It looks like being a less than ideal Christmas for Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler after the bass icon was diagnosed with pneumonia
Geezer’s wife Gloria Butler took to social media and posted a picture of him at a medical facility, wearing a face mask. She also revealed he has been diagnosed with the lung infection after doctors had previously ruled out a string of other conditions, including Covid-19.
Judging by Gloria’s tone, and her joke that men make the worst patients, it appears 73-year-old Geezer will be just fine.
She says: “After day one at doctor with my husband and was told he was negative for flu, Covid, strep and tonsillitis, I said ‘well, he’s positive for being a pain in my arse.’
“Day two at doctor he was told he has pneumonia. Although still positive for being a pain, I now feel guilty for thinking that.”
Gloria was the manager of supergroup Heaven & Hell, which featured Geezer along with guitarist Tony Iommi, vocalist Ronnie James Dio and drummer Vinny Appice.
Black Sabbath officially split in 2017, but Iommi and singer Ozzy Osbourne reunited for a performance at this year’s Commonwealth Games in the band’s hometown of Birmingham.
Butler, who lives in Los Angeles, did not join his former bandmates for the performance. It was later revealed he was recovering from Covid-19 and had also been hurt in a boat accident while on holiday weeks before the Games.
Sabbath brought the curtain down on their career at Birmingham’s Genting Arena in February 2017, but Ozzy told ITV News the following year that he’d consider playing at the Commonwealth games. “Yeah, that would be fantastic,” he said. “With Black Sabbath or on my own. I’d like to do that. We’re all Brummies after all.”
