In a new interview with Anne Erickson of Audio Ink Radio, Greek guitar virtuoso Gus G., who joined Ozzy Osbourne's band just over a decade ago, was asked if he still keeps in touch with the BLACK SABBATH singer and whether he has any updates on how Ozzy is doing after his recent health setbacks, including a Parkinson's disease diagnosis. Gus responded (hear audio below): "Like everybody else, I've been reading all the updates online and on various web sites. He went through a pretty rough year, and I saw he had to reschedule his tour a couple of times. I actually reached out to Sharon [Osbourne, Ozzy's wife and manager] — I sent her a couple of e-mails during this year; I just wanted to say, I just wish Ozzy to get well soon and that he was in my thoughts and everything. And I heard back, and she said thank you, [and that] Ozzy was happy to hear from me. But other than that, we haven't really kept in touch. It's not like I call him every day or anything. But it's good to say hello and see how they're doing, of course. I'm glad that he's recovering. That's the latest I saw. He's making a lot of progress with his recovery. And I was also very happy that I saw him being creative again — he finally put out an album after 10 years." It was announced in April 2017 that guitarist Zakk Wylde would be rejoining Ozzy's backing group for all his future solo show dates. Osbourne's touring lineup also includes Rob "Blasko" Nicholson on bass, Tommy Clufetos on drums and Adam Wakeman on keyboards. Back in 2018, Gus told TrueMetal.it that "it was a little bit of a relief" to find out that Ozzy was getting back together with Wylde. "I was just kind of tired of waiting around for all these years, not hearing anything about potential tours or recording activities," Gus said. "Of course, [Ozzy] was very busy with BLACK SABBATH — I understand that — but then in between of all that, there would be all these one-off [solo Ozzy] shows popping up and I had to make myself available for that. But there was never any… I felt like there was no… I didn't see stuff coming up for the future, you know? So, as much as I loved being in that band and working with him, in a way, it was a little bit of a dead end for me, speaking personally. Of course, now he's gonna go on a big tour again and do his farewell thing, and that's great for him, but it was not a creative thing for me." Wylde originally joined Osbourne's band more three decades ago and backed the legendary frontman from 1987 to 1995, then again in 1998, from 2001 to 2004 and also from 2006 to 2009. Gus's long-running band FIREWIND released its ninth, self-titled studio album in May.
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