Despite Jake E Lee having served as Ozzy Osbourne’s guitarist from 1982 to 1987, the two had not seen each other in 37 years. That changed, however, when Lee accepted an invitation from Tom Morello to appear and perform at Ozzy and Black Sabbath’s last ever show “Back to the Beginning” earlier this month at Villa Park in Birmingham, England.
Now, following Osbourne’s passing this past Tuesday (July 22nd), Lee took to Facebook to pay tribute to his late former bandmate, explaining that he is “still processing” the loss.
“The finality of it hits me in waves,” he wrote, before sharing the heartbreaking last text he received from the metal pioneer after his “Back to the Beginning” performance. “This was a text I got from him as I was sitting in an airport headed back home two weeks ago.”
In the message, Ozzy wrote: “Hi jake im so sorry i couldnt spend more time with you on the weekend but it was really chaotic, i would really like to see you when i eventually get back TO LA just to shoot the sh*t.
“Its been so long since we saw each other, where have are you living these days, because the last thing i heard was you were living in Las Vegas. How did the gig go for you on Saturday i really hope you had fun anyway i will text you when i eventually get back to LA and we must hook up much love and respect OZZY.”
