We know there are several stories about Ozzy Osbourne’s visits to Texas and New Mexico, but who would have thought that the Prince of Darkness is a fan of mariachi music? He certainly enjoyed listening to the Las Cruces group Mariachi Aguilas when he passed through New Mexico a few years ago in 2018.

The one who really seemed to catch Ozzy’s attention was El Paso singer Alfonso Loya. And as if that wasn’t cool enough, Ozzy showed his appreciation for Alfonso and the group on television as well.

When did Alfonso Loya and Mariachi Aguilas sing for Ozzy Osbourne?

In the emergency room Ozzy & Jack’s World DetourIn season 3, an episode was shown where Ozzy, Jack and Kelly Osbourne took a trip to New Mexico. On this trip, they stopped at a place called Sparky’s in Hatch, New Mexico to try the burgers. They also came to enjoy the chili milkshakes and learned how to make pistachios.

At Sparky’s, Ozzy saw Mariachi Aguilas and Alfonso perform for the Osbourne family. The group played a version of Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid“, and the best part was that Alfonso even sang it in Spanish.

When you watch the performance and what Ozzy said afterwards, it’s clear that he’d never heard his songs sung like that before. But you can tell… he loved it.

I asked Alfonso Loya how he liked opening for Ozzy Osbourne and he told me in detail how much the group had to prepare for Ozzy’s arrival:

“We knew about two weeks in advance and had to adapt the songs to mariachi. We did an arrangement for Crazy Train and Paranoid, sent it to the producers and they chose Paranoid. I had to translate them into Spanish as well. That was fun… We were there really early in the morning before Ozzy arrived and they did all these close-ups so we were pretty warmed up and confident when Ozzy arrived. We did a take for him and it went great, he came with his son and daughter and I even went to their table and sang in their faces. He loved it and stood up and clapped afterwards.“

Alfonso also posted the clip (in higher quality) on his Instagram account AND was kind enough to give us photos he took of himself and Ozzy.

Even though it was only for a short time, I’m glad Ozzy was able to not only enjoy the food of New Mexico, but also appreciate the musical talent of the frontier. Long live the Ozzman.