Guitar wizard Geezer Butler has had his share of health issues as he’s grown older, but the man is still going strong. In an Instagram post uploaded on Christmas Day, Gloria Butler explained that her husband’s recent diagnosis of Pneumonia came after two days of testing for the flu, COVID-19, strep and tonsillitis, all of which came back negative.
“I said, ‘Well, he’s positive for being a pain in my arse,’” she wrote. “Day [two] at [the doctor’s], he was told he has pneumonia. Although still positive for being a pain, I now feel guilty for thinking that.”
The former Black Sabbath bassist hasn’t been too active in the music space since the group called it a day in 2017, but sporadic appearances from him can never be ruled out completely. Earlier this year, he collaborated with Apocalyptica to perform on their single, “I’ll Get Through It.” Soon after, he joined Sebastian Bach, Lars Ulrich and the surviving members of the Foo Fighters at the Taylor Hawkins tribute concert in Los Angeles to perform “Supernaut” and “Paranoid.”
Though Sabbath had somewhat of a reunion at this year’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, Butler himself wasn’t there. Lead guitarist co-founder Tony Iommi said the following about his former bandmate’s absence: “I don’t think he wanted to come over as he hadn’t been well with COVID. He’d been on holiday to Kenya and to Italy and had had an accident on a boat, cracking or breaking a rib about three weeks ago, so he was not quite in fine fettle to come over to play.” (NME)
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Photo Credit: Aisha Humphrey