Sharon Osbourne Says Ozzy is “Doing Really, Really Good,” Recording Another Album Right Now
Following the myriad health issues Ozzy Osbourne has faced in the past year-plus — a nasty staph infection, a fall that exacerbated an old injury and required extensive surgery, and the worsening (and public revelation) of his Parkinson’s disease diagnosis — it’s tough to know who to believe on his current condition. Ozzy himself said back in June “I’m getting better. It’s a slow process.” Then Mötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx said he “isn’t doing good,” although that was second hand info.
How about his own wife? Ya know, the person that lives with him and presumably administers a whole lot of care. Speaking to the Wild Ride Podcast, she recently said that he’s doing much better, although the injury served to make the Parkinson’s worse:
“He’s doing good. He’s doing really, really good. He’s had a terrible, terrible injury. At one point, they thought he would never walk again, but he is – he’s walking and he’s doing great.
“He’s been hit by so much, medically, but he’s doing good. He’s getting stronger every day. Oh, god, I mean, to be hit with the spinal injury, and then what it had done was it kind of started off the Parkinson’s that he had the gene for but was never activated – he just had the gene.
“It’s like having the breast cancer gene but it never comes into fruition – it never gets alive. And he had the Parkinson’s gene and this accident just sparked it off. So he kind of had a double dose of everything. But he’s doing good.
“It’s heartbreaking – it’s heartbreaking – to see this. He’s had this ride in his life, and then suddenly – boom! – you are floored. And to have your health taken away… No matter what you’ve got money-wise or anything in the world – can’t fix it.”
Ozzy had previously said that he planned to record a new album ASAP despite just releasing Ordinary Man earlier this year (to rave reviews, somewhat unexpectedly). To that end, Sharon provided the following update:
“The album was sensational. He’s starting his second album with [‘Ordinary Man’ producer/guitarist] Andrew Watt right now. And you can’t stop him. He’s doing it.
“Ozzy says that as far as performing goes, he has to end it his way because it was his farewell tour that he was on, but he still had a year to do of that tour, and there were seats sold for the next year, but the accident stopped it all.
“But he said it’s not gonna end just like that – it’s gonna end his way. And he’s gonna go back out. And even if it’s just one huge show to say goodbye, he’s going to do it.”
It’s that last part that’s a bit troublesome, seemingly hinting at the possibility that the last round of Ozzy farwell shows are never gonna happen because of the combo of his health issues and the coronavirus. Which is certainly understandable — he’s had a helluva run — albeit a bit sad. Hopefully that still happens, or at least there’s some kind of one-off finale like Sharon suggests.
[via Ultimate Guitar]
