Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne Pay Tribute To Tony Martell

Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne have paid tribute to Tony Martell, who went from being a successful record company executive to founding the T.J. Martell Foundation. Martell died on Sunday at the age of 90.

Ozzy had the following to say (via BraveWords), "It saddened me to hear of my friend Tony Martell's passing. Tony was the only record executive to believe in me when he signed me to Epic Records as a solo artist in 1980. He will be missed."

Sharon shared, "Tony was always a mensch of a guy, one of the few good ones where you kind of thought, 'Are you really in the music industry?' [Laughter] "I met him in 1975 because he'd signed ELO and Jet Records [to Epic] when I was working for my father [manager/Jet founder Don Arden]. When Ozzy started [his solo career in 1980] people turned him down because there hadn't been a lead singer that had left a band and become successful at that time, but Tony believed in him and signed him -- and how many years later are we, and we're still signed to Epic and it's all down to Tony. I must add that Ozzy is truly, truly saddened by this.

"I don't think even Tony at the time realized what he was starting -- that [the T.J. Martell Foundation] would become so hugely successful. So many people who were ill reached out to Tony for advice and help -- people in the industry that he didn't even work with would call him and he'd give advice about doctors, about treatment. He'd made a promise to his son and he wanted to see that promise through, and he went on to help probably hundreds of people. People like him are so rare." Read the BraveWords report for more here.

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