An air ambulance was called to Ozzy Osbourne's mansion in the hours before his death

The helicopter crew are said to have spent around two hours with Ozzy - who had suffered from Parkinson's disease for several years - as they battled in vain to save his life.

A spokesperson for Thames Valley Air Ambulance told MailOnline: "We can confirm that our helicopter was dispatched to provide advanced critical care at an incident near Chalfont St Giles yesterday."

An unnamed resident added to the outlet: "I went out to have a look and saw that it was landing close to Ozzy's house.

"All of us were talking about it and wondering what had happened. We immediately feared it may be for him as he was known to be in fragile health.

"When we heard later that night that he had died it confirmed our worst fears."

The Paranoid hitmaker's death was announced by his family in a statement on Tuesday night.

It read: "It is with more sadness that mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. He was with his family and surrounded by love."

Ozzy's passing comes a little over two weeks after he reunited with his Black Sabbath bandmates for the epic Back to the Beginning farewell gig at Villa Park in Birmingham and his sister Jean Powell has revealed that the news came a "shock" to her despite his "frail" health.

She told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "He was frail but [his death] still came as a shock. He still had plans and things he wanted to do.

"We don't know the details of his death, it's still too early. It's just so sad. I'm just thankful he died in England."

Jean admits that she has been stunned by the "outpouring of love" for Ozzy from fans and fellow music stars in the wake of the sad news.

She added: "We just can't believe he is gone and we won't be getting another phone call or text from him.

"Every week without fail he would get in touch, either by phone or text, to ask how we were all doing and what was going on."