Geezer Butler recently broke down in tears during the private funeral service for Ozzy Osbourne on July 31st. It took place on the 250-acre grounds of the house in Buckinghamshire, England.
Only 110 of the singer’s friends and family members attended the service, including his Sabbath bandmates, Robert Trujillo, Rob Zombie, Zakk Wylde, Marilyn Manson and Corey Taylor.
Trujillo reflected on the service during an August 7th appearance on SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”. He said: “It was a small group of people, but it was very, very beautiful. And in the end, the speeches were actually… I mean, it was very sad, but at the same time some of the speeches were — as you could imagine — pretty funny. And there were a lot of tears. Sabbath kind of ended with their speech, especially with Geezer. Geezer broke down into tears. He had a hard time, obviously, speaking, and then he came back up and he delivered an amazing eulogy.”
Trujillo continued: “It had been raining at the beginning of the service, about an hour — I don’t know — longer than an hour before. And then as it sort of progressed through the service, the weather would change and different things would happen. When Kelly was singing, her lyrics flew — the wind blew her lyrics away. It was almost like Ozzy was having fun with her. And then when Geezer spoke, actually spoke, the sun came out. I’m not kidding. The sun actually came out, and then it was beautiful from that moment on — a very magical moment.
He added, “And again, it’s sad, but at the same time, people sharing stories. And all of a sudden, there was laughter, and ‘I remember this’, ‘I remember that’. There were so many stories. I mean, we’d be on the phone forever on this interview. So, it felt like there was a closure from this. And I’m glad that we went — my wife Chloe and I went — and shared that and were able to have that moment with the family and everything. So it was very beautiful. And again, heartfelt words from so many people and kind of reconnecting with different musicians and bandmates, crew members, all that.”
The day before the private funeral, thousands of fans gathered in the streets of Birmingham to pay tribute to Ozzy. His wife and manager Sharon, along with their children Aimée, Kelly and Jack, joined mourners for the emotional tribute.
