'He was a great friend': Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne pays tribute to Geoff Nicholls as keyboardist dies of lung cancer at 68
Black Sabbath's Ozzy Osbourne remembered 'great friend' Geoff Nicholls on Saturday, as it was announced that he had died at 68.
The Black Sabbath keyboardist passed away after battling lung cancer and frontman Ozzy later paid tribute via Twitter.
After the news was confirmed on Saturday morning, Ozzy wrote in a tweet: 'Geoff was a great friend of mine for a long time. He will be greatly missed. I'm very saddened at the news.'
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Paying tribute: Ozzy Osbourne (pictured) has remembered friend Geoff Nicholls after the news of his passing on Saturday
Bandmate Tony Iommi confirmed Geoff's passing in an emotional Facebook post, which said: 'I'm so saddened to hear the loss of one of my dearest and closest friends Geoff Nicholls.
'He's been suffering for a while now with lung cancer and he lost his battle this morning.'
'Geoff and I have always been very close and he has been a real true friend to me and supported me all the way for nearly 40 years. I will miss him dearly and he will live in my heart until we meet again. Rest In Peace my dear friend. Tony.'
Farewell friend: The Black Sabbath keyboard artist (pictured here in Moscow during his time with the band) passed away from lung cancer at 68
And bassist Geezer Butler wrote on Facebook. 'Very sad to hear of old friend and Sabbath keyboard player Geoff Nicholls passing. RIP Geoff (sic).'
Geoff joined Black Sabbath in 1979 and the 1980 album, Heaven and Hell was the group's first record that he appeared on.
He left the band in 1996.
Meanwhile, Tony was diagnosed with lymphoma cancer in 2013 and previously admitted he believes his treatment unintentionally forced drummer Bill Ward to leave Black Sabbath.
A great man: The news was announced by Bandmate Tony Iommi on Saturday morning
Recalling receiving the news while recording their 2013 LP '13', he said: 'My illness has changed my life a lot and my attitude. When I was going through my treatment, I didn't think I was going to last, I had stage three lymphoma.
'I wanted to get things going quick, and Bill wanted to take longer. Bill seemed to feel he was getting a bad deal. We never dealt with that, we left all that to management.
'We just wanted to play together and enjoy it. We were playing with Bill for a bit and then he never turned up. I thought, 'what's going on?'
A loss: Black Sabbath's Ozzy (centre in 1998, here with (from left Bill Ward, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler) has led the band since 1968, though Geoff left in 1996
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