A music journal founded in the city where Black Sabbath’s story began is exploring Ozzy Osbourne’s legacy and his influence on people across the world, in a special edition dedicated to the late singer.

A special issue of Riffs: Experimental Writing on Popular Music features never-before-seen photos of Ozzy’s early days with Black Sabbath and has been published ahead of the one-year anniversary of his final performance with the band at the Back to the Beginning concert.

Dr Asya Draganova, Senior Lecturer in Popular Music Culture at Birmingham City University (BCU), co-edited the volume alongside Benjamin Torrens, a popular music researcher at BCU and musician.

The publication’s official launch at BCU’s STEAMhouse on Friday 3 July brought together journal contributors and music icons, including Jim Simpson, the original manager of Black Sabbath, Jez Collins, founder of Birmingham Music Archive and Mike Exeter, a Grammy-award winning music producer who worked with Black Sabbath and Tony Iommi.