Peter Frampton dubs Ozzy Osbourne the “Betty White of rock and roll”

What do Ozzy Osbourne and late actress Betty White have in common? They both deserve endless adoration for a lifetime of work in their respective fields, according to Peter Frampton.

The guitarist was recently announced as a 2024 inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, alongside the Dave Matthews Band, Foreigner, and Ozzy Osbourne, who is being inducted for a second time, this time for his solo work.

• READ MORE: “I’m a fighter and I’m not giving up”: Peter Frampton on why he keeps performing despite suffering with a degenerative disease

And in a new interview with Rolling Stone, Frampton discusses the honour at length, and shares his excitement for the event, which is due to take place on 19 October.

The ceremony sees performances from some of the artists involved, and when asked about the prospect of potentially playing Crazy Train with Ozzy Osbourne, Frampton replies: “That would be fantastic. Let’s see what happens.”

And when the interviewer touches on Ozzy Osbourne’s well-deserved second Rock Hall induction, Frampton dubs him the “Betty White of rock and roll”. Whether Osbourne will adopt this moniker going forward and shed “The Prince of Darkness” remains to be seen.

Elsewhere in the interview, Frampton – who suffers with a muscle wasting condition called inclusion body myositis – discusses what being inducted into the Rock Hall means to him.

“It’s something I never expected,” he says. “Because I was eligible so long ago, I kind of put it into the back of my mind. It’s like before I got my first Grammy for my instrumental record where I didn’t sing a note. I thought, ‘Oh, I’m over this. I’ll never win a Grammy.’ And look what happened. I got a Grammy. 

“It’s because I keep working. I’ve never given up. I’ve kept coming back and doing more stuff, and I’ve kept touring. I’ve re-built a following that is now enormous.”

He continues: “The thing that blew me away the most was not actually getting in – even though that is a phenomenal, unbelievable thing. It’s the amount of people who voted for me [in the fan vote]. You don’t quite understand where you’re at until you look at the amount of people who voted for you. Those are the people I need to thank the most. That was a real wonderful shock.”

For more information on this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, head to Rock Hall.