Ozzy Osbourne is unsure he will be healthy enough to start performing live again as planned early next year, the legendary metal singer said in an interview published Tuesday.
The septuagenarian Black Sabbath frontman told Rolling Stone magazine that he is recovering slower than expected from a fall that caused him to postpone dozens of tour dates.
“I’m taking physical and occupational therapy classes, but the progress is very slow,” said the singer, Rolling Stone reported. “They say it’s going to take at least a year. I’m hoping that I’ll be OK and ready to go by January [when the tour resumes]. I’m really keeping my fingers crossed.”
Mr. Osbourne, 70, postponed the performances after falling at his Los Angeles home and aggravating an injury he sustained from a near-fatal ATV accident more than a decade earlier. He subsequently underwent neck surgery in March and rescheduled the remaining dates on his “No More Tours 2 Tour” for 2020.
“For the first, say, four months, I was absolutely in agony,” he told the magazine. “I was in agony beyond anything I ever experienced before in my life. It was awful.”
The singer said he also developed blood clots in his legs while spending several months in bed, the magazine reported.
“The most depressing thing I’ve been thinking is, ’Am I gonna walk properly again? Am I gonna be able to perform again?’” he said. “I don’t think I can do a rock concert right now. I’ll go, ’Hello,’ and that’s it.”
“The progress is so [expletive] slow,” he added. “We’re just keeping our fingers crossed.”
Jack Osbourne, the singer’s son, previously said his dad injured himself when he “tripped over a shoe getting into bed after peeing,” which dislodged metal rods that had been placed in the “Iron Man” singer’s body following the ATV crash in 2003.
The singer’s next live performance is currently scheduled for Jan. 31 in Nottingham, U.K., followed by dates in Europe and North America. He previously said the world tour would be his last.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.