The Grammy Awards fell into a heavy, reverent silence as Post Malone stepped forward alongside Slash to honor Ozzy Osbourne during the 2026 In Memoriam segment. Joined by Duff McKagan and Chad Smith, the performance felt less like a ceremony and more like a wake for a man who shaped generations of rock music. As the notes rang out, cameras caught Ozzy’s family in tears — grief, pride, and gratitude colliding in real time. This wasn’t about spectacle or nostalgia. It was about legacy. Watching artists from different worlds come together to carry Ozzy’s spirit one last time made something painfully clear: the Prince of Darkness may be gone, but the sound, the rebellion, and the influence he left behind are still very much alive.
With his eccentric persona and over-the-top onstage antics, the music world had never seen anything quite like Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne when the band released their self-titled debut album in 1970. Commanding the spotlight for nearly six decades, the “Godfather of Heavy Metal” died last July at age 76—just 17 days after his triumphant curtain call with Black Sabbath. During Sunday’s (Feb. 1) 2026 Grammys ceremony, a group of musicians including Post Malone, Duff McKagan, and Slash took the stage at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena to deliver an appropriately larger-than-life tribute to Ozzy Osbourne, the Prince of Darkness
With his eccentric persona and over-the-top onstage antics, the music world had never seen anything quite like Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne when the band released their self-titled debut album in 1970. Commanding the spotlight for nearly six decades, the “Godfather of Heavy Metal” died last July at age 76—just 17 days after his triumphant curtain call with Black Sabbath. During Sunday’s (Feb. 1) 2026 Grammys ceremony, a group of musicians including Post Malone, Duff McKagan, and Slash took the stage at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena to deliver an appropriately larger-than-life tribute to Ozzy Osbourne, the Prince of Darkness.
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The performance featured Posty, Guns N’ Roses Slash and McKagan, The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ drummer Chad Smith, and Osbourne’s producer/collaborator Andrew Watt. Each of these musicians has one thing in common—all made cameos on Osbourne’s final two solo albums, 2020’s Ordinary Man and 2022’s Patient Number 9. In fact, Andrew Watt played guitar when Post Malone and Ozzy teamed up for their 2019 American Music Awards performance of their collab “Take What You Want.”
The rapper-turned country star led the way with a gravelly, soulful version of Black Sabbath’s 1970 hit “War Pigs.”
The “Circles” crooner paid tribute to Ozzy during a London performance following his death, saying, “We f—ing love you, Ozzy. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me, and not just only for me but for everyone in this building. We f—ing love you more than we could ever say.”
“There Will Never Be Another F—Ing Ozzy Osbourne Again”
Ahead of the 2026 Grammy Awards, Sharon Osbourne accepted the Clive Davis Visionary Award on her husband’s behalf at Billboard’s Power 100 Party 2026. During her acceptance speech, Sharon, 73, boldly declared, “There will never, ever be another Ozzy f—ing Osbourne in this industry again.”
“Everything he did, he did his way. He was wild… He wrote some of the best melodic melody lines in heavy metal,” Sharon said. “Nobody would be melodic in metal except for
Ozzy Osbourne, and that’s what made him stand out. He was unique.”