Los Angeles, Nov 27 (IANS): Legendary heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne has been mostly quiet about his health conditions, though recently he went on to reveal that a tumour was found in one of his vertebrae while undergoing a fourth spinal surgery. But he isn’t quite through with his music just yet, as he still has some more performances left in him.
In a recent interview, the English singer opened up about his health conditions, saying that whether he lives or dies he has at least one more show in him.
Speaking to Rolling Stone UK, the Black Sabbath singer said: "It’s really knocked me about. The second surgery went drastically wrong and virtually left me crippled. “I thought I’d be up and running after the second and third, but with the last one, they put a f***** rod in my spine. They found a tumour in one of the vertebrae, so they had to dig all that out too. It’s pretty rough, man, and my balance is all f***** up.”
The 'Godfather' of heavy metal first underwent a procedure, which was done to repair the damage caused by a fall in 2019. This incident dislodged metal rods he had put into his body after a previous quad bike crash in 2003, according to 'The Hollywood Reporter'.
In addition, 'The Diary of a Madman' singer back in 2020 revealed that he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, with all his previous addictions taking a toll on him.
Notorious for his hedonistic lifestyle which included hard drugs, booze, and massive smoking left the ‘Paranoid’ singer in a very bad shape, with many wondering how he’s alive at this point, something Ozzy himself has wondered for a while now. As he got a chance to introspect, the singer hit a spree of epiphanies.
He said: “I’ve had a lot of realisations while I’ve been laid up. All my drinking partners, I’ve realised they’re all f***** dead! The graveyard’s full of them! You’re dead and you’re dead and you’re dead.”
He added: “I should have been dead way before loads of them. Why am I the last man standing? I don’t understand any of it. Sometimes I look in the mirror and go, ‘Why the f*** did you make it?!’ I’m not boasting about any of it because I should have been dead a thousand times. I’ve had my stomach pumped God knows how many times.”
Nonetheless, ‘The Bark at the Moon’ singer doesn’t fear death anymore. “I don’t fear dying, but I don’t want to have a long, painful and miserable existence,” he explained.
He added, “I like the idea that if you have a terminal illness, you can go to a place in Switzerland and get it done quickly. I saw my father die of cancer.”
The artiste continued: “But look, I said to Sharon (Osbourne) that I’d smoked a joint recently and she said, ‘What are you doing that for! It’ll kill you!’ I said, ‘How long do you want me to f***** live for? !’ At best, I’ve got ten years left and when you’re older, time picks up speed. Me and Sharon had our 41st wedding anniversary recently, and that’s just unbelievable to me!”
One last thing that has infuriated the singer is that he hasn’t had a chance to say goodbye or thank you” to his fans since he announced earlier this year that he was retiring from touring due to some surgeries.
“For whatever reason, that’s my goal to work for. To do those shows. If it’s at Ozzfest or somewhere, or even a f***** gig at the Roundhouse,” he said.
"If I can’t continue doing shows on a regular basis, I just want to be well enough to do one show where I can say, ‘Hi guys, thanks so much for my life.’ That’s what I’m working towards, and if I drop down dead at the end of it, I’ll die a happy man,” he added.