Pat Boone, 92, Recalls Unexpected Friendship With Ozzy Osbourne
At first glance, Pat Boone and Ozzy Osbourne were complete opposites. The clean-cut crooner built his decades-long career on a foundation of Christian values, while Osbourne, nicknamed the "Prince of Darkness," embraced dark, demonic themes in his work.
But sometime in the late 1990s, the Boones and Osbournes became Beverly Hills neighbors-and, eventually, friends.
During a June 2026 appearance on The Magnificent Others With Billy Corgan podcast, Boone, now 92, recalled his first meeting with Osbourne in their driveways.
"I did a heavy metal album. I did an album of heavy metal classics," Boone told host Billy Corgan. "It was big band jazz, is what it was, and I was treating their songs as real music."
"Ozzy moved in next door," Boone continued. "Next door, just over the hedge from me for about two years. And I had just done his song ‘Crazy Train' for the album. And he knew it. And so I go out to get the mail, and here he comes shuffling down the sidewalk to get in an Escalade to go, and I said, 'Hi, Ozzy, Pat Boone,' through the gate. ‘Oh hi Pat, nice to meet you,' he says. ‘I got to go to an AA meeting, and then when I get back we'll get together and have some tea.' And so we did. We had tea together, and we got to be buddies."
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Boone noted that Osbourne was nothing like his wildman stage persona and was instead a loving family man.
"He was just a good neighbor," the "Love Letters in the Sand" singer shared. "Recently, on one of my posts when he was called The Prince of Darkness, I said, ‘No, that's not the man I knew. I'd call him the Prince of Kindness.'"
"His family, his kids, and he had crosses, although a lot of demon things, too, in his house because that was part of his image," Boone recalled, adding, "I remember him saying once he was young, I had two choices. I could be a musician or a criminal. And I was glad he chose music."
Boone's cover of Osbourne's "Crazy Train," from his album In a Metal Mood, eventually became the opening theme song for The Osbournes MTV reality show.
Boone later told the Associated Press he watched every episode of the MTV reality show and looked back fondly on being neighbors with the heavy metal family.
"[My] fondest memory ... was riding bikes with Sharon through Beverly Hills on the sidewalks, and she's towing Ozzy behind her in a wagon because (of his) balance problem," Boone said, per Blabbermouth.net.
Shortly after Osbourne's death in July 2025, Boone posted to Instagram to reflect on his unlikely friendship with the Black Sabbath legend.
"When he and Sharon and the kids lived next door to me for a couple of years, we weren't rock stars comparing careers – we were just friends and neighbors getting along just fine," Boone shared. "Others may celebrate his incredible rocking style and hard rock music – but I'll always remember his warm friendliness as my neighbor."
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This story was originally published June 12, 2026 at 8:38 AM.