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Metal Hammer
Metal Hammer
Entertainment
Joe Daly

"I open my eyes and see the captain and co-pilot with an axe, chopping down the door to the cockpit": After 40 years of friendship with Ozzy Osbourne, Stephen Rea has some stories to share

Ozzy Osbourne with his arm around the young Stephen Rea.

The story of Stephen Rea and Ozzy Osbourne ranks among heavy metal’s most unlikely and uplifting sagas. It begins amid the grey streets of Belfast at the height of the Troubles, arcs through the blazing heat of Rock in Rio, winds through the decades across European stages and tour buses, and concludes in a quiet hotel suite in Birmingham on July 5, 2025.

Once whispered among insiders, Rea’s extraordinary journey now takes centre stage in his engrossing new memoir, Ozzy & Me: Life Lessons, Wild Stories and Unexpected Epiphanies from Forty Years of Friendship with the Prince of Darkness. The title may be a mouthful, yet it barely hints at the depth and heart of the story within.

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