'I met Ozzy Osbourne - this was what he was really like off stage'

Ozzy Osbourne's death has shocked the world less than 24 hours after the tragic news was announced by the family in a heartbreaking statement. The 76-year-old rocker's passing comes weeks afterhe gave a stellar performance at his farewell gig in the heart of Birmingham. The rock legend boasted a fiercely loyal fanbase throughout his music and reality TV career, where he was crowned the Prince of Darkness as the lead singer of his band Black Sabbath.

His loyal followers drove out in thousands for the spectacular gig, with a staggering 42,000 fans squeezing into Villa Park to bask in his splendour as he performed the band's greatest hits in a black throne adorned with a bat. Now, two of his devoted fans have spoken out about their meetings with the Paranoid hitmaker and have revealed what he was really like off stage.

Taking to Reddit, one user recalled how they met the Osbournes at a Comic Con event in the heart of Philadelphia. He gushed: "I flew from Manchester to Philadelphia to meet the Osbournes last year at a Comic Con. It was absolutely surreal, and he was one of the nicest guys I've ever met.

"When I talking to Sharon and she realised I'm British, she fast tracked me to meet everyone first and she was always waving and coming over to talk to me. Ozzy was so funny, he spoke to me for ages and was so shocked I had travelled so far!

"He's literally my favourite person in the world so it was kind of my now or never. When I was leaving, they all came over to wish me safe travels back and it was the greatest day of my life."

Another fan on the subreddit recalled a fond meeting with Ozzy where the musician treated him to a meal together. They penned: "I met him back in '87 at an autograph signing session. He had a really heavy accent, but you could understand him.

"The weird mumbling he's developed with the accent makes it harder to understand him now. Fun story, my buddies and I (all metal heads) took a friend of ours (also a metal head), that had muscular dystrophy and was confined to a wheelchair to the session.

"His parents would always let us take the custom van with the big wheelchair lift. We used to go to concerts all the time back then. The autograph session was at a record star, and they let in handicapped people first."

The doting fan then shared an insight into what the musician was really like off stage, and the amount of care and attention he gave to his loyal fanbase.

They wernt on: "About an hour before they opened the doors to the general public and there was a huge line of people waiting. This was right after his 'tribute' album to Randy Rhoads came out. Ozzy was so f***ing cool to all the handicapped fans, I was blown away.

"He sat and talked to my friend for about 30 minutes (there weren't many handicapped fans there, and all the others were with their parents who really didn't want to hang out) and signed everything he had brought.

"He thought it was really cool that we had brought our friend to meet him, and when we told him we had all seen him in '86, he invited us all to lunch after the session!

"So we had lunch with Ozzy and Sharon! He was great, very friendly and seemed pretty sober. We had a great day. My friend sadly died a few years later, but I know he had a blast that day."

It's fair to say the UK has lost another one of their music greats this week, a hole which will be difficult to fill in the music industry as a whole.