OZZY OSBOURNE Wants To Play At The Birmingham Town Hall

Ozzy Osbourne will be the first person inducted into the new Birmingham Walk of Stars, which will honor the British city's most famous sons and daughters. Osbourne's induction ceremony will be held on July 6.

According to icBirmingham, Ozzy has revealed for the first time that he would love to celebrate his induction by taking part in a re-opening festival show at the October 5 Brum Rocks Extra spectacular.

The show, which celebrates Birmingham's rock heritage and is part of a three-week festival to mark the Town Hall's reopening, will raise money for Birmingham Children's Hospital.

Touring commitments permitting, stars like LED ZEPPELIN's Robert Plant, Raymond Froggatt and FAIRPORT CONVENTION's Dave Pegg have agreed to take part. Ozzy's BLACK SABBATH colleague, guitarist Tony Iommi, was originally due to play, but will be touring in the U.S.

"If I'm around on that date I'd love to come and do the show," said Ozzy, adding that he has fond memories of the Town Hall — especially a gig in January, 1972. "On the inside sleeve of the BLACK SABBATH 'Vol. 4' album there's a live shot of us performing at the Town Hall. You can see some of the audience in the picture and I've often wondered what became of those people.

"When I'm in Birmingham next month I'd like to visit the Town Hall."

The general manager, Simon Wales, said: "We would love to welcome Ozzy back. Ozzy taking part in Brum Rocks Extra would be fantastic, not to be missed, and we will certainly follow this up."

Ozzy will perform at the National Indoor Arena on July 6, but before the show he will be honoured with the first star on the city's newest attraction on Broad Street.

"If you'd have told me 20 years ago that this was going to happen I'd never have believed it," he said. "There are people who have been performing a lot longer than me who deserve a place on the Walk of Stars.

"The rest of BLACK SABBATH — Tony, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward — should be the next ones honored. Then there's Jeff Lynne, Denny Laine and the MOODY BLUES. Birmingham has come up with some great bands over the years — JUDAS PRIEST, half of LED ZEPPELIN. We're at least as good as anywhere else."

Ozzy added: "I know I don't often get the chance to visit Birmingham, but I love the fact that I'm from the city.

"I played in Moscow recently and someone handed me a DVD about me. It was all in Russian, but there were shots of where I used to live in Aston.

"I'm really looking forward to coming to Birmingham, although if I take the wrong turn off Spaghetti Junction I'll end up somewhere like Edgbaston!"