Ozzy Osbourne's Working Class Hero exhibition welcomes over 425,000 visitors

When Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery opened Ozzy Osbourne: Working Class Hero on 25 June 2025, it was planned as a summer exhibition. Fifteen months later, after two extensions and more than 425,000 visitors, it had become one of the city's most loved cultural moments.

The free exhibition was developed by Central BID Birmingham, the museum and Sharon Osbourne Management, and was officially opened by Sharon Osbourne. It was timed to coincide with Black Sabbath's homecoming concert, Back to the Beginning, at Villa Park on 5 July 2025.

At the opening, Sharon Osbourne said: "This exhibition is a real celebration of everything Ozzy has achieved and the city that made him."

For the first time, Ozzy's major international honours were shown together, including Grammy Awards, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame accolades, MTV awards and his stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Birmingham Walk of Stars. Gold and platinum discs marked his record sales around the world, while photography and video charted his journey from "a working-class kid from Aston" to global rock legend.

The exhibition was part of a wider summer celebration of the band in their home city, which also included a free outdoor Black Sabbath photography exhibition in Victoria Square and a 40-metre mural by Mr Murals on Navigation Street, near New Street station.

After Ozzy's death on 22 July 2025, the gallery became a place where fans came to pay tribute. On 3 December 2025, which would have been his 77th birthday, a tribute wall of 77 messages was unveiled, chosen from more than 50,000 left by fans in condolence books and at sites across the city.

Originally due to close in September 2025, the show was extended to January 2026 and then to 27 September 2026. Sam Watson, chair of Central BID Birmingham, said: "The demand to see the exhibition has been phenomenal." The museum's co-chief executives, Zak Mensah and Sara Wajid, added that the response showed "the love and affection for Ozzy in Birmingham and beyond."

It was a fitting tribute from a city proud to call itself the home of heavy metal. Details of current exhibitions are on the Birmingham Museums website.