BLACK SABBATH drummer Bill Ward has told fans that he now relies on a wheelchair for getting around at airports and public events, nearly a year after the death of his longtime bandmate Ozzy Osbourne.
The 78-year-old shared the update on social media Wednesday (July 8), posting a photo of himself smiling in an all-black outfit while seated in the wheelchair. "I'm announcing today somewhat sadly but nonetheless truthfully, that I've reached a place where publicly more and more I need to use a wheelchair, mostly in airports, or public events," Ward wrote. "I can still walk, let there be no doubt, but I can't walk very far without needing to rest, meaning I need to sit down. We started using the wheelchair about 18 months ago, mostly in airports."
Ward, who turned 78 on May 5, was careful to frame the change as a practical accommodation rather than a retreat from music. "I was a long distance walker, I've walked in many different parts of the world, and I'm still a drummer. I can still play pretty good for 78 years old," he wrote, adding that his "unyielding need to be artful, and to play drums, is still as strong as it was so many years ago now."
He asked fans not to read too much into the image. "If you see me in a wheelchair, I'm just catching a ride, I'm not in retirement or ill or giving up, or any of those thoughts that ignite when we see people in wheelchairs," Ward wrote, signing off with "I'll keep rocking until I'm dead."
BLACK SABBATH's original lineup — Ward, Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler — played its final concert together at "Back To The Beginning," the charity show held at Villa Park in Birmingham on July 5, 2025. Osbourne died shortly after. Ward paid tribute to his late frontman at the time, writing that Osbourne is "forever in my heart."
The wheelchair announcement comes as BLACK SABBATH's legacy continues to be publicly honored across a year of tributes since Osbourne's death, with Ward positioning himself as determined to remain visible and active within that story rather than receding from it.