Ozzy Osbourne cancels US tour to receive Parkinson’s treatment in Switzerland

Ozzy Osbourne has cancelled his North American tour to receive medical treatment after revealing he has Parkinson’s disease.

The Black Sabbath frontman, 71, had been due to start the US leg of his No More Tours 2 tour in May, which was to include 17 shows, but said he will instead travel to Switzerland for medical treatment.

Osbourne revealed last month that he had been diagnosed with a form of Parkinson’s called PRKN2 in February last year and said he did not have “that much longer”.

In a statement, he said: “I’m so thankful that everyone has been patient because I’ve had a s**t year.

“Unfortunately, I won’t be able to get to Switzerland for treatment until April and the treatment takes six to eight weeks.

“I don’t want to start a tour and then cancel shows at the last minute, as it’s just not fair to the fans.

“I’d rather they get a refund now and when I do the North American tour down the road… Everyone who bought a ticket for these shows will be the first ones in line to purchase tickets at that time.”

The British heavy metal star’s wife, Sharon Osbourne, had said in January that the couple would be going to a doctor in Switzerland in April as they could not get any more answers from doctors in the US, where they live.

“We’re going to a professor in Switzerland. And he deals with getting your immune system at its peak,” she told Good Morning America.

“We’re going to go anywhere we can to get answers.”

Ozzy had previously batted off rumours he had Parkinson’s after cancelling tour dates in Australia, New Zealand and Japan last year following a bout of pneumonia.

But in January he said he wanted to “own up” to his condition for the sake of his fans and felt better for doing so as he was “no good with secrets”.

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The star revealed he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s after a fall while recovering from the pneumonia “screwed” all his nerves.

He said he was determined to start touring again and performing “is my drug today”.

Osbourne formed Black Sabbath in 1969 with bass player Geezer Butler, drummer Bill Ward and guitarist Tony Iommi.

The musicians are widely credited with inventing and popularising heavy metal music.

Birmingham-born Ozzy has released 11 solo albums and sold more than 100 million records across the globe with Black Sabbath and on his own.

(c) Sky News 2020: Ozzy Osbourne cancels US tour to receive Parkinson’s treatment in Switzerland