Ozzy Osbourne has declared he’s “not f**king dying.” The Parkinson’s-stricken Black Sabbath frontman insisted he has been working his “guts out” to get back on his feet after he was forced to axe all of his shows for 2023 over his health, though he admitted he can’t guarantee when he will be back on the road.
In the latest episode of SiriusXM’s “Ozzy Speaks”, the 74-year-old musician said, “Well, I’ve been working my guts out to try and get back on my feet. I’ve come to the point where Sharon (Osbourne – who is still his manager) says to me, ‘You know what? The truth of the matter is you can’t keep booking tours and failing, cancelling.’ So, if I can ever get back to where I can tour again, fine. But right now, if you said to me, ‘Can you go on the road in a month?’ I couldn’t say yes. I mean, if I could tour, I’d tour. But right now I can’t book tours because right now I don’t think I could pull them off.”
Ozzy has said even though his voice is fine, a spinal injury he sustained four years ago has left him weak. But he hit out at reports he was retiring, saying, “The f**king Press drive you nuts. I mean, I looked in the magazine, ‘Ozzy’s on his last legs’. I’m f****** not dying… come on, guys. Haven’t I had it bad enough already? If I get okay today, if the doctor said to me today, ‘Oh, you can tour,’ it would take another six months to get it together, you know?”
He added about his ongoing health woes – which have led to him recently using a walking cane, “You’ve got no idea. You got no idea what my… I feel like a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest. The only thing I’ve got that keeps me going is making records.”
“But I can’t do that forever. I gotta get out there… (I’m) still in constant pain. I do to the best I can to stay away from the pain medication, but there are times when I go, ‘You know, I’ve gotta take something’. I mean, last week I couldn’t… I’ve been sleeping great, and all of a sudden for two back-to-back nights. I never slept a wink. If you’re gonna torture me, just keep me awake for a couple of days. I’ll tell you whatever the f**k you want me to say,” he added.
[via]
