How Halestorm Chose a Special Song to Honor Ozzy Osbourne

Ozzy Osbourne's Back to the Beginning concert was an event that still stands as one of the most incredible live music experiences that most fans will ever witness.

The star-studded performance was held in Birmingham, England, on July 5, 2025, a formative area for both Osbourne and Black Sabbath when they began their career. The show at Villa Park in Aston ended up being a chance for many of the bands and artists to go far beyond just honoring a musical hero. It was also an opportunity to live out some of their own dreams in a very unexpected way.

Understandably, Halestorm were over the moon when they were asked to be a part of Back to the Beginning.

But musical logistics behind the scenes changed their original song choice (we'll get into that in a second) and forced to modify their pick, they quickly landed on "Perry Mason," the gloomily atmospheric solo single by Osbourne that was released on 1995's Ozzmosis.

It's a track in the legendary singer's catalog that now feels slightly underrated compared to the rest of his songs that became bigger hits and mainstays at rock radio.

How Halestorm Chose to Cover 'Perry Mason'

"Considering the ['90s] generation that we grew up in, ["Perry Mason"] was a logical choice," Lzzy Hale tells UCR now in an interview that you can listen to below. "You know, Ozzy has been relevant for every single decade that he was here and that Ozzmosis record was really near and dear to our hearts. I turned to the guys and said, 'Do you want to do 'Perry Mason?'"

"I mean, it's such an incredible song, you know, [so we decided to do that one]," she continues. "I talked to Tom [Morello, who was the musical director for Back to the Beginning] and he's like, 'Oh, dude, that's going to be perfect, just throw that into the mix.' I definitely feel like it stood out a little bit with all the other choices."

Hale has previously cited Ozzmosis as one of the top three metal albums that had the biggest influence on her personally, alongside releases by Disturbed and Sevendust. "I love the Ozzmosis record. A lot of people don't, but I love it and I've listened to a lot of that as well."

Getting to perform "Perry Mason" at Back to the Beginning was a moment that stayed close to the band members' hearts. So much so, that they came back to it after Osbourne's shocking death that same month. When the band returned to Birmingham later that year in November, they played it again, this time as a tribute to the fallen heavy metal legend.

Watch Halestorm Perform 'Perry Mason' in Birmingham

But They Originally Had a Black Sabbath Cover in Mind

"It's funny, because for a second we were going to do 'A National Acrobat'" [from Black Sabbath's 1973 album Sabbath Bloody Sabbath]," she shares with UCR. "We had learned it and we were going to do that. [But then] we were on tour with Iron Maiden and it was like two weeks out from the show. Talking to Tom Morello, he's like, 'Hey, I'm trying to like round out this set list, do you have any other songs that you would like to do?'"

As a result, "Perry Mason" became their final choice over "A National Acrobat." Metallica was reportedly thinking about doing the latter. Sabbath guitar legend Tony Iommi has also been mentioned as a possible factor, as he was still working on ideas for the Black Sabbath set.

Whatever the case might have been, though "A National Acrobat" ultimately didn't get played by any of the bands or artists, Hale feels good about where they ended up with "Perry Mason" as their song choice. "I'm so glad that we did it," she says. "Just seeing everybody at that show singing along to that song too, [while it does] feel like it's a little underrated, I feel like the diehard fans know."

Watch Ozzy Osbourne's 'Perry Mason' Video

Hale is No Stranger to Cover Songs

Over the years, the singer and her bandmates have not been shy about acknowledging their influences by recording some of them. Halestorm got to team up with Bad Company vocal legend Paul Rodgers to record a new version of his classic "Shooting Star" as part of last year's Can't Get Enough: A Tribute to Bad Company album.

More recently, Hale added her distinctive vocals to new versions of Soundgarden's "Loud Love" and also, separately, "Birth Ritual," from the seminal Singles soundtrack. Both were recorded for the all-star collective King Ultramega, part of an ongoing series of tracks carefully being picked from the band -- and fallen frontman Chris Cornell's -- extensive body of work.

Proceeds from the revamped Soundgarden tracks help to benefit MusiCares, seeking also to raise awareness of mental health challenges. "It's an interesting exercise," Hale tells UCR, when it comes to revisiting songs that were written by other people and bands.

Watch the Video for King Ultramega's Version of Soundgarden's 'Birth Ritual'

What They Learn From the Experience

"On one hand, it's very inspirational to, take apart somebody's song and try to rebuild it in a different way," she explains. "Sometimes you just want to honor it and you don't want to do anything to it. You kind of have to be willing to dive in head first and work for seven hours on a song, and be like, that's not working."

"There has to be this no ego involved," she points out. "We have to let the music speak for itself, and it's going to tell us when it's right, or how much we need to do."

Ultimately, there's been an extra benefit as well for Hale and her bandmates, who have done covers by numerous artists, from the Who to Lady Gaga, released via a combination of one-off singles and EPs.

She cites "Love Bites (So Do I)" from 2012's The Strange Case Of... as one example that came about as a result of them having previously recorded a cover of Skid Row's "Slave to the Grind" that was released the prior year as part of their Reanimate: The Covers EP.

Listen to Lzzy Storm on the 'UCR Podcast'

"It's kind of a prequel to whatever we're doing next, because some of those songs can really excite us to the point that you learn something new about yourself," she says. "You're kind of forced into it instead of [thinking], what do we want to do next? Let's let's learn some of our absolute favorite songs, some timeless classics, make [them] into our own, and then see what we can learn about ourselves."

What's Next for Halestorm?

The Pennsylvania rockers have a busy schedule for the rest of the year. Presently, they're playing festivals and this fall, will hit the road supporting Babymetal. Hale is also featured as part of the Women in Metal exhibit that recently opened at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Beyond that? The charismatic vocalist is willing to pull back the curtain only slightly.

"We have some surprises that I can't talk about," she says. "We are in this kind of season [where we are] still in the middle of this album cycle. [But] we're [also] writing a lot. I'm putting together songs for whatever we're going to do next."

"There's a couple different categories of that, and also, like, we definitely want to put out another cover album as well," Hale adds. "So there's a couple different creative bouts that I think we're about to get into. Keep your eyes and ears peeled."