Sharon Osbourne joined Jackie Brambles on Greatest Hits Radio to talk Ozzy, The X Factor and missing life on the road.
Broadcaster Jackie Brambles spoke to Sharon Osbourne on her Greatest Hits Radio show last night (Wednesday) ahead of Sharon’s appearances in London and Birmingham with stage show Sharon Osbourne: Cut the Crap.
The outspoken matriarch shared her thoughts on Ozzy’s new music school, moving back to the UK and why there’s no room for shows like The X Factor any more…
On The X Factor: ‘I got to meet some incredible people – Louis [Walsh] is still like my brother, Nicole [Scherzinger] and Gary Barlow - amazing people. But as far as talent shows go, and I’ve been away from it for a while, it was kind of like the Wild West. You didn’t really know the importance and what it does to people’s lives and as far as I’m concerned, the whole thing needs to be changed.
As well as giving people, a lot of people, opportunities with their careers it can also damage a lot of people too. You have to be very, very careful. you’re handling people’s lives, you’ve got their future in your hands and It’s not anything to laugh at. I wouldn’t want that responsibility again, there’s damage out there and I wouldn’t want to be a part of that. I don’t regret it, I learnt a lot about the responsibility of doing a show like that, and it was a great education.’
On their move back to the UK: ‘We’re flip flopping the way we live – we’re going to live permanently in England but we’ll still come back here [to LA] to visit family.
The older you get the more you want to go back to your roots and that’s Birmingham. There’s so much of Ozzy and Black Sabbath there we can’t not go back as a family. We’re working on a music school right now, with all Ozzy’s memorabilia in there – 55 years of memorabilia – and also they’ve got Black Sabbath Bridge, the Bench and Ozzy the Bull! It’s just the most amazing thing and it means so much to him you have no idea.’
On Ozzy’s Parkinson’s: ‘He’s doing good. Each time when I make a trip to England Ozzy has wanted to come and every single time something happens that he can’t make it. I just don’t want to bring him to the cold because cold weather is no good for people with Parkinson’s - muscles seize up - so I’ve told him ‘not this trip’, when it gets a bit warmer! But Ozzy has got nine lives – he’s not going anywhere. If a bomb dropped there would be cockroaches, Keith Richards and Ozzy!’
On missing life on the road: ‘I’ve been on the road since I was four years old – my Mum was in the industry, as was my Dad - and it’s only been the last five years, since Ozzy has been sick that I haven’t toured. I’m so used to having a suitcase open in my bedroom and I miss it terribly. I miss seeing friends, and seeing the excitement of the audience - as does Ozzy.’
