Last summer, the world bid farewell to heavy metal pioneer Ozzy Osbourne. At the 2026 Grammys, a select group of famous Ozzy collaborators—Post Malone, Andrew Watt, Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Guns N’ Roses/Velvet Revolver bandmates Duff McKagan and Slash—banded together to pay tribute to the Prince of Darkness.
Following Reba McEntire’s moving In Memoriam performance of “Trailblazer,” the stage turned blood red to reveal Post Malone et. al readying the start of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs.” With Posty on vocals, Slash on guitar (big surprise), Smith on drums, and McKagan and Watt lending backup, the In Memoriam segment continued on the giant screen behind them as balloons of fire spat out from the stage sides. Throughout the performance, the cameras briefly cut to Ozzy’s grown children, Jack, Kelly, and Aimee, who were watching from the crowd.
Ozzy Osbourne, who amassed fame as frontman for the legendary metal group Black Sabbath before breaking out as solo artist (and much later, a pioneering reality TV star), died in July 2025 of a heart attack. He was 76. After a long and often controversial career that included plenty of recreational drugs and eating bats on stage, the musician spent the latter years of his life dealing with Parkinson’s. He was diagnosed in 2003, and by 2019, his condition worsened. That year, his solo “No More Tours II” tour was canceled early due to his declining health and the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2025, Osbourne lost the ability to walk and performed his final live shows with Black Sabbath sitting down.
Tonight’s assembly of rockers were all made up of former Ozzy collaborators, some even close friends. The majority of them contributed to Osbourne’s final two albums, 2020’s Ordinary Man and 2022’s Patient Number 9.
In 2020, Osbourne called Slash “a dear friend of mine”; Slash played the guitar solo for the title track on Ordinary Man. Their friendship goes back even further. Slash participated in the Ozzy Osbourne & Friends tour in 2012, and Ozzy was a guest vocalist on Slash’s self-titled 2010 album.
Smith, McKagan, and Watt all had their hands full on Ordinary Man and Patient Number 9. McKagan played bass on Ordinary Man, while Smith played drums on both albums. Watt was a producer on the albums, which were made from his home studio. Watt later called Osbourne “one of my best friends” in an October 2025 interview with People.
As for Post Malone, Osbourne was a guest on his 2019 album Hollywood’s Bleeding, on “Take What You Want,” which they performed together at the 2019 American Music Awards. In turn, Post Malone appeared on Ordinary Man, on the song “It’s a Raid.” Osbourne credits his initial work with Post Malone for encouraging him to return to music.
Tonight’s performance at the Grammys wasn’t the first time some of the same musicians paid tribute to Ozzy. In 2024, Osbourne was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, where Chad Smith and Andrew Watt performed renditions of “Crazy Train,” “Mama, I’m Coming Home,” and “No More Tears” alongside Robert Trujillo, Billy Idol, Zakk Wylde, Jelly Roll, and Wolfgang Van Halen.
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They say rock music is dead. But at least for tonight, in tribute to one of heavy metal’s biggest icons, reports of its death are greatly exaggerated.
