“SHE TURNED A ROCK ANTHEM INTO A CONFESSION.”
When Carrie Underwood stepped into Ozzy Osbourne’s “Mama, I’m Coming Home,” she didn’t just cover it — she reshaped it. Her voice stayed steady, almost fragile, like every line carried a memory she wasn’t ready to let go of. Each pause felt heavier than the last… and by the final chorus, the room was silent.

It didn’t sound like a tribute.
It sounded personal — like someone finally saying what they’d held inside for years.

▶️ Full performance in the first comment 👇

Carrie Underwood Pays Tribute To Ozzy Osbourne With “Mama, I’m Coming Home”

Carrie Underwood pays tribute to Ozzy Osbourne on “The Howard Stern Show” in 2023 (Photo Credit: The Howard Stern Show / YouTube, Dave Hogan/Getty Images)

Carrie Underwood Grew Up Loving Rock Music

Despite growing up in the country and in a religious household, Carrie Underwood is a huge fan of rock music, specifically of Ozzy Osbourne.

During an appearance on The Howard Stern Show in 2023, Underwood performed two of her own songs, “Blown Away” and “She Don’t Know,” as well as an Ozzy Osbourne cover.

If you’ve been following Carrie Underwood for a while, it’s no surprise that she loves rock music. She often covers the Guns N’ Roses song “Welcome To The Jungle” at her live shows and even brought out Axl Rose during her headlining set at Stagecoach 2023.

Carrie Underwood brings out Axl Rose at Stagecoach 2023 (Photo Credit: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Carrie Pays Tribute To Ozzy Osbourne

During her appearance on The Howard Stern Show, the radio host expressed his excitement for her next song, stating, “I love Ozzy, don’t you love Ozzy?”

Underwood then talked about why she liked Osbourne’s music.

“I very much remember being a teenager discovering my own musical taste, and my mom being very much against me listening to Ozzy,” she said. “I feel like you need to listen to some of these lyrics because it’s not all darkness. There are some love songs and things that are a lot more melodic and sweet.”

When Stern asked her about the Prince of Darkness’s signature sound, she said, “He’s got a thing, and he sounds a certain way, and it is very distinguishable. I don’t know exactly what the tricks are because they didn’t have the plug-ins that we have now. But he’s always sounded the same.”

The “Before He Cheats” singer revealed that if she covers a song on tour, she always wants to reach out to the original artist to make sure they would be okay with it. For the performance that day, Underwood said they did reach out to the Osbournes.

“I just want to be respectful and we had asked permission and Sharon was very, very sweet about it,” Underwood said.

Sharon is of course Ozzy’s wife of 43 years, who was by his side when he passed away on July 22, 2025.
HOLLYWOOD, CA – MAY 12: Ozzy Osbourne and Sharon Osbourne attend the Ozzy Osbourne and Corey Taylor special announcement press conference on May 12, 2016 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Tibrina Hobson/WireImage)

Underwood then performed “Mama, I’m Coming Home,” which Osbourne wrote about his wife and released in 1991.

The power ballad was perfect for Underwood’s voice and Stern enjoyed it so much, he asked her and her band to sing the harmonies again.

Watch Underwood’s incredible cover of “Mama, I’m Coming Home” below.