During the Q&A segment of his spoken-word show at at Palace Of Fine Arts in San Francisco, California, earlier this month, Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson was asked if Black Sabbath can exist without its founding drummer Bill Ward.
He responded: “I’m a massive lover of Bill Ward‘s drumming style; I think it’s inspired. ‘Cause he’s not really a rock drummer; he’s more like a jazz drummer playing rock. And I love that kind of style; it’s kind of like drums that kind of wander around the rhythm and everything else. But he’s on it; he’s brilliant. And I met him. He’s a lovely bloke as well. Slightly mad, but very nice. But then aren’t we all? All of us are on the madness spectrum a little bit.”
Then circling back to original question, Bruce said: “Does Black Sabbath exist without Bill Ward? Well, it’s not a matter of… I don’t think Black Sabbath exist at all now.” He then took a swipe at Sharon Osbourne, the wife and manager of Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne, saying: “I think Sharon‘s made sure of that.”
Black Sabbath played their final concert on 4 February 2017 in Birmingham. The final song was streamed live on the band’s Facebook page and fireworks went off as the band took their final bow. On 7 March 2017, Sabbath announced their disbandment through posts made on their official social media accounts.