he told the Guardian.
“Sharon could see that I was in Doom Town, and she says to me: ‘I’ve got an idea.’ It was something to give me a reason to get up in the morning.’ “I thought: ‘Oh, f****** hell, she’s got an idea. Here we go.”
His sister, Jean, has also revealed the two had made plans via text in the final days before his death.
“We had an executive box in the stadium, and when I saw the sea of people waiting to see our John, I just broke down,” she told the Daily Mirror.
“We didn’t really get a chance to chat much because it was such a chaotic visit. But in his last text to me he said he would be coming to Birmingham again.
“He said ‘I can’t wait to come back’. We were hoping to see him this week.”
Osbourne also texted his siblings on the day as he drove down Lodge Road, where the family lived close to Aston Villa’s stadium.
“He said he couldn’t believe all the crowds were walking down our old street to watch him perform. He was blown away,” his sister said.
The two sisters saw Osbourne when he was back in Birmingham to be given the freedom of the city alongside his Sabbath bandmates.
His sisters are said to be stunned by the “outpouring of love” they have received since his death.
“We just can’t believe he is gone and we won’t be getting another phone call or text from him,” Jean said.
“Every week without fail he would get in touch, either by phone or text, to ask how we were all doing and what was going on.”
His death, she said, was a shock to everyone around him.
“He was frail but [his death] still came as a shock. He still had plans and things he wanted to do.
“We don’t know the details of his death, it’s still too early. It’s just so sad. I’m just thankful he died in England.”
The Back to the Beginning farewell show in their hometown of Birmingham, just two weeks before his death, raised millions of pounds for charity.
Meanwhile, reports have also emerged that an air ambulance was rushed to his country home before his death.
Urgent calls from the house had led the emergency services to believe Osbourne’s life was in danger, MailOnline reported.
The helicopter was reportedly dispatched from the Thames Valley ambulance base at RAF Benson in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, 43km from Osbourne’s home. It was seen landing at 10.30am before taking off again at around 12.30pm.
The crew were airborne for around 15 minutes before landing in the grounds of the house. They were with Osbourne for around two hours, it was reported.
Osbourne didn’t want his funeral to be a “mope-fest”.
The Black Sabbath star set out plans for his memorial before his death, insisting he wanted to be remembered with a joyful “celebration” and he would even be happy for some “pranks” to be played on the mourners.
In a piece for the Times newspaper in 2011, Osbourne explained: “I don’t care what [music] they play at my funeral; they can put on a medley of Justin Bieber, Susan Boyle and We Are The Diddymen if it makes ’em happy - but I do want to make sure it’s a celebration, not a mope-fest.
“I’d also like some pranks, maybe the sound of knocking inside the coffin, or a video of me asking my doctor for a second opinion on his diagnosis of ‘death’.
“There’ll be no harping on the bad times. It’s worth remembering that a lot of people see nothing but misery their whole lives, so by any measure, most of us in this country - especially rock stars like me - are very lucky.
“I don’t want my funeral to be sad. I want it to be a time to say ‘thanks’.”
News of Osbourne’s death was confirmed by his family in a statement, which read: “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.”
It was later reported that Osbourne died at his home in Buckinghamshire, UK and his daughters had flown in from Los Angeles to be with him.
A source told MailOnline: “[His passing was] unexpected to be this soon.”
The insider added that daughters Aimee, 41, and Kelly, 40, had come from Los Angeles to be with their father and son Jack, 39, had flown in from his home in Idaho to watch his father perform at his final Black Sabbath gig in Birmingham on July 5.
The source said: “Ozzy was always meant to come back to Britain to live in Buckinghamshire, it was where Sharon had spent so long preparing their family home for him.
“There was much hope that he would be around for a lot longer than this, but at one point, there were fears they would not get him back from Los Angeles for the concert earlier this month.
“Kelly has been at the house a lot in the last week or so, so has Aimee. It is terribly sad for all of them, they really hoped he would be able to carry on for a bit longer.
“But it’s so lovely that he had his children around him during his last days.”
- with Bang Showbiz