BLACK Sabbath drummer Bill Ward has told the audience at an Anaheim function which honoured him that he suffered a heart attack late last year.
Ward was a key guest at the Hall Of Heavy Metal History earlier this week, a dinner held in conjunction with the National Association Of Music Merchants (NAMM) Convention in California.
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The host of the awards, radio presenter Eddie Trunk, said on Sirius XM Volume: “He … revealed to me during our discussion that his illness was that he, in fact, did suffer a heart attack.
“The only reason I’m saying that publicly is that Bill mentioned it on stage here last night. His first public admission that his recently illness was, in fact, a heart attack, was made on stage here last night at this event.”
Ward, 69, did not play in Black Sabbath’s recent farewell tour. He also suffered a heart attack in 1998.
Trunk continued: “Bill, as you no doubt heard, he was supposed to have launched a new band called Day Of Errors, and that launch was supposed to happen a month or two ago
“It was announced that Bill was ill and was not going to be able to do that tour. They had five or eight dates announced, that they were going to launch this band in the live circuit.
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“I was curious about whether he was going to be able to show up and be at the event last night.
“He looked OK.
“I asked Bill how he was feeling and he said he was a little big in and out. He feels OK sometimes and he still has a bit to go to get his full wind back and his full recovery.
“But I believe this is the second heart attack Bill has had in his life and obviously that’s incredibly concerning, especially when you consider the way the guys in Sabbath lived in their younger years and, of course, their age.
“He was in wonderful spirits.
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“Everyone knows he opted not to do those (Sabbatha) shows. Of course people can ask, given this latest health scare ‘could he have made it through those shows?” which is a valid question.
“We’ll never know but his ‘unsignable contract’ line is something that will live forever.”