Black Sabbath’s Bill Ward shares defiant health update: “I’ll keep rocking until I’m dead”
Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward has shared an emotional but determined health update, as he admits to intermittent wheelchair usage
The 78-year-old rocker revealed that, though he vows to “keep rocking until I’m dead,” several health issues are changing what normality looks like to him.
On July 9th, Ward took to his social media to share “sadly but nonetheless truthfully, that I’ve reached a place where publicly more and more I need to use a wheelchair, mostly in airports, or public events.”
He elaborated, “I can still walk, let there be no doubt, but I can’t walk very far without needing to rest, meaning I need to sit down.”
The Birmingham-bred Black Sabbath co-founder quickly added, “I’m still a drummer. I can still play pretty good for 78 years old. My talents and ambitions, and my unyielding need to be artful, and to play drums, is still as strong as it was so many years ago now.”
He reassured fans that his wheelchair usage didn’t mean that the end is near: “I’m just saying if you see me in a wheelchair, I’m just catching a ride, I’m not in retirement or ill or giving up, or any of those thoughts that ignite when we see people in wheelchairs.”
Alongside a photograph of him in his wheelchair, Ward added, “If you see me in the airports or visiting friends in the music arenas or theaters say hi, I don’t bite, I’ll just look different, as pictured here.”
Ward previously reunited with the original Black Sabbath members for their Back To The Beginning farewell concert, which marked their first live performance together in two decades.
Just weeks later, frontman Ozzy Osbourne passed away at the age of 76. However, the historic day has officially become the highest-grossing charity concert ever, raising millions for Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and Acorn Children’s Hospice.
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